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17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Note: Homilies & Angelus / Regina Caeli of Pope Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI & Pope Francis I had been compiled for you after the Mass Readings below. Happy Reading! Liturgical Colour: Green.
Mass Readings from ETWN, USCCB, Universalis. See our compilation with Pictures in Encouragements-276. 8-) First Reading: Genesis 18:20-32, Responsorial: Psalms 138:1-3, 6-8, 2nd Reading: Colossians 2:12-14 & Gospel: Luke 11:1-13, Gospel Video, CCTNtv.
Others:
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Homilies, Angelus / Regina Caeli
2. Dear people of Borno, you have wished to welcome me in front of your parish church, which overlooks your homes and is an important reference point for your faith and history. From this place dear to you, I would like to say to everyone: love your faith, bear witness to it joyfully, make it active through fraternal love, generous forgiveness and mutual, supportive help.
I would like to extend this invitation to those who are far from the Church or are non-believers: do not be afraid to seek God, because he is seeking you and loves you. And I would like to tell young people, who are the hope of the third millennium: invest your life wisely, for it is a talent to be made fruitful; remember that you only live once.
Thinking precisely of young people, I would like to recall that in his youth Giovanni Battista Montini, who later became Pope Paul VI, used to spend his summer holidays here in Borno with his parents. In 1920, a few weeks after his ordination to the priesthood, he celebrated Holy Mass here in your church. This year is the centenary of his birth and, in expectation of its solemn commemoration in Brescia next September, I would now like to invite you to pray that the many young people of the Borno community, of Valle Camonica and of the whole Diocese of Brescia will follow the example of his fidelity to the Lord on the path of the priesthood or the consecrated life.
3. Dear brothers and sisters, it is easier in the midst of this wonderful natural scenery to raise one’s gaze to the Creator and to praise him for his works. In my Apostolic Letter Dies Domini I pointed out that it is precisely this contemplative gaze which must characterize Sunday, the Lord’s Day.
My hope is that your holiday period will encourage you to rediscover the Christian meaning of Sunday, a day of rest but especially a day of community prayer; a day when the risen Christ fills us with hope and joy; a day given to man for his own good.
May Our Blessed Lady, whom we call upon today in the Angelus prayer, help us in this task of spiritual enrichment and help you all constantly to revive your faith and dedication to those Christian values which are at the roots of Borno and of the traditions of these valleys so rich in devotion and active fidelity to the Gospel. Pope Saint John Paul II (Angelus, 19 July 1998)
1. Yesterday, 28 July, the United Nations celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention, on the status of refugees. This is an important agreement, which remains the foundation on which the international protection of refugees rests, since it was ratified by some 140 countries, including the Holy See.
For the nations involved in the Second World War, the past 50 years have been essentially years of peace. However, conflicts have not been lacking in the world, causing the number of refugees and forced migrants to grow. Moreover, numerous and serious breaches in the faithful application of the Geneva Convention have been observed. However, a sign of hope comes from the determination with which the United Nations High Commission for Refugees is working to verify the efficacy of the convention and its correspondence with present-day reality.
2. I hope that such an important effort for a higher level of protection and solidarity will bring it about that the fundamental right to asylum for all those in need will be not lost, and that the international community will also spur the individual states and those responsible to promote the necessary policies, to fulfil the duty of accepting refugees much better and to shelter them in a decent way.
Let us raise our prayer to God today, so that every form of forced human mobility may be banned; in order that individuals, families and social groups will be able to safeguard their own roots and their own identity. May their movements be unhampered and may an atmosphere of peace be established in the world, facilitated by the knowledge and respect of different human, cultural and spiritual values, which are proper to every people.
Let us entrust this special intention to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of all mankind. Pope Saint John Paul II (Angelus, 29 July 2001)
1. During these days of rest and relaxation, I often think of the dramatic conditions in various regions of the world. Today I would like to draw your attention in particular to the tragic events that for some time now have marked certain countries on the beloved Continent of Africa.
2. For more than 18 years, North Uganda has been embroiled in an inhuman war that involves millions of people, especially children. Many of them, in the grip of fear and deprived of any kind of future, feel forced to "become soldiers". I appeal to the International Community and to national political leaders to put an end to this tragic fighting and see that real prospects of peace are offered to the entire Ugandan Nation.
Equally disturbing is the plight of the beloved peoples of Darfur, the western region of Sudan that borders on Chad. The war, which has gathered momentum in recent months, has brought ever greater poverty, desperation and death. At least 20 harsh battles in Sudan have resulted in vast numbers of dead, evacuees and refugees. How can we remain indifferent? I address a heartfelt appeal to the political leaders and international organizations not to forget these harshly-tried brothers and sisters of ours. Pope Saint John Paul II (Angelus, 25 July 2004)
The beauty of nature reminds us that we have been appointed by God to "tend and care for" this "garden" which is the earth (cf. Genesis 2: 8-17), and I see that you truly tend and take care of this beautiful garden of God, a true paradise. So, when people live in peace with God and one another, the earth truly resembles a "paradise".
