Wisdom from Pope St. John Paul II

But despite their differences of nature and moral gravity, contraception and abortion are often closely connected, as fruits of the same tree.

—Pope St. John Paul II

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C June 30, 2019

First Reading
1 Kings 19:16b,19-21
Elijah anoints Elisha as his successor.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 16:1-2,5,7-11
I set the Lord ever before me.

Second Reading
Galatians 5:1,13-18
Christ has set us free.

Gospel Reading
Luke 9:51-62
Jesus resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.

When the days for Jesus' being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?"
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.

As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."

And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."


Background on the Gospel Reading

Today's Gospel reading begins a long section unique to Luke's Gospel. Jesus begins his journey to Jerusalem, which will end with his ministry in Jerusalem. We read that Jesus' days for being “taken up” were fulfilled. The Greek word that Luke uses for “taken up” is the same word he uses to describe the Ascension. We also read that Jesus is determined to journey to Jerusalem. For Luke, Jesus ministry begins in Galilee and then is one long journey to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem he will meet his death but also enter into his glory. Only in Luke does Jesus then spend 40 days in Jerusalem instructing his disciples. It is in Jerusalem that his disciples wait after his Ascension to be sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. And it is from Jerusalem, in Luke's second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, that the Good News is spread to Rome and the ends of the earth.

Immediately Jesus is met with rejection, as a Samaritan village will not receive him because he is going to Jerusalem. There was animosity between Samaritans who worshiped on Mount Gerazim and Jews who worshiped in Jerusalem. Jesus was also rejected as he began his ministry in Galilee in Chapter 4. And he will be rejected for the last time when he reaches Jerusalem. James and John want to call down fire from heaven to destroy the people in the village, but Jesus rebukes them and moves on. There is often the temptation to use violence to achieve right. Jesus has come to break this temptation. He is aware that he must undergo violence himself before he can enter his glory.

The rest of today's reading is about the radical demands of discipleship. The three people who volunteer to become disciples on this journey show that they do not understand the demands Jesus will make of them. Neither care of self, care for the dead, nor care of one's family (as required by the Fourth Commandment) can come before the demands of discipleship. Jesus reminds the first volunteer, who would go wherever Jesus goes, that animals in the wild have more security than do Jesus and his followers. The second, who wants to bury a parent, is reminded that the demands of proclaiming the Kingdom of God take precedence. And the third, who wants to say farewell to his family, is reminded that once you put your hand to the plow you cannot look back or the furrow will be crooked. Such a person is not ready for the Kingdom of God.

Jesus seems harsh here, but he is only asking of his disciples what he asks of himself. Jesus' unconditional commitment to God's saving work will demand of him his life. He knows this, but the disciples do not understand. Jesus does not want anyone to rush into discipleship, because the demands of discipleship require everyone considering it to be aware of the cost, make Jesus and his mission central to his life, and then go forward without looking back.


Family Connection

Parents are always striving to help their children to set priorities. Children need to learn to finish homework before watching TV or going out to play. They need to know that they have to finish their chores before they can go out with their friends. They need to know that paying attention to curfews for their safety is more important than being popular.

As a family, talk about these examples of setting priorities. Share examples of how you learned to prioritize as you were maturing. Explain that in this Sunday's Gospel reading, Jesus talks about the importance of making him the number-one priority in our lives.

Read aloud Luke 9:51-62. Talk about how going to Sunday Mass as a family is an important way of keeping God at the center of our lives. Talk about other ways that the family can make Jesus a priority.


Sources: Loyola Press; Sunday Readings

Wisdom from St. Teresa of Calcutta

It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.

—St. Teresa of Calcutta

More Wisdom from Ven. Fulton J. Sheen

There is a world of difference between personality and individuality. A piece of chalk is individual, not personal. When you go to the grocery store to buy oranges, you may say to the grocer, ‘This is a bad one. Give me another.’ When a tube burns out in your television set, you buy another. In other words, individuals are replaceable. Persons are not. No one can take the place of another.

