NGƯỜI LỮ HÀNH HY VỌNG: JULY 10, 2016 : FIFTEENTH SINDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Thứ Bảy, 9 tháng 7, 2016

JULY 10, 2016 : FIFTEENTH SINDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 105

Moses said to the people:
"If only you would heed the voice of the LORD, your God,
and keep his commandments and statutes
that are written in this book of the law,
when you return to the LORD, your God,
with all your heart and all your soul.

"For this command that I enjoin on you today
is not too mysterious and remote for you.
It is not up in the sky, that you should say,
'Who will go up in the sky to get it for us
and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'
Nor is it across the sea, that you should say,
'Who will cross the sea to get it for us
and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'
No, it is something very near to you,
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out."

Responsorial PsalmPS 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37

R. (cf. 33) Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.
I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness:
in your great mercy turn toward me.
R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.
I am afflicted and in pain;
let your saving help, O God, protect me.
I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.
"See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not."
R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.
For God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
The descendants of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall inhabit it.
R. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.

OrPS 19:8, 9, 10, 11

R.(9a) Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
the decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

Reading 2COL 1:15-20

Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the blood of his cross
through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.

AlleluiaCF. JN 6:63C, 68C

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 10:25-37

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said,
"Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law?
How do you read it?"
He said in reply,
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself."
He replied to him, "You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live."

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,
"And who is my neighbor?"
Jesus replied,
"A man fell victim to robbers
as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
A priest happened to be going down that road,
but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
Likewise a Levite came to the place,
and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him
was moved with compassion at the sight.
He approached the victim,
poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Then he lifted him up on his own animal,
took him to an inn, and cared for him.
The next day he took out two silver coins
and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction,
'Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you,
I shall repay you on my way back.'
Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers' victim?"
He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy."
Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

www.usccb.org

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C

Note: Where a Scripture text is underlined in the body of this discussion, it is recommended that the reader look up and read that passage.

1st Reading - Deuteronomy 30:10-14

The title “Deuteronomy” comes from the Septuagint deuteronomion (meaning “second law”). Moses is addressing a new generation of Israelites, all those who would have been under the age of twenty when the exodus began almost 40 years earlier. These “new” Israelites are gathered in Moab to hear Moses restate the Law to them. This was necessary because their parents had committed apostasy in making the golden calf and by worshiping Baal-Peor by which they had thereby defiled themselves. The covenant of Deuteronomy is different from the Sinai covenant. Deuteronomy itself in 29:1 makes this clear: “These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant he made with them at Horeb (Sinai).”

After the golden calf, Israel deserved to die. Instead, they were placed on probation, under the strict legal supervision of the Levites, with Moses as the court-appointed guardian and probation officer. After many probationary violations, Israel was re-sentenced to forty years of detention and hard labor in the desert. At the release date, a parole hearing was held on the plains of Moab, where it was determined that Israel was not truly rehabilitated.

In Deuteronomy God retained many of the original terms of Israel’s initial probation. They had to remain under Levitical supervision, while Joshua replaced Moses as Israel’s guardian. However, the Judge realized the need to add three new sets of conditions for living at home: legal concessions, ritual stipulations and redemptive curses.

The legal concessions are permission of such things as divorce and remarriage, foreign slave-wives, and genocidal warfare against Canaanites; these are a downward adjustment on God’s part to a more realistic level of expectations for a sinful Israel. At the same time however, priests and Levites had to follow a much stricter marital morality: they were not permitted to marry non-virgins or divorcees, nor presumably was divorce and remarriage allowed.

The ritual stipulations require the sacrificial offering of firstborn from the herds and flocks at a central sanctuary. These laws may be seen as a counterbalance to the first, since the second set serve to remind Israel of its call to holiness, through to a lesser degree than the Levites.

The third set of conditions, the redemptive curses, comes at the time of our reading today. Moses solemnly declares with certitude that all the curses of the covenant will inevitably befall Israel at some point in the distant future. Previously, he had placed Israel under the curses conditionally, in a formal oath-swearing ceremony but now he says “...
when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse...”

