Roman Rite

XVII Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year A – July 30, 2017

1King 3.5.7-12; Ps 119; Rm 8, 28-30; Mt 13.44-52

Ambrosian Rite

1Sam 3: 1-20; Ps 62; Ephesians 3: 1-12; Mt 4: 18-22

Sunday VIII after Pentecost

1) The Treasure of Life

This Sunday’s Gospel offers us the final part of chapter 13 of St. Matthew‘s gospel with the parables that compare the Kingdom of God to a treasure, to a precious stone and to a net thrown into the sea that gathers all kinds of fish.

“The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism.” (CCC 1250)

Does the Bible support the baptism of infants? Yes it does, though the evidence is indirect (deductive):

With the Motu Proprio “Maiorem hac dilectionem” on the offer of life, Pope Francis has opened the path to beatification for those faithful who, inspired by charity, have heroically offered their life for their neighbour, freely and voluntarily accepting certain and untimely death in their determination to follow Jesus: he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 Jn 3:16).

As we know, for centuries the norms of the Catholic Church have provided that one may proceed to the beatification of a Servant of God along one of three paths:

When Jesus prayed, in the Gospel of John, for all future Christians he prayed, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” (John 17:21a)

This kind of closeness—this kind of unity—is difficult to imagine.

God, as we understand Him, is triune: Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit existing in one and the same Being. One beautiful old hymn reminds us, “The Godhead, three-in-one.”

This is a closeness we cannot yet fathom.

Interview with Il Regno: “Peace is above all national interests”. On Europe, “Indifferent about immigration” and “Nationalism empties Europe of its values”. On Trump: “ time is needed to judge”. On China: “Positive dialogue”.

We learn as children that praying doesn’t always “work”: we prayed and still failed that math test, we prayed and still were ignored by our crush, we prayed and our sick grandmother never got better. As adults, our worries increase, as do our disappointments in prayer: we pray and still don’t get hired, we pray and still our spouse wanders, we pray and we ourselves never get better. So, what’s the point? Why pray for things that we want if we don’t always get them? Is God listening? Does God care?

The French Episcopal Conference disseminated the following official prayer to request Father Jacques Hamel’s intercession:

Father Jacques Hamel,

Grant us the favor of presenting our prayer to God

Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

You who consecrated your life to Him:

May God help us to do His Will

simply and faithfully each day.

You who offered Him the bread and wine:

May God help us to open our lives for His glory

and the salvation of the world.

You who unmasked Satan, the divisor:

Between Syria and Iraq, while the Islamic State's military defeat is approaching, different and conflicting Kurdish entities seek international endorsement for their own independence cause, casting shadows on the future status of the remaining native Christian communities

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O St. Maria Goretti, beautiful model of forgiveness, pray for me.

Even at the age of 11, you did not withhold forgiveness from your attacker. You didn’t wish him unwell. On the contrary, you wanted Heaven for him. You loved him in that way. Pray for me, that I, too, will be able to love my enemies like you did. Pray that I will want Heaven for them.

Please pray that it will become easier and easier to forgive those who have hurt me and those who will hurt me.

What is the true “great power of the universal Church”? “Its persecuted little churches.” Words of Pope Francis. The Pontiff often recalls that there are more Christian martyrs today than in the early centuries, but – he decries - “the media don’t talk about this” because it does not hit the headlines. Comparison with the past set aside, what emerges from beyond the Tiber River sources is that in 38 countries religious freedom is violated.