—Ven. Fulton J. Sheen from Life is Worth Living

Hell isn't what you think it is

Today, most funeral sermons speak of Heaven . . . Few speak of Judgment . . . And almost none speak of Hell.   Yet Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell are the Four Last Things toward which you are moving each hour of the day and night. The Four Last Things are not meant to frighten you . . . They are meant to keep you upright when life’s problems and temptations threaten to capsize you or lead you into sin. For 2,000 years, Christians have kept the Faith by meditating on the Four Last Things. From them, we come to learn the nature of sin and its frightful consequences. By them, we are moved to penance and joyful reconciliation with God. Through them, we nourish a strong and abiding hope of Heaven. So our generation may reap these same eternal benefits, EWTN host Fr. Wade Menezes has now penned this modest book to help you:   Understand the reality of Hell   Dispel sentimental notions about Heaven   And bring to your attention key — but not so obvious — truths you need to know about Death and Judgment.   It is an indispensable gift for anyone seeking reality and spiritual truth!   From these pages, you’ll learn, among many other things:    DEATH What you can expect beyond the mysterious gates of death The five elements of a happy death (and how to ensure that yours will have all five) What “fear of the Lord” really means How to vanquish crippling fear of death   JUDGMENT  What really happens immediately after death The twofold judgment each of us must face Scores of scriptural passages that prove the reality of Purgatory Why it makes sense to pray for the dead Why even the most heinous sinner should place his hope in God   THE REALITY, EXISTENCE, AND BEAUTY OF HEAVEN Scriptural details showing what Heaven is really like The four amazing characteristics of our physical bodies in Heaven (can you name even one of them?) That rather than clouds and harps, there will be “a fulfillment of the deepest human longings that bring supreme happiness”   THE REALITY, EXISTENCE, AND WICKEDNESS OF HELL What Hell is really like (it’s much worse than physical fire) Why the devil wants you to forget about Hell How the reality of Hell affirms the dignity of human persons The person who condemns souls to hell (Hint: it’s not God!)   PLUS:  10 eminently practical steps to help you develop a strong spiritual life by means of the Four Last Things A beautiful Litany to St. Joseph, the patron of a happy and holy death Prayers to prepare you for Death and Judgment   With the help of The Four Last Things, you’ll soon find yourself refreshingly conscious of the reality of eternity in your daily life. Better yet, you’ll gain from that consciousness the strength and wisdom you need to remain faithful to God in this life as you strive for salvation in the next.     The Four Last Things will help you on your way to Heaven! The Four Last Things: A Catechetical Guide to Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell by Fr. Wade Menezes 128 pages — Paperback List price: $14.95  Today's Sale Price: $12.99! ORDER NOW "Fr. Wade calls us to the beauty of immortality in the image and likeness of God." Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ   "Concise and straightforward, this book filled me with hope and joyful anticipation of what is to come! May it do the same for you!" Johnnette Williams EWTN, Host and Author Founder and Director, Women of Grace®   "A wonderful guide for our preparation for eternal life with God." Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, S.T.D. Bishop of Birmingham, AL   "Fr. Wade takes the timeless truths of the faith and presents them in a new, joyful, fresh way that spurs us to accept the gift of salvation!" Fr. Frank Pavone National Director, Priests for Life   You May Also Like:    SHOP ALL BOOKS Order online above, or call 1-800-888-9344 www.SophiaInstitute.com Invite friends to receive our newsletters and get these books for FREE! LEARN MORE Save up to 40% when you join

Wisdom from Ven. Fulton J. Sheen

At this point, it is extremely important to keep in mind that a person is not bad because he has a temptation. Many believe, because they have a temptation to pride, to avarice, to hate, to lust, that there is something wrong with them. There is nothing wrong with you if you are tempted. You are not tempted because you are evil; you are tempted because you are human. There is nothing intrinsically evil about human nature just because a little devil knocks at the door. Evil begins only when we open the door and consent to the temptation. Scripture praises the man who suffers temptations. When we resist temptations, we strengthen our character.