Our reading today comes from this final discourse of Moses, just prior to the selection of Joshua to lead the people into the promised land. It is the conclusion of the covenant making ceremony.

[Moses said to the people:] 10 [I]f only you heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this book of the law,

Deuteronomy. The Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) constituted the Law.

when you return to the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul. 11 “For this command which I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. 12 It is not up in the sky, that you should say, ‘Who will go up in the sky to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’ 13 Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’ 14 No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out.

The Law is not esoteric knowledge requiring that a chosen intermediary like Enoch (Genesis 5:24) ascend to heaven in order to communicate it. It is recited in the covenant festival, and God has now put the disposition to obey it in the heart (see Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:26-27).

2nd Reading - Colossians 1:15-20

This week we begin a four week tour through the Letter to the Colossians as our epistle reading.

Although imprisoned in Rome (A.D. 61-63) when he wrote this letter, Saint Paul enjoyed relative freedom in what he was allowed to do. Colossae was a city in Phyrgia, about 125 miles east of Ephesus, and very close to Laodicea (now a part of Turkey). The church at Colossae was composed mostly of Christians of gentile background and had not been founded by Saint Paul himself, but by a disciple of his, Epaphras (Colossians 1:7). Paul was, however, well informed about how the church was faring. In fact, it was a visit to Rome by Epaphras that occasioned this letter because Epaphras reported to the apostle about dangerous doctrines which had recently made their way into the church, threatening both faith and morals. False teachers were introducing a series of outdated Mosaic practices – such as observance of the law of the Sabbath, identification of certain foods as unclean, and an exaggerated emphasis on the role of angels as intermediaries between God and men, which threatened to undermine the true doctrine of Christ as the only mediator.

Saint Paul uses the occasion to instruct the Colossians and to restate for them the truth about the absolute supremacy of Jesus Christ, as beginning and end of all creation. He is the true creator, conserver and redeemer, for He is the Son of God.

15 He [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God,

Saint Paul is thinking of Christ as the new Adam, head of a new creation. Adam had been created to the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and commissioned to rule over all the earth (Genesis 1:28). The new head of humanity finally accomplishes this mission.

the firstborn of all creation.

As the context which follows shows, Saint Paul doesn’t fall into the Arian heresy of claiming Christ was a created creature; He is before all creation; in other words, He exists from all eternity.

16 For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;

Angelic beings which are subordinate to Christ. In the false teaching of Colossae, these beings may have been thought of as rivals of Christ or beings that provided supplementary power to that of Christ. This is the only place in the New Testament where “thrones” is a category (choir) of angelic beings.

all things were created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things,

Christ is pre-existent. He was before creation.

“Paul did not say ‘He was made before all things,’ but that ‘He is before all things.’ He is not only the maker of all, but also He manages the care of what He has made and governs the creature, which exists by His wisdom and power.” [Theodoret of Cyr (ca. A.D. 450), Interpretation of the Fourteen Epistles of Paul, On Romans]

and in him all things hold together.

Wisdom is the cohesive force of the universe (see Wisdom 1:7). Yahweh alone is truly wise; His wisdom is exhibited in creation.

18 He is the head of the body, the church.

This statement shifts the idea of Christ as head of the cosmos to Christ as head of the Church. The community as the body is a theme present in many Pauline writings (1 Corinthians 6:15; 10:16-17; 12:12-27; Romans 12:4-5).

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

The first who was resurrected (see 1 Corinthians 15:20; Revelation 1:5). The new beginning. Christ’s own resurrection is the cause of resurrection of those who follow Him.

that in all things he himself might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,

The fullness of God – His presence, divinity, and wisdom – is Christ, who shares this with the Church, which in turn affects all humanity. The emphasis is not on God’s immanence, but on the cosmic effect of God’s power working in Christ and in the Church.

20 and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross (through him),

The prevalent Jewish belief was that the world had fallen into the captivity of ruling world powers (angelic powers) through man’s sin. Christ overcame these angelic powers by taking away their control over believers. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross made atonement for all man’s sins (particularly the sin of Adam and the sin of the golden calf) and made it possible for man’s sins to be forgiven and forgotten.

whether those on earth or those in heaven.

