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21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, 21 August 2022 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-286. 8-)
First Reading: Isaiah 66:18-21,
Responsorial: Psalm 117:1-2,
2nd Reading: Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13 &
Gospel: Luke 13:22-30, Gospel Video, CCTNtv.
Please refer to https://twitter.com/Michael65413248 for some latest record. Take care, put on your facemask and stay healthy, because we love you! 8-) COVID-19 Protection in Singapore.
1. Criminal Investigation Department, Singapore Police Force harassed Law-abiding Citizen. Latest! https://twitter.com/Michael65413248/status/1510086218851270658 (2 April 2022) #Singapore Police Force harassing the same law abiding business owner again from 92298844, 97397514, 83487591, 96645914, 63914706, 82825465, 97378102, 90360045, 92981234! They can’t perform to contain COVID, so they bully to appear busy? Shameless? You decide! 2. See another Police case to frame against the Innocent! Please spread the News to help them who commit no crime. Many Thanks. Till this day, the harassment continues and there is no apology from the Rulers and no compensation paid for damages inflicted. 3. See the Bloggers went MISSING before / after the Singapore General Election on 10 July 2020. Please pray for their safety as we search for them actively. Many Thanks. 5. https://twitter.com/Michael65413248/status/1557400176649650176
Homilies, Angelus / Regina Caeli
1. In my recent Apostolic Letter Dies Domini, I observed, among other things, that Sunday should be a day of joy and solidarity as well as a day of relaxation and rest, as it is commonly regarded.
A day of joy! Can joy be planned? Is this not a feeling that depends on the happy or sorrowful circumstances of life? In fact, genuine Christian joy cannot be reduced to a chance feeling: its foundations lie in the love God manifested to us in the Death and Resurrection of his Son.
This certainty gives us a profound reason to live and to hope. With their lives, the saints attest that we can experience deep joy even in conditions of physical and spiritual suffering, if we know we are surrounded by God’s love.
Sunday is an appropriate day for helping one another rediscover the deep roots of joy.
2. On the other hand, authentic joy cannot only be an individual experience, but needs to be shared and participated in. For believers and for Christian families, Sunday must become the day on which we feel a closer communion with our neighbour and meet the needs of those who, for one reason or another, are in a distressing situation.
In this way Sunday becomes a day of sharing.
Inviting a lonely person to dinner, offering the necessary to a needy family, visiting someone who is ill or in prison, giving some time to those who are passing through a difficult moment: these are a few of the many possible practical acts which can make Sunday a day of fraternal solidarity.
Lived in this way, the Lord’s day, as well as being truly valued, is also an expression of the “dies hominis”, the day of man, because it develops our humanity.
3. May Mary most holy help us to understand the importance of living the Lord’s day. Precisely in yesterday’s Gospel passage for the feast of the Assumption of Mary into heaven in body and spirit, we were shown the Blessed Virgin’s readiness, soon after conceiving Jesus in her womb, to visit her cousin Elizabeth, to help her and share with her the joy of the divine favours (cf. Luke 1:39-56).
These are the same sentiments which must be felt by those who encounter Christ in the Eucharist. Mass is not enclosed within the walls of a church: it is the source of transformation for everyday life, it is “mission”, it is a sending for proclamation and, at the same time, a sending for charitable acts. Pope Saint John Paul II (Angelus, 16 August 1998)
See our compilation with Pictures in Encouragements-286. 8-)
See our compilation with Pictures in Encouragements-287. 8-)
See our compilation with Pictures in Encouragements-287. 8-)
See our compilation with Pictures in Encouragements-287. 8-)
Today’s Gospel passage urges us to meditate on the topic of salvation. St Luke the Evangelist tells us that while Jesus was travelling to Jerusalem, he was approached by a man who asked him this question: “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” (Luke 13:23). Rather than giving a direct answer, Jesus shifts the issue to another level in an evocative way, which the disciples don’t understand at first: “strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (v. 24). Using the image of a door, he wants his listeners to understand that it is not a question of numbers — how many will be saved —, how many is not relevant, but rather, it is important for everyone to know the way that leads to salvation.
This way means entering through a door. But where is the door? Who is the door? Jesus himself is that door. He says so in the Gospel of John: “I am the door” (10:9). He leads us to communion with the Father, where we find love, understanding and protection. But why is this door narrow, one might ask? Why does he say it is narrow? It is a narrow door not because it is oppressive, but because it demands that we restrain and limit our pride and our fear, in order to open ourselves to Him with humble and trusting hearts, acknowledging that we are sinners and in need of his forgiveness. This is why it is narrow, to limit our pride, which swells us. The door of God’s mercy is narrow but is always open to everyone! God does not have preferences, but always welcomes everyone, without distinction. A narrow door to restrain our pride and our fear; a door open wide because God welcomes us without distinction. And the salvation that He gives us is an unending flow of mercy that overcomes every barrier and opens surprising perspectives of light and peace. The door is narrow but always open wide: do not forget this.