—Ven. Fulton J. Sheen from Life is Worth Living

More wisdom from Dr. Scott Hahn

Once you understand that the passover is the background to Jesus' sacrifice, then when does Jesus' passover sacrifice begin? When he's celebrating the passover! He took the bread and he said ‘this is my body,’ then he took the cup and he said ‘this cup is the blood of the new covenant.’

—Dr. Scott Hahn from The Fourth Cup

Wisdom from Dr. Scott Hahn

For the ancient Hebrews, the covenant was more than a contract, it involved nothing less than a sacred family bond. And, in this case, a sacred family bond between Yahweh, the God of gods, and Israel, the people of God, the family of Yahweh.

—Dr. Scott Hahn from The Fourth Cup

More Wisdom from St. Edith Stein

There is a vocation to suffer with Christ and thereby to cooperate with him in his work of salvation. When we are united with the Lord, we are members of the mystical body of Christ; Christ lives in his members and continues to suffer in them. And the suffering borne in union with the Lord is his suffering, incorporated in the great work of salvation and fruitful therein.

—St. Edith Stein quoted in Communion with Christ

Wisdom from Sr. M. Regina van den Berg

There are other events that contributed to Edith [Stein’s] conversion. She tells us how moved she was when she saw a woman with a shopping basket enter a Catholic church to make a visit. It was, she said, as though the woman were going to have an intimate conversation with someone. She had never seen anything like this; she had been to churches only for services. . . . The woman who made the visit impressed Edith, it seems, because the woman’s faith informed her daily life; her faith was a communion with a Person.

—Sr. M. Regina van den Berg from Communion with Christ

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Cycle C June 23, 2019

First Reading
Genesis 14:18-20
Melchizedek, king of Salem, blessed Abram.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 110:1-4
You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek.

Second Reading
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Gospel Reading
Luke 9:11b-17
They all ate and were satisfied.

Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God,
and he healed those who needed to be cured.
As the day was drawing to a close,
the Twelve approached him and said,
"Dismiss the crowd
so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms
and find lodging and provisions;
for we are in a deserted place here."
He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves."
They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have,
unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people."
Now the men there numbered about five thousand.
Then he said to his disciples,
"Have them sit down in groups of about fifty."
They did so and made them all sit down.
Then taking the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing over them, broke them,
and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And when the leftover fragments were picked up,
they filled twelve wicker baskets.


Background on the Gospel Reading
Today, the second Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate a second solemnity, which marks our return to Ordinary Time. Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. At one time, this day was called Corpus Christi, Latin for "the Body of Christ." In the most recent revision of the liturgy, the name for this day is expanded to be a more complete reflection of our Eucharistic theology.

The feeding of the 5,000 is the only one of Jesus' miracles to appear in all four Gospels. Luke places it between Herod's question, "Who is this about whom I hear such things?" and Peter's response to Jesus' question about who he thought Jesus was: "You are the Messiah of God." In Luke the feeding is not the result of Jesus' compassion for the crowd but is instigated by the disciples. They wanted Jesus to send the crowd away to town. Instead Jesus tells the disciples to give them some food on their own.

The passage is meant to remind us of two feedings in the Old Testament: the feeding of the Israelites in the desert and Elisha's feeding of 100 people with 20 loaves in 2 Kings 4:42-44. It is also connected to the institution of the Eucharist. As in the Last Supper accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke and in Paul's account in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24, Jesus takes bread, looks up to heaven, blesses the bread, breaks it, and then gives it to the disciples. In using this exact language, Luke is reminding his readers that in this miracle Jesus is doing more than feeding hungry people as God did for the Israelites and the prophet Elisha did as well. The bread he gives is his body, which he will continue to give as often as the community breaks bread in remembrance of him in the Eucharist.


Family Connection
In our age of fast food and eating on the go, families often find that they are not eating meals together at a dinner table. As a family, look back over the past week and recall how many meals were eaten together and how many meals were eaten alone or on the run.