Unfortunately, sin ruins ever anew this divine project, causing division and introducing death into the world. Thus, humanity succumbs to the temptations of the Evil One and wages war against itself. Patches of "hell" are consequently also created in this marvellous "garden" which is the world. In the midst of this beauty, we must never forget the situations in which our brothers and sisters at times find themselves.
War, with its aftermath of bereavement and destruction, has always been deemed a disaster in opposition to the plan of God, who created all things for existence and particularly wants to make the human race one family.
I cannot avoid here calling to mind a significant date: 1 August 1917 - exactly 90 years ago - on which my venerable Predecessor, Pope Benedict XV, addressed his famous Note to the Heads of Belligerent Peoples, calling for an end to the First World War (cf. AAS 9 [1917], 417-420). While that inhuman conflict was raging, the Pope had the courage to call it a "senseless slaughter". His words are engraved in history. They were justified in the actual situation of that summer of 1917, especially on this Venetian front.
But these words, "senseless slaughter", also contain a broader, more prophetic value and can be applied to many other conflicts that have struck down countless human lives. These very regions where we are, which themselves speak of peace, harmony and the Creator's goodness, were the theatre of the First World War, as so many testimonies and several moving Alpine songs still recall. These events must not be forgotten! We must remember the negative experiences our forebears unfortunately suffered in order not to repeat them.
Pope Benedict XV's Note was not limited to condemning the war; it also pointed out in a juridical perspective ways to build a just and lasting peace: the moral force of law, balanced and controlled disarmament, arbitration in disputes, the freedom of the seas, reciprocal amnesty for the costs of war, the restitution of occupied territories and fair negotiations to settle problems.
The Holy See's proposal was oriented to the future of Europe and the world. It complied with a project that was Christian in inspiration but could be shared by all since it was based on the rights of peoples. This was the same structure to which the Servants of God Paul VI and John Paul II adhered in their memorable Discourses to the United Nations Assembly, repeating on the Church's behalf: "War never again!".
From this place of peace, where one is even more vividly aware of how unacceptable the horrors of "senseless slaughters" are, I renew my appeal to adhere tenaciously to the path of law, to consistently ban the arms race and, more generally, to reject the temptation to tackle new situations with old systems.
With these thoughts and hopes in my heart that this may always be, as it is now thanks be to God, a place of peace and hospitality, let us now raise a special prayer for peace in the world, entrusting it to Mary Most Holy, Queen of Peace. I wish you all a good Sunday and good vacation. Thank you for everything! Pope Benedict XVI (Angelus, 22 July 2007)
See our compilation with Pictures in Encouragements-276. 8-)
Three ideas: Go, do not be afraid, and serve. Go, do not be afraid, and serve. If you follow these three ideas, you will experience that the one who evangelizes is evangelized; the one who transmits the joy of faith receives more joy. Dear young friends, as you return to your homes, do not be afraid to be generous with Christ, to bear witness to his Gospel. In the first Reading, when God sends the prophet Jeremiah, he gives him the power to “pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:10). It is the same for you. Bringing the Gospel is bringing God’s power to pluck up and break down evil and violence, to destroy and overthrow the barriers of selfishness, intolerance and hatred, so as to build a new world. Dear young friends, Jesus Christ is counting on you! The Church is counting on you! The Pope is counting on you! May Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, always accompany you with her tenderness: “Go and make disciples of all nations”. Amen. Pope Francis I (Homily, 28 July 2013)
The Immaculate Virgin intercedes for us in heaven as a good mother who watches over her children. May Mary teach us by her life what it means to be a missionary disciple. Every time we pray the Angelus, we recall the event that changed the history of mankind for ever. When the Angel Gabriel proclaimed to Mary that she would become the Mother of Jesus the Saviour, even without understanding the full significance of that call, she trusted God and replied: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). But what did she do immediately afterwards? On receiving the grace of being the Mother of the Incarnate Word, she did not keep that gift to herself; with a sense of responsibility, she set off from her home and went in haste to help her kinswoman Elizabeth, who was in need of assistance (cf. Luke 1:38-39); she carried out an act of love, of charity, and of practical service, bringing Jesus who was in her womb. And she did all this in haste!