Once more, Jesus extends a pressing invitation to us today to go to Him, to pass through the door of a full, reconciled and happy life. He awaits each one of us, no matter what sins we have committed, to embrace us, to offer us his forgiveness. He alone can transform our hearts, He alone can give full meaning to our existence, giving us true joy. By entering Jesus’ door, the door of faith and of the Gospel, we can leave behind worldly attitudes, bad habits, selfishness and narrow-mindedness. When we encounter the love and mercy of God, there is authentic change. Our lives are enlightened by the light of the Holy Spirit: an inextinguishable light!
I would like to propose something to you. Let us think now for a moment, in silence, of the things that we have inside us which prevent us from entering the door: my pride, my arrogance, my sins. Then, let us think of the other door, the one opened wide by the mercy of God who awaits us on the other side to grant us forgiveness.
The Lord offers us many opportunities to be saved and to enter through the door of salvation. This door is an occasion that can never be wasted: we don’t have to give long, erudite speeches about salvation, like the man who approached Jesus in the Gospel. Rather, we have to accept the opportunity for salvation. Because at a certain moment, the master of the house will rise and shut the door (cf. Luke 13:25), as the Gospel reminded us. But if God is good and loves us, why would he close the door at a certain point? Because our life is not a video game nor a television soap opera. Our life is serious and our goal is important: eternal salvation.
Let us ask the Virgin Mary, the Gate of Heaven, to help us seize the opportunities the Lord gives us in order to cross the threshold of faith and thus to enter a broad path: it is the path of salvation that can embrace all those who allow themselves to be enraptured by love. It is love that saves, the love that already on this earth is a source of happiness for all those who, in meekness, patience and justice, forget about themselves and give themselves to others, especially to those who are most weak. Pope Francis I (Angelus, 21 August 2016)
Angelus, 25 August 2019 Extracts: …The question had been a source of debate at that time — how many will be saved, how many not …Jesus, however, reverses the question — which stresses quantity, that is: “are they few?...” — and instead places the question in the context of responsibility, inviting us to make good use of the present. Indeed, he says: “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:24).
With these words, Jesus makes it clear that it is not a matter of numbers, there is no “limited number” in Paradise! Rather, it is a case of taking the right way from now, and this right way is for everyone, but it is narrow. This is the problem... He tells us things as they truly are: the doorway is narrow. In what sense? In the sense that, in order to save oneself, one has to love God and neighbour, and this is uncomfortable! It is a “narrow doorway” because it is demanding. Love is always demanding. It requires commitment, indeed, “effort”, that is, a determined and persevering willingness to live according to the Gospel. Saint Paul calls it “the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). It takes a daily, all-day effort to love God and neighbour.
And in order to explain himself better, Jesus tells a parable. There is a householder who represents the Lord. His house symbolizes eternal life, thus salvation. And here the image of the door returns. Jesus says: “When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord, open to us’. He will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from’” (Luke 13:25). These people will then attempt to claim his acquaintance, reminding the householder…No, claims do not count, they do not count. The Lord will recognize us only for our humble life and a good life, a life of faith that resulted in good works. Pope Francis I (Angelus, 25 August 2019)
Angelus, 21 August 2022 Video, Video (American Sign Language). Text. Extracts: But to better understand, what this narrow door is, we need to ask what it is. Jesus was using an image from contemporary life, most likely referring to the fact that, when evening would fall, the doors of the city would be closed and only one, the smallest and the narrowest, would remain open. To return home, someone could get through only there.
Now let’s think about when Jesus says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved” (John 10:9). He wants to tell us that to enter into God’s life, into salvation, we need to pass through him, not through another one, through him; to welcome him and his Word. Just as to enter into the city, someone had to “measure” the same as the only remaining open narrow door, so too the Christian door is a life whose “measure is Christ”, founded and modelled on him. This means that the rule of measure is Jesus and his Gospel – not what we think, but what he says to us. So, we are talking about a narrow door not because only a few are destined to go through it, no, but because to belong to Christ means to follow him, to live one’s life in love, in service, and in giving oneself as he did, who passed through the narrow door of the cross. Entering into the project God proposes for our life requires that we restrict the space of egoism, reduce the presumption of self-sufficiency, lower the heights of pride and arrogance, and that we overcome laziness, in order to traverse the risk of love, even when it involves the cross.
…The Lord says today that the Father will recognize them much more than those who believe they are already saved but who are actually “workers of evil” (Luke 13:27) in life. Pope Francis I (Angelus, 21 August 2022)
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 18 August 2019 Last updated: 22 August 2022, 22:38 SGT
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