Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

July is the month dedicated to the Precious Blood of the Lord

Sea Sunday: We remember and pray for seafarers and their families, in gratitude for their lives and work - Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us.

In other years: The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel; Saint Helier (-555)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict for the Week: Ch 37 The Elderly and Children - Ch 43 Tardiness at the Work of God or at Table

Mass: Is 55:10-11; Resp Ps 65; Rm 8:18-23; Mt 13:1-23

Greatly have you enriched it.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

MARY, STAR OF THE SEA,

MARY, QUEEN OF ANGELS,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

BLOOD OF CHRIST, PEACE AND TENDERNESS OF HEARTS,

SAVE US.

Just as from the heavens the rain and snow came down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful ... so shall my word be that goes from my mouth.

(Isaiah 55:10-11). 

Welcome to the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time in the month of July dedicated to the Precious Blood of the Lord. With today's invocation from the Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, I remember Sister Mary Blanche Smith, OSB, of happy memory, who, as I was went to her for a blessing before I flew somewhere, always told me to pray that the Blood of Christ wash over the people below as the plane flew over them. We could all certainly benefit from the Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts, washing over us. This week, let us spend some time tending to the soil of our hearts to receive God's heart of peace and tenderness. May we receive the word of God with open minds and the willingness to listen with ears that ought to hear (see Mt 13:9), no matter what as we groan within ourselves and wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies (see Rm 8:23). Listen carefully, my child, to the master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart (Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue 1).

With a late addition to today's wordy words, I add something that came to me as the priest proclaimed the Gospel at this morning's Mass. In Matthew 13:10, we hear that the disciples approached Jesus and asked, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" With that I recalled something my Irish Dominican professor in Rome said, that is, "Jesus is a walking parable." Add that one to your reflections this week. It is nice for sure. Jesus is a walking parable. And it is in Him that we live, and move, and have our being. 

This week's voices are all from Cardinal Basil Hume (1923-1999), during the centenary of his birth. Fitting too as next year we commemorate the 25th anniversary of his death. May the dear Cardinal intercede for us. Give God the praise! United in faith and prayer, we are pilgrims on the journey of life.

Life is a pilgrimage. We are on a march and sooner or later we shall reach our destination. That destination we call heaven.

This pilgrim way [is] not at all easy ... it can be pretty rough and uphill business as I try to make my way along it.

The pilgrim wanders through life, often limping, sometimes bewildered, at times quite lost; and the pilgrim is searching, often quite unconsciously, for something or someone to make sense of life, and certainly to make sense of death.

(To Be a Pilgrim: A Spiritual Notebook/The Mystery of the Cross/To Be a Pilgrim)

We talk of knowing about God, whereas the point is to know God. We want to know God, that is why there is prayer in our lives. It is only in the experience of praying that we become aware not only that we seek God, but that God is always seeking us.

(To Be a Pilgrim: A Spiritual Notebook)

Always think of God as your lover. Therefore He wants to be with you, just as a lover wants to be with the beloved. He wants your attention, as every lover wants the attention of the beloved. He wants to listen to you, as every lover wants to hear the voice of the beloved. If you turn to me and ask, "Are you in love with God?" I would pause, hesitate and say, "I am not certain. But on one thing I am certain-that He is in love with me."

(The Mystery of Love)

To see Christ in everyone you meet, and especially in the poor, the sick and the handicapped. Behave towards others as you expect them to behave towards you.

(To Be a Pilgrim)

Everything in the Christian life, and therefore in the monastic life, is ordered to charity, and charity is concerned with loving other people.

(Unpublished conference to the monks at Ampleforth Abbey, 1967)

Whatever our problems or uncertainties, however dark the future may seem, we can always go forward bravely into the unknown. Jesus Christ experienced this darkness Himself, but through it He encountered light; He rose from the dead. That is the main reason why we should be joyful and at peace.

(The Mystery of the Cross)

From something the Cardinal told the priests of his archdiocese, good for all of us to take to heart as we go and bear good fruit that yields a hundred or sixty of thirtyfold (see Mt 13:8).

I think there is a great need to find a way of speaking about God which touches the lives and hearts of people, because there is a search going on. We have so many riches in our tradition from our collective experience; we have simply got to find a way to communicate.

(Light in the Lord: Reflections on the Priesthood)

OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL,

SAINT HELIER,

POPE SAINT LEO IV,

SAINT KENELM,

BLESSED JOHN SUGAR AND ROBERT GRISSOLD,

BLESSED INACIO DE AZEVEDO,

BLESSED THERESE OF SAINT AUGUSTINE AND COMPANIONS,

SAINT CAMILLUS DE LELLIS,

SAINT BRUNO OF SEGNI,

SAINT AEMILIANUS, MARTYR OF MESIA, BISHOP,

SAINT JOHN PLESSINGTON,

SAINT APOLLINARIS,

SAINT ELIJAH, FATHER OF THE CARMELITES,

SAINT LAURENCE OF BRINDISI,

SAINT MARY MAGDALENE,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Blessing its yield.

© Gertrude Feick 2023