"We ask you now, Lord Jesus, to reveal to each of us the treasure where our own heart really is. May many of us pray, ‘Lord Jesus, transform me. I am just what I am, and I cannot change myself. But I am not satisfied to be what I am any longer. Lord, please send change me, give me another Treasure."
The Kingdom of God - A Mysterious and Powerful Grace
July 17, 2020
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Christ invites us to enter God’s Kingdom – the presence of God and Love of God. “The Kingdom of God” is a complex mystery, spiritually and theologically: what It is . . . how It moves in our lives . . . the transformations It effects in us, individually and socially, and in the world in which “we live and move and have our being.” True to His own culture, and to reach as many people as possible, Jesus reveals essential dimensions of God’s Kingdom through parables.
As we gather in the midst of this blistering heatwave, we are challenged by one of Jesus’ best-known parables: the story of a farmer who sows abundantly, pouring out seed into soils of varying degrees of receptivity, and promising an abundant harvest.
In times of trouble, God lifts us up and offers us so much. That is abundantly clear in the three readings of today’s Mass. Different in authorship, different in style and content, they were originally destined to different audiences and cultures, but from early in the Christian experience, they touch the lives of all.
God's Word today invites us to reflect on hospitality, and more particularly, on how we welcome God's presence in our lives.
Today's first reading introduces us to a woman who welcomes the prophet Elisha first for a meal, and eventually creates a space in her home for him. The occasional guest becomes a part of the family. The result of this hospitality is a blessing on the entire household: the gift of a long-desired son. Hospitality should be life-giving, both for those who offer it and for those who receive it.
St. Monica's Parish