GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Sunday - July 24, 2022

Sunday - July 24, 2022

While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.

 

-- St. Francis of Assisi

July 24, 2022

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 111

 

Reading I     

                                                                                    Gn 18:20-32

 

In those days, the LORD said: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great,

and their sin so grave,

that I must go down and see whether or not their actions

fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me.

I mean to find out."

 

While Abraham's visitors walked on farther toward Sodom,

the LORD remained standing before Abraham.

Then Abraham drew nearer and said:

"Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?

Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city;

would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it

for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it?

Far be it from you to do such a thing,

to make the innocent die with the guilty

so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike!

Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?"

The LORD replied,

"If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom,

I will spare the whole place for their sake."

Abraham spoke up again:

"See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord,

though I am but dust and ashes!

What if there are five less than fifty innocent people?

Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?"

He answered, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there."

But Abraham persisted, saying "What if only forty are found there?"

He replied, "I will forbear doing it for the sake of the forty."

Then Abraham said, "Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on.

What if only thirty are found there?"

He replied, "I will forbear doing it if I can find but thirty there."

Still Abraham went on,

"Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord,

what if there are no more than twenty?"

The LORD answered, "I will not destroy it, for the sake of the twenty."

But he still persisted:

"Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time.

What if there are at least ten there?"

He replied, "For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it."

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 6-7, 7-8

 

R.(3a) Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

 

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,

for you have heard the words of my mouth;

in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;

I will worship at your holy temple

and give thanks to your name.

R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

Because of your kindness and your truth;

for you have made great above all things

your name and your promise.

When I called you answered me;

you built up strength within me.

R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

The LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,

and the proud he knows from afar.

Though I walk amid distress, you preserve me;

against the anger of my enemies you raise your hand.

R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

Your right hand saves me.

The LORD will complete what he has done for me;

your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;

forsake not the work of your hands.

R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

 

Reading II                                                     Col 2:12-14

 

Brothers and sisters:

You were buried with him in baptism,

in which you were also raised with him

through faith in the power of God,

who raised him from the dead.

And even when you were dead

in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh,

he brought you to life along with him,

having forgiven us all our transgressions;

 obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims,

which was opposed to us,

he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross.

 

Alleluia                                              Phil 2: Rom 8:15bc8

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

You have received a Spirit of adoption,

through which we cry, Abba, Father.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                           Lk 11:1-13

 

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,

one of his disciples said to him,

"Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."

He said to them, "When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread

and forgive us our sins

for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,

and do not subject us to the final test."

 

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend

to whom he goes at midnight and says,

'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey

and I have nothing to offer him,'

and he says in reply from within,

'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked

and my children and I are already in bed.

I cannot get up to give you anything.'

I tell you,

if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves

because of their friendship,

he will get up to give him whatever he needs

because of his persistence.

 

"And I tell you, ask and you will receive;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives;

and the one who seeks, finds;

and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

What father among you would hand his son a snake

when he asks for a fish?

Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?

If you then, who are wicked,

know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will the Father in heaven

give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

 

**********************************

HOW TO PRAY WITH FAITH

 

In this Sunday's Gospel reading, Jesus teaches us how to pray with faith. Notice that his parable does not say that we can get everything we ask for. Not everything is good for us; the "bread" that runs as a theme through this scripture is the life of holiness. The "Bread of Life" is Jesus. The gift of the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life, is a holy life.

 

Notice also that the visitor in the parable is a friend of God, not a stranger, who wants to share the bread with another friend. This represents a baptized Christian who wants to share the friendship of God ("three loaves" -- the Trinity) with others, but he or she is inadequate for the task.

 

When we knock on the door to God's heart seeking help for our inadequacies, the Father gives us his fully adequate Holy Spirit. And that's not all we get! Whenever we pray, this Holy Spirit connects us to the Father and to Jesus. Therefore, every prayer increases our holiness, brings us closer to God and empowers us to be more like Jesus. But holiness does not come quickly nor easily. We must be persistent in our prayer lives. We must continually rely on God's Spirit in order to resist temptations and grow in faith.

 

No matter what we ask God to share with us, including the material things that we need or desire, God wants to use it to nourish our souls. This is what we ask for when we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Be persistent. Receiving God's bread usually doesn't happen overnight (we're slow learners).

 

It's the devil who says we can have everything we ask for as fast as we want it. New Age and occult practices are fast-food spiritualities that are riddled with the dangerously unhealthy fat of false beliefs. They lack the growth in holiness that we can only receive from the Holy Spirit. Many people turn to the occult because they don't have the desire to do the hard work of holiness.

 

The supernatural adequacies of the Holy Spirit are ours for the asking, because we already received the Holy Spirit during baptism. However, to live in God's supernatural power, we have to pray persistently, identify our sins and repent, purge our lives of selfish motives, and humbly open ourselves to the holiness of the Holy Spirit.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Thank You, Lord, because You look for me every day with Your Fatherly love. Heal in me all the negative images I have of You. I want to surrender all my being to Your loving arms. Amen.

 

 

God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”