There, my dear friends, we have our model. She who received the most precious gift from God, as her immediate response sets off to be of service and to bring Jesus. Let us ask Our Lady to help us too to give Christ’s joy to our families, our companions, our friends, to everyone. Never be afraid to be generous with Christ. It is worth it! Go out and set off with courage and generosity, so that every man and every woman may meet the Lord. Pope Francis I (Angelus, 28 July 2013)
The Gospel this Sunday (Luke 11:1-13) opens with the scene of Jesus who is praying alone, apart from the others; when he finishes, the disciples ask him: “Lord, teach us to pray” (v. 1); and He says in reply, “When you pray, say: ‘Father...’”(v. 2). This word is the “secret” of Jesus’ prayer, it is the key that he himself gives to us so that we too might enter into that relationship of confidential dialogue with the Father who accompanied and sustained his whole life.
With the name “Father” Jesus combines two requests: “hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come” (v. 2). Jesus’ prayer, and the Christian prayer therefore, first and foremost, makes room for God, allowing him to show his holiness in us and to advance his kingdom, beginning with the possibility of exercising his Lordship of love in our lives.
Three other supplications complete this prayer that Jesus taught, the “Our Father”. There are three questions that express our basic needs: bread, forgiveness and help in temptation (cf. vv. 3-4). One cannot live without bread, one cannot live without forgiveness and one cannot live without God’s help in times of temptation. The bread that Jesus teaches us to ask for is what is necessary, not superfluous. It is the bread of pilgrims, the righteous, a bread that is neither accumulated nor wasted, and that does not weigh us down as we walk. Forgiveness is, above all, what we ourselves receive from God: only the awareness that we are sinners forgiven by God’s infinite mercy can enable us to carry out concrete gestures of fraternal reconciliation. If a person does not feel that he/she is a sinner who has been forgiven, that person will never be able to make a gesture of forgiveness or reconciliation. It begins in the heart where you feel that you are a forgiven sinner. The last supplication, “lead us not into temptation”, expresses the awareness of our condition, which is always exposed to the snares of evil and corruption. We all know what temptation is!
Jesus’ teaching on prayer continues with two parables, which he modelled on the behaviour of a friend towards another friend, and that of a father towards his son (cf. vv. 5-12). Both are intended to teach us to have full confidence in God, who is Father. He knows our needs better than we do ourselves, but he wants us to present them to him boldly and persistently, because this is our way of participating in his work of salvation. Prayer is the first and principle “working instrument” we have in our hands! In being persistent with God, we don’t need to convince him, but to strengthen our faith and our patience, meaning our ability to strive together with God for the things that are truly important and necessary. In prayer there are two of us: God and I, striving together for the important things.
Among these, there is one, the great important thing that Jesus speaks of in today’s Gospel, which we almost never ask for, and that is the Holy Spirit. “Give me the Holy Spirit...!” And Jesus says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him for it!” (v. 13). The Holy Spirit! We must ask that the Holy Spirit comes within us. But what is the use of the Holy Spirit? We need him to live well, to live with wisdom and love, doing God’s will. What a beautiful prayer it would be if, this week, each of us were to ask the Father: “Father, give me the Holy Spirit!”. Our Lady demonstrates this with her life, which was entirely enlivened by the Spirit of God. May She, united to Jesus, help us to pray to the Father so that we might not live in a worldly manner, but according to the Gospel, guided by the Holy Spirit. Pope Francis I (Angelus, 24 July 2016)
Extracts: ...he (Jesus) delivers the “Lord’s Prayer” to them, perhaps the most precious gift left to us by the Divine Master during his earthly mission. After revealing to us his mystery as Son and brother, with that prayer Jesus allows us to enter into God’s paternity. I want to underscore this: when Jesus teaches us the “Our Father”, he allows us to enter into God’s paternity and he points the way to enter into a prayerful and direct dialogue with him, through the path of filial intimacy. It is a dialogue between a father and his son, of a son with his father. What we ask in the “Our Father” is already fulfilled for us in his Only-begotten Son: the sanctification of the Name, the advent of the Kingdom, the gift of bread, of forgiveness and of delivery from evil. As we ask, we open our hand to receive; to receive the gifts that the Father has shown us in his Son. The prayer that the Lord taught us is the synthesis of every prayer and we address it to the Father, always in communion with our brothers and sisters. Sometimes distractions can occur in prayer, but we often feel the need to stop at the first word, “Father”, and feel that paternity in our heart. ...Children feel insecure about many things that they are only partially beginning to understand. They only wish to attract the father’s gaze, and thus the “why, why, why?”. If we pause on the first word of the “Our Father”, we will be doing the same as when we were children: attracting the father’s gaze upon us: saying, “Father, Father” and also asking, “why?”, and he will look at us. Pope Francis I (Angelus, 28 July 2019)
Daily Blessings to You from Emmanuel Goh & Friends
Note: This webpage has many hyperlinks to the Vatican Webpage. The above extracts were compiled for your easy reading. This Publication is aimed to encourage all of Goodwill around the World. It is not for business or profit purposes but it is our way to thank our Creator for His continuous blessings!
Compiled on 21 July 2019 Last updated: 24 July 2022, 11:18 SGT
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