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Every time we say the Our Father our voices mingle with the voice of the Church, for those who pray are never alone. "From the rich variety of Christian prayer as proposed by the Church, each member of the faithful should seek and find his own way, his own form of prayer... each person will, therefore, let himself be led... by the Holy Spirit, who guides him, through Christ, to the Father" (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on some aspects of Christian meditation, 15 October 1989, n. 29; ore, 2 Jan. 1990, p. 10).
Today is the Feast of the Apostle St James, known as "the Greater", who left his father and his work as a fisherman to follow Jesus and to give his life for him he was the first of the Apostles to do so. I warmly extend a special thought to the large numbers of pilgrims who have gone to Santiago de Compostela! May the Virgin Mary help us to rediscover the beauty and depth of Christian prayer.
After the Angelus :
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I learned with deep sorrow of the tragedy that occurred in Duisburg, Germany, in which many young people died. I remember to the Lord those who died, the injured and their relatives. I am pleased to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims present here! In today's Gospel Jesus teaches us the Lord's Prayer. Following Christ's own example, I encourage you to pray for the grace always to be worthy sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven, and loving brothers and sisters to each other. May God grant you his abundant Blessings!
I am delighted to meet a large group of Sisters Daughters of Mary Help of Christians who come from Africa, South America, Asia and Europe and I offer them every good wish for their meeting. Lastly, I recall that today the Peach Festival is being celebrated in Castel Gandolfo. Let us give thanks to God for the fruits of the earth and of the work of human hands! Many good wishes to the Administrative Board and to the people of the town and a good Sunday to everyone!
Acknowledgment: We thank the Vatican Publisher for allowing us to publish the Homily of Pope Benedict XVI, so that it could be accessed by more people all over the world; as a source of God’s encouragements to all of us. 4 August 2013 |
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The rich man lived side by side with a poor widow, though knowing fully that the poor widow needed help, the rich man refused to do anything to assist her. One day, he eavesdropped on the widow’s prayer to the Almighty to beg that groceries would be sent to help her pathetic situation… The rich man then decided to play a prank on the widow; he bought huge amount of goods and placed them at her door entrance in the middle of the night. The next morning, when the widow opened the door, she was delighted to see the groceries and started to thank & praise God. This made the rich man really mad; he stood up and told her that the groceries were bought by him and not God, thinking that the widow would bow down and thank him. The widows ignored him and proceed to thank and praise God as usual, and the rich man was upset and continues with the pestering… Finally, in her desperation, the widow said, ‘Dear God, I thank you for sending me such a huge amount of groceries and I’m happy that you have made the devil paid for them.’ You can proceed to guess what the rich man’s reaction was! 8-) -Extracted from a Priest’s sermon on 4 August 2013 (18th Sunday of Year C). |
