14th Sunday of the Year (c)
This Week’s Liturgy Calendar.
Ordinary Season of the Year. (c)
Weekdays – Year 2
Sunday 3rd July: 14th Sunday of the Year. (c)
The first reading is from the Prophet Isaiah. He gives a message of peace and hope. The Lord promises to bless his people with comfort and plenty. This is the message the followers of Jesus are asked to proclaim in the Gospel.
The second reading is from the Letter to the Galatians. Paul ends his letter with a plea for the Christians to be reconciled with each other and with God.
The Gospel passage is from St. Luke. It tells of the sending out of the seventy two disciples with instructions not to be distracted or to delay in delivering the message of Jesus. They are to be messengers of the way of peace as was foretold in the first reading.
Monday 4th July: Monday in 14th week of the year.
The readings this week come from the Prophet Hosea. He lived at the same time as Amos, some years before the destruction of the northern kingdom. The people had turned to idolatry. He uses the experience of his own difficult marriage to mirror the relationship between God and the people. The day will come when Israel will return to the Lord, back to integrity, justice, love and tenderness.
We have more examples of the healing power of Jesus in the Gospel passage, a healing power which exercised with compassion and forgiveness.
Tuesday 5th July: Tuesday in 14th week of the year.
The first reading is from the Prophet Hosea who lived around the same time as Amos. He denounces in no uncertain terms the idolatry of the people of Israel who were coming under the influence of the neighbouring pagan gods and their prophets and practices. The have ignored God. They have blasphemed. This will be remembered by God and they will be punished for their infidelity.
Jesus continues to carry out his work of healing and casting out devils. The authorities remain doubtful still in spite of what they see and hear. Jesus bemoans the lack of leadership for the people.
Wednesday 6th July: Wednesday in 14th Week of the Year.
More doom and gloom is forecast for the Israelites by Hosea. Once they were gifted by God but they had rejected these gifts and turned to the worship of pagan fertility gods instead. Their kingdom will be destroyed as a result. If they return to their former ways all will not be lost.
The apostles are named and sent out to evangelise. They are sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Later they would travel to Samaria and to the rest of the known world.
Thursday 7th July: Thursday in 14th week of the year.
Today we hear how God treats his people as a mother treats her child even when it has turned away. He will never forget his people.
Jesus gives his instructions to the apostles. Above all, they must bring peace and reconciliation to the homes, towns and people they visit in Jesus’ name.
Friday 8th July: Friday in 14th week of the year.
At the end of the book, there is a very optimistic section. The people of Israel are encouraged to turn back to the Lord so that he can show them his love. The just will be able to walk in his ways.
Jesus, in the Gospel, is still giving instructions to the apostles as they prepare to go out. They must not be afraid of what to say. The Spirit will be with them to encourage and lead them even when they are faced with difficulties and challenges.
Saturday 9thJuly: Feast of Our Lady of Aberdeen.
Standing high on a pedestal in a side chapel of a Brussels church is one of Scotland’s treasures, a statue of Our Lady and Child that was saved from destruction in Aberdeen during the Reformation. For sixty-five years, it was hidden until it was shipped to safety in the Low Countries. Despite her intention to keep the statue in the Royal Palace, the lnfanta of Spain, the Archduchess Isabella, was persuaded to place it in the newly built Augustinian church in Brussels. The statue remained in this church until 1796, when it was again removed for protection into private hands, this time to escape the ravages of the French Revolution. An Englishman, John Morris, safely restored it to the Augustinians in 1805 and it remained in their care as an object of devotion until 1814 when it was removed to the neighbouring Church of Our Lady of Finisterre. It is still venerated there as Our Lady of Good Success .Since the Restoration of the Scottish Hierarchy in 1878, devotion to Our Blessed Lady in Aberdeen, throughout the diocese, and further afield, has focused on copies of this ancient statue including the statue which stands in the Chapel of Our Lady at Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Aberdeen.
Our Lady of Lourdes
Pray for us.
St. Bernadette
Pray for us.
