The Day’s Readings
Jer 20:7-9 Ps 62 Rom 12:1-2 Mt 16:21-27
Jeremiah, probably before 600 BC, and so before the exile, criticised Israel for worshipping other gods. So Pashtur, the chief priest, beat Jeremiah and put him in the stocks. Next day, when he was released, Jeremiah told Pashtur that he would go to Babylon, where he and all his friends would die. Jeremiah then continued with this lament that God had misled him, because he had to suffer so much on the Lord’s behalf, and had begun to wonder – or doubt – whether his call from God was real.
After marvelling last week at the impossibility of understanding God’s plans, Paul goes on to encourage the Romans to “let your behaviour change”. Like Jeremiah, they must “not be conformed to this world”, but be “transformed by the renewal of your mind”, discovering and doing the will of God.
In Matthew’s gospel Jesus starts to instruct the disciples how he is to suffer, in accordance with God’s will. Peter objects, but Jesus turns on Peter with similar words he used to Satan after his Baptism. Poor Peter! He has just been given the power to bind and loose, but now he is told he is not on God’s side, but is thinking like the world!
Psalm Response: My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
MY HEART TO YOUR HEART
Fr. Bernardino Andrade
“Respect Life Sunday” in America
Today is “Respect Life Sunday” in America, where I lived and worked for 32 years. Today, I am on the mainland of Portugal taking part in a retreat for people who have gone through a tragic and traumatic experience of an abortion. It is called “Project Rachel”. Nobody will be able to forget a son/daughter who was not born. It is a compassionate and healing retreat for those who suffer the trauma of killing their babies.
It is obvious that especially today my heart is with the babies who have been destroyed in what was supposed to be the safest place in the world(the womb of their mother). But my heart is also with the mothers who, in a moment of confusion, made a decision that would become a nightmare for the rest of their lives.
From an American publication(Fr. Tony Kadavill) I got this information:
The number of unborn children slaughtered in the wombs of their mothers in the last 25 years is 1200 million in the world and 37 million in the USA(4400 per day in the US). Almost half of the women in the US over the age of 40 have undergone an abortion, with or without the consent of the baby’s father.
The Church cares about the women who have had abortions, forgives them, heals them and brings them peace with God, with their lost children and with themselves. The Church reminds us that abortion is a mortal sin, but promises any woman who has had an abortion that if she truly repents of her sin, she will find welcome and forgiveness.
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