“I believe that when our Lord and Savior came, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were blessed with God’s mercy. Previously they had seen His day and rejoiced (John 8:56). It is not believable that they did not profit from it later, when He came and was born of a virgin. And why do I speak of the patriarchs? I shall boldly follow the authority of the Scriptures to higher planes, for the presence of the Lord Jesus and His work benefitted not only what is earthly but also what is heavenly. Hence the blood of His cross, both on earth and in heaven.” [Origin (after A.D. 233), Homilies on Luke 10,3]

Gospel - Luke 10:25-37

Last week in our study of the Gospel, we heard of the mission of the seventy-two as they went out as sort of an advance party to the towns Jesus intended to visit. When the seventy-two returned, they were jubilant about what they had been able to do in His name. Jesus then cautioned them not to rejoice in what they had done, but in the fact that their real reward would be in heaven. Today we hear the parable of the good Samaritan. This passage is two-pronged. While providing a powerful lesson about mercy toward those in need, it also proclaims that non-Jews can observe the Law and thus enter into eternal life.

25 There was a scholar of the law

This man would have been a scribe.

who stood up to test him [Jesus] and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” 27 He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

This answer combines Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.

28   He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

Jesus’ comment is reminiscent of Leviticus 18:5 (see also Galatians 3:12; Romans 10:5).

29   But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Just like a lawyer, he wants all the terms accurately defined so that he will be sure of eternal life. It could be that the question stems from debates about who belongs to God’s people and therefore is an object of neighborly love.

30   Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road,

A representative of the religious leaders of the people.

but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. 32 Likewise a Levite came to the place,

An assistant in the Temple. It could be that the priest and the Levite were afraid to approach the man because they thought he was dead and consequently a source of ritual defilement (Numbers 19:11).

and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. 33 But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him

To the Jews, the Samaritans were a heretical and schismatic group of spurious worshipers of the God of Israel, who were detested even more than the pagans. In 720 B.C. the northern kingdom was captured by the Mesopotamian King Sargon II and most of the inhabitants were carried off. Those who remained behind intermingled with the people Sargon imported from Babylon, Cutah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim to form a new people. From that time on these people were called Samaritans. Friendly relations existed between the Samaritans and the kingdom of Judah until the deportation of Judea in 586 B.C.

was moved with compassion at the sight.

His love was spontaneous and did not have to inquire into the Law; it was disinterested, kindly, personal, and effective.

34 He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ 36 Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”

Jesus’ question turns the lawyer’s question on its head: Don’t ask about who belongs to God’s people and thus is the object of My neighborly attention, but rather ask about the conduct incumbent upon a member of God’s chosen people.

37 He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The lawyer can’t bring himself to say “Samaritan.” Because he did the Law, the outcast Samaritan shows that he is a neighbor, a member of God’s people, one who inherits eternal life.

www.scborromeo.org

Meditation: "Go and do likewise"

If God is all-loving and compassionate, then why is there so much suffering and evil in this world? Many agnostics refuse to believe in God because of this seemingly imponderable problem. If God is love then evil and suffering must be eliminated in all its forms. What is God's answer to this human dilemma? Jesus' parable about a highway robbery gives us a helpful hint. Jesus told this dramatic story in response to a devout Jew who wanted to understand how to apply God's great commandment of love to his everyday life circumstances. In so many words this religious-minded Jew said: "I want to love God as best as I can and I want to love my neighbor as well. But how do I know that I am fulfilling my duty to love my neighbor as myself?"

Jesus must have smiled when he heard this man challenge him to explain one's duty towards their neighbor. For the Jewish believer the law of love was plain and simple: "treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself." The real issue for this believer was the correct definition of who is "my neighbor". He understood "neighbor" to mean one's fellow Jew who belonged to the same covenant which God made with the people of Israel. Up to a certain point, Jesus agreed with this sincere expert but, at the same time, he challenged him to see that God's view of neighbor went far beyond his narrow definition.