In the Bible, meals are seen as much more than a means to satisfy a physical need. The Hebrew people viewed eating a meal as a way of expressing and strengthening their relationship to one another under God's covenant. It is no coincidence that meals are often the setting of Jesus' teaching and miracles in the Gospels. In this Sunday's Gospel, we hear the story of Jesus feeding the crowd of 5,000 people.

Read this Sunday's Gospel, Luke 9:11b-17. Talk about the kinds of hungers that people have in addition to physical hunger. Describe the hungers that a family nourishes (love, compassion, forgiveness, laughter, and so on). Together give thanks for the food that Jesus gives us that we celebrate on this Sunday's feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Make a commitment to share in this Eucharistic meal together as a family.


Sources: Loyola Press; Sunday Readings

More Wisdom from Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J.

[Fulton] Sheen understood that love does not work like material things—that is, if I have only ten dollars, and I give it to one person, I can’t give it to anyone else. Love is not subject to this restriction. When we love, it does not prevent us from loving anyone else to the same or even to a greater degree.

—Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J. from Finding True Happiness

More Wisdom from Leila Miller

Read this well: Your children are not stupid. They know very well if you take your faith seriously or if you are picking and choosing which parts of the Faith or the moral law to obey and they will interpret that to mean that they can, too.

—Leila Miller from Raising Chaste Catholic Men

Wisdom from Leila Miller

The Nicene Creed professes not only the fact of God's Incarnation, but also the reason. It was for "our salvation" that the Son of God "came down from heaven." Salvation here has a very specific meaning -- a richness that I fear has been lost over the centuries.

—Leila Miller from Raising Chaste Catholic Men

How to listen to a silent God

Save 50% when you refer 5 friends. View this email in your browser Why does God hide from those of us who yearn to hear His voice? When we do good, there’s no heavenly applause. When we do evil, no divine rebuke. And when great horrors  visit us, He rarely intervenes. In good times and bad, there’s just silence . . . the awful silence of God. Now comes Why God Hides, this magnum opus of Fr. John Portavella, written after many decades of listening to God’s silence – in his own life and in that of thousands of his parishioners. Those years of listening, reading, thinking, and praying have made ever more clear to him – and with the help of this book, will make clear to you – that, in fact . . . God is not silent nor is He hidden, if only you know how to listen and learn where to look. Time and again in the events of salvation history and in the trials and joys of our daily lives, Fr. Portavella here unveils the Face of God and lets us hear His voice, speaking in every instance words of sweet love. Why God Hides is a remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime book that scatters the darkness of our minds, giving us myriad glimpses of our supposedly hidden God, bringing with each of those glimpses the consolation and joys for which we have yearned for so long. Why God Hides: And Where to Find Him by Fr. John Portavella Paperback — 224 pages List price: $18.95  Today's Sale Price: $14.99! BUY NOW Continue cultivating your spiritual life with this short, practical guide that will help you develop the soul-nourishing habits that lead to sanctity. As he did for saints and sinners in his own time, St. Francis de Sales will stiffen your resolve and help you gain small victories over unruly passions, and restore in you a trusting confidence in Jesus Christ. Soon you'll find yourself delivered from the chains of self-love as your soul opens to divine goodness and your heart is shaped into a fitting place for Christ to dwell and reign eternally. If you find it difficult to live amid the clamor of the world with your eyes fixed on Christ alone, let St. Francis de Sales teach you how to live as a true rose among thorns as you learn . . .   What to do when you stop finding consolation during prayer   How to place yourself in the presence of God   How busy people should pray   Reliable discernment at times when you fear vice more than you love virtue   How to be patient with your family   The dangers of too many devotions   How to know when your feelings are from God or the devil   What to do about repeated spiritual dryness   The three things you must do to be at peace   How to avoid thoughts that give us anxious and restless minds. Absorb the wisdom in these holy pages, and you'll soon make true progress on your spiritual journey and navigate with confidence the treacherous waters of our secular world. Today's price: $24.99! List price: $30.90 BUY NOW Order online above, or call 1-800-888-9344 www.SophiaInstitute.com   Invite friends to receive our newsletters and get these books for FREE! LEARN MORE Get one discounted book per month—and never pay shipping! Learn more: