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After the Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters, I cordially greet all of you, Romans and pilgrims!
I would like to specially and warmly greet the good people of Molise, who welcomed me yesterday in their beautiful land and also in their heart. It was a warm, hearty welcome: I will never forget it! Thank you very much.
Please, don’t forget to pray for me: I pray for you too.
To all I wish a happy Sunday. Have a good lunch. Arrivederci!
Acknowledgment: We thank the Vatican Publisher for allowing us to publish the Homily of Pope Francis I, so that they could be accessed by more people all over the world; as a source of God’s encouragements to all of us. |
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Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Gospel Reading: Extracted from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 13:1-23 Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables. He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’ Then the disciples went up to him and asked, ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’ ‘Because’ he replied, ‘the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them. For anyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. So in their case this prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled: You will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, for fear they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed by me. ‘But happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear! I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it. ‘You, therefore, are to hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path. The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy. But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once. The one who received the seed in thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing. And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.’
27 July 2014 |
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21 July 2014, First reading: Extracted from the prophet Micah 6:1-4,6-8 Listen to what the Lord is saying: Stand up and let the case begin in the hearing of the mountains and let the hills hear what you say. Listen, you mountains, to the Lord’s accusation, give ear, you foundations of the earth, for the Lord is accusing his people, pleading against Israel: My people, what have I done to you, how have I been a burden to you? Answer me. I brought you out of the land of Egypt, I rescued you from the house of slavery; I sent Moses to lead you, with Aaron and Miriam. – ‘With what gift shall I come into the Lord’s presence and bow down before God on high? Shall I come with holocausts, with calves one year old? Will he be pleased with rams by the thousand, with libations of oil in torrents? Must I give my first-born for what I have done wrong, the fruit of my body for my own sin?’ – What is good has been explained to you, man; this is what the Lord asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God. |
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Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Responsorial: Psalm 65:10-14 Response: Some seed fell into rich soil and produced its crop.
You care for the earth, give it water, you fill it with riches. Your river in heaven brims over to provide its grain.
And thus you provide for the earth; you drench its furrows; you level it, soften it with showers; you bless its growth.
You crown the year with your goodness. Abundance flows in your steps, in the pastures of the wilderness it flows.
The hills are girded with joy, the meadows covered with flocks, the valleys are decked with wheat. They shout for joy, yes, they sing. |
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Gospel Acclamation 1 Samuel 3:9, John 6:68 Alleluia, alleluia! Speak, Lord, your servant is listening: you have the message of eternal life. Alleluia! Or Alleluia, alleluia! The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower; whoever finds this seed will remain for ever. Alleluia! |