God's love and mercy extends to all
Jesus told a parable to show how wide God's love and mercy is towards every fellow human being. Jesus' story of a brutal highway robbery was all too familiar to his audience. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho went through a narrow winding valley surrounded by steep rocky cliffs. Many wealthy Jews from Jerusalem had winter homes in Jerico. This narrow highway was dangerous and notorious for its robbers who could easily ambush their victim and escape into the hills. No one in his right mind would think of traveling through this dangerous highway alone. It was far safer to travel with others for protection and defense.

Our prejudice gets in the way of mercy
So why did the religious leaders refuse to give any help when they saw a half-dead victim lying by the roadside? Didn't they recognize that this victim was their neighbor? And why did a Samaritan, an outsider who was despised by the Jews, treat this victim with special care at his own expense as he would care for his own family? Who was the real neighbor who showed brotherly compassion and mercy? Jesus makes the supposed villain, the despised Samaritan, the merciful one as an example for the status conscious Jews. Why didn't the priest and Levite stop to help? The priest probably didn't want to risk the possibility of ritual impurity. His piety got in the way of charity. The Levite approached close to the victim, but stopped short of actually helping him. Perhaps he feared that bandits were using a decoy to ambush him. The Levite put personal safety ahead of saving his neighbor.

God expects us to be merciful as he is merciful
What does Jesus' story tell us about true love for one's neighbor? First, we must be willing to help even if others brought trouble on themselves through their own fault or negligence. Second, our love and concern to help others in need must be practical. Good intentions and showing pity, or emphathizing with others, are not enough. And lastly, our love for others must be as wide and as inclusive as God's love. God excludes no one from his care and concern. God's love is unconditional. So we must be ready to do good to others for their sake, just as God is good to us.

Jesus not only taught God's way of love, but he showed how far God was willing to go to share in our suffering and to restore us to wholeness of life and happiness. Jesus overcame sin, suffering, and death through his victory on the cross. His death brought us freedom from slavery to sin and the promise of everlasting life with God. He willingly shared in our suffering to bring us to the source of true healing and freedom from sin and oppression. True compassion not only identifies and emphathizes with the one who is in pain, but takes that pain on oneself in order to bring freedom and restoration.

The cross shows us God's perfect love and forgiveness
Jesus truly identified with our plight, and he took the burden of our sinful condition upon himself. He showed us the depths of God's love and compassion, by sharing in our suffering and by offering his life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins upon the cross. His suffering is redemptive because it brings us healing and restoration and the fulness of eternal life. God offers us true freedom from every form of oppression, sin, and suffering. And that way is through the cross of Jesus Christ. Are you ready to embrace the cross of Christ, to suffer for his sake, and to lay down your life out of love for your neighbor?

"Lord Jesus, may your love always be the foundation of my life. Free me from every fear and selfish-concern that I may freely give myself in loving service to others, even to the point of laying my life down for their sake."

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: God desires to be our neighbor, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"God our Lord wished to be called our neighbor. The Lord Jesus Christ meant that he was the one who gave help to the man lying half-dead on the road, beaten and left by the robbers. The prophet said in prayer, 'As a neighbor and as one's own brother, so did I please' (Psalm 34:14 ). Since the divine nature is far superior and above our human nature, the command by which we are to love God is distinct from our love of our neighbor. He shows mercy to us because of his own goodness, while we show mercy to one another because of God's goodness. He has compassion on us so that we may enjoy him completely, while we have compassion on another that we may completely enjoy him. (excerpt from CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION 33)

www.dailyscripture.net

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
SUNDAY, JULY 10, LUKE 10:25-37

(Deuteronomy 30:10-14; Psalm 69; Colossians 1:15-20)
KEY VERSE: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself" (v 27).
TO KNOW: A scribe (a "lawyer") was one well versed in the Law of Moses. When a scribe asked what he must do to gain eternal life, Jesus told him that the answer was found in the scriptures: to love God wholeheartedly (Dt 6:4-5) and to love one's neighbor as oneself (Lv 19:18). When the scribe asked, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus told the parable about a good Samaritan. Since there was deep hostility between Jews and Samaritans, the words "Samaritan" and "neighbor" were generally not used together. Yet it was a Samaritan who took the time to rescue a man who was left to die by the side of the road. It would have been just as shocking for Jesus to say that the priests and Levites rescued the man as that would have made these religious people "unclean" from being in contact with blood (Nm 19:16). Jesus said that the priests and Levites went off to do "holy" things in Jerusalem, while the despised Samaritan was moved with God's compassion and treated the wounded man with mercy. Jesus told the scribe, and us as well, to go and do likewise to the "neighbor" we meet along the way.
TO LOVE: In what ways do I show the love of God to others?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, reveal your love to all I meet. Help me to love myself.
NOTE -- National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA)
The National Organization for Victim Assistance is a private, non-profit organization of victim and witness assistance programs and practitioners, criminal justice agencies and professionals, mental health professionals, researchers, former victims and survivors, and others committed to the recognition and implementation of victim rights and services. www.trynova.org

