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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Gospel Reading: Extracted from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 14:13-21 When Jesus received the news of John the Baptist’s death he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick. When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.’ Jesus replied, ‘There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves.’ But they answered ‘All we have with us is five loaves and two fish.’ ‘Bring them here to me’ he said. He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining; twelve baskets full. Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children.
Sharing:
It was the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time on 3 August 2014.
The Readings that were read in the Eucharistic Celebrations all over the world on that day are shown in the previous page & above:
First Reading: Isaiah 55:1-3, Responsorial: Psalm 145:8-9, 15-18, Second Reading: Romans 8:35, 37-39 & Gospel Reading: Matthew 14:13-21.
We have extracted the Homilies of Saint Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI & Pope Francis I based on the aforesaid Readings to share with you, so that you could similarly be encouraged: |
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JOHN PAUL II ANGELUS Sunday, 1 august 1999
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. This Sunday begins the month of August, a month which, at least in Italy and Europe, is the season of summer holidays par excellence. It is a phenomenon of habit, although socio-economic development ensures that holidays are increasingly spread over the span of the year. Thus in many countries August is the month in which those who work far from home return and families are reunited, often in coincidence with traditional religious holidays and patronal feasts.
During this vacation period my thoughts turn especially to families. How often do they endure the hardships of the grinding pace of work, especially in big cities! How often it is hard for them to find a serene and relaxed atmosphere to enjoy intimacy, to talk to one another and to share plans. This is when holidays become above all a favourable time to fill these gaps, so to speak, with “humanity”, peace and festivity.
2. Hence the need for holidays is effectively a time of human renewal, in which, far from the rhythm of daily life, one can rediscover oneself and others in a more balanced and serene dimension.
In this perspective, it is certainly interesting to see that there is an ever greater number of single people and families who benefit from their vacation by spending a few days in so-called “places of the spirit”: monasteries, shrines, hermitages, retreat houses. Almost always these places combine the beauty of the natural scenery with an opportunity to draw spiritual riches from the encounter with God, in reflection and silence, prayer and contemplation.
It would be good if this beneficial tendency were not restricted to the holiday period alone but that satisfactory ways could be found for it to accompany daily activity at other times of year. The real challenge, in fact, lies in safeguarding our inner harmony, so that the pace of daily life will always have that supernatural dimension which each of us needs.
3. Today, let us entrust all who are beginning their vacation and those who have ended it to the protection of Blessed Mary. In a special way let us entrust to her those who for reasons of health or for many other reasons cannot benefit from this holiday season. May people on holiday enjoy the refreshment they deserve and may those who instead do not have this possibility, at any rate feel surrounded by concrete acts of friendship and solidarity.
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After praying the Angelus and appealing for peace in Colombia, the Holy Father greeted the faithful in various languages. Here is the text of his greeting to the English-speaking pilgrims. I am happy to greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors who have prayed the Angelus with us: may you always follow the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary who “heard the word of God and kept it” (cf. Luke 11:28). God bless you! |
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APOSTOLIC VISIT TO TORONTO, 17th WORLD YOUTH DAY SOLEMN MASS HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER JOHN PAUL II Toronto, Downsview Park, Sunday July 28, 2002
"You are the salt of the earth!
Dear Young People of the Seventeenth World Youth Day,
1. On a hillside near the lake of Galilee, Jesus's disciples listened to his gentle and urgent voice; as gentle as the landscape of Galilee itself, as urgent as a call to choose between life and death, between truth and falsehood. The Lord spoke words of life that would echo for ever in the hearts of his followers.
2. But Jesus offers one thing, and the "spirit of the world" offers another. In today's Reading from the Letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul tells us that Jesus leads us from darkness into light (cf. Ephesians 5:8). Perhaps the great Apostle is thinking of the light that blinded him, the persecutor of Christians, on the road to Damascus. When later he recovered his sight, nothing was as before. He had been born anew and nothing would ever take his new-found joy away from him. You too are called to be transformed. "Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light" (Ephesians 5:14), says Saint Paul.
The "spirit of the world" offers many false illusions and parodies of happiness. There is perhaps no darkness deeper than the darkness that enters young people's souls when false prophets extinguish in them the light of faith and hope and love. The greatest deception, and the deepest source of unhappiness, is the illusion of finding life by excluding God, of finding freedom by excluding moral truths and personal responsibility.
The world you are inheriting is a world which desperately needs a new sense of brotherhood and human solidarity. It is a world which needs to be touched and healed by the beauty and richness of God's love. It needs witnesses to that love. The world needs salt. It needs you - to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
Salt seasons and improves the flavour of food. Following Jesus, you have to change and improve the "taste" of human history. With your faith, hope and love, with your intelligence, courage and perseverance, you have to humanize the world we live in, in the way that today's Reading from Isaiah indicates: "loose the bonds of injustice ... share your bread with the hungry ... remove the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil.... Then your light shall rise in the darkness" (Isaiah 58:6-10). Do not let that hope die! Stake your lives on it! We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.
6. I finish with a prayer.
O Lord Jesus Christ, keep these young people in your love. Let them hear your voice and believe what you say, for you alone have the words of life.
Teach them how to profess their faith, bestow their love, and impart their hope to others.
Make them convincing witnesses to your Gospel in a world so much in need of your saving grace. Make them the new people of the Beatitudes, that they may be the salt of the earth and the light of the world at the beginning of the Third Christian Millennium!
Mary, Mother of the Church, protect and guide these young men and women of the Twenty-first Century. Keep us all close to your maternal heart. Amen.
17 August 2014
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