www.togetherwithgodsword.com

Sunday 10 July 2016

Sun 10th. 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  Deuteronomy 30:10-14. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live—Ps 68(69):14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36-37. Colossians 1:15-20. Luke 10:25-37.

Readings

'Go and do likewise.'

In today's reading God's call to care for the needy is so obvious that 'even a Samaritan ' would do it. Jesus told this parable because 'a scholar of the law' asked him 'Who is my neighbour?' (Luke 10:25.29). By telling a story about a Samaritan who did the right thing when other experts in the law, like this lawyer, didn't, Jesus made it clear that it doesn't take years of study to know how to love God and love our neighbour. It just takes the courage and humility to do what is right.
Jesus tells us 'Go and do likewise.' It's that simple. It's that clear. It's so easy in fact that a Samaritan can do it. So let's go and do likewise. Listen to that inner urge to reach out and help.
Jesus, teach me to love my neighbour as you love me — immediately, generously and extravagantly.

www.pray.com.au

MINUTE MEDITATIONS

Deposit of Grace

I knew my faith, and its practices were consoling me in ways nothing else could, but in time I would see that there was more happening than that—that a deposit of grace was building in my soul, even in the midst of my sorrow, which would, in due season, roll the stone away from my heart and release rays of resurrection joy.

— from Who Does He Say You Are?

July 10
St. Veronica Giuliani
(1660-1727)

Veronica’s desire to be like Christ crucified was answered with the stigmata.

Veronica was born in Mercatelli, Italy. It is said that when her mother Benedetta was dying she called her five daughters to her bedside and entrusted each of them to one of the five wounds of Jesus. Veronica was entrusted to the wound below Christ’s heart.

At the age of 17, Veronica joined the Poor Clares directed by the Capuchins. Her father had wanted her to marry, but she convinced him to allow her to become a nun. In her first years in the monastery, she worked in the kitchen, infirmary and sacristy and also served as portress. At the age of 34, she was made novice mistress, a position she held for 22 years. When she was 37, Veronica received the stigmata. Life was not the same after that.

Church authorities in Rome wanted to test Veronica’s authenticity and so conducted an investigation. She lost the office of novice mistress temporarily and was not allowed to attend Mass except on Sundays or holy days. Through all of this Veronica did not become bitter, and the investigation eventually restored her as novice mistress.

Though she protested against it, at the age of 56 she was elected abbess, an office she held for 11 years until her death. Veronica was very devoted to the Eucharist and to the Sacred Heart. She offered her sufferings for the missions. Veronica was canonized in 1839.

Comment:

Why did God grant the stigmata to Francis of Assisi and to Veronica? God alone knows the deepest reasons, but as Celano points out, the external sign of the cross is a confirmation of these saints’ commitment to the cross in their lives. The stigmata that appeared in Veronica’s flesh had taken root in her heart many years before. It was a fitting conclusion for her love of God and her charity toward her sisters.

Quote:

Thomas of Celano says of Francis: "All the pleasures of the world were a cross to him, because he carried the cross of Christ rooted in his heart. And therefore the stigmata shone forth exteriorly in his flesh, because interiorly that deeply set root was sprouting forth from his mind" (2 Celano, #211).

www.americancatholic.org

LECTIO DIVINA: 15TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (C)

Lectio Divina: Sunday, July 10, 2016

The parable of the Good Samaritan

Who is my neighbour?

Luke 10:25-37