The Word every day: 11-17 August, 2024
Commentary on the Readings of the Day by Father Giordano Favillini
Sunday, 11/08
John 6:51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven, if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. Through the Eucharist we are assimilated by Jesus and he transforms us with his own life, a resurrected life, a life that is eternal. The Eucharist is the sacrament of resurrection.
Monday, 12/08
Matthew 17:22-23
Jesus told his disciples, “The son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him, but on the third day he will rise again.” The Paschal mystery, death and resurrection of Jesus is also the mystery of every baptized person. One dies in Christ to rise with Him, death is necessary to rise to a new and eternal life.
Tuesday, 13/08
Matthew 18:2-3
Jesus then called a child to himself, placed him in their midst and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Children have no preconceptions, they are spontaneous, they have no past, so they are open to the future. They know how to hope and are not closed in their own selves. Conversion means total trusting openness to Jesus.
Wednesday, 14/08
Matthew 18:21-22
Peter approached Jesus and said to Him, “Lord, if my brother commits sins against me, how many times shall I forgive them? Up to seven times?”
And Jesus answered him, “I do not say to you up to 7 times, but up to 70 times 7.” Those who know how to forgive and always want to do so have found the secret to living a peaceful and long-lived life. Resentment, the inability to forgive and the spirit of revenge poison relationships and are at the root of so many evils and illnesses.
Thursday, 15/08
Luke 1:48-49
Mary said, “From now on all generations will call me blessed. Great things the Almighty has done for me, and holy is his name.” Mary’s great things are also being fulfilled in our times. How many crowds Mary is able to gather in her shrines, in her manifestations. How many conversions and how much care does she give us to awaken faith and charity in the world?
Friday, 16/08
Matthew 19:4-6
Have you not read that the creator from the beginning made them male and female and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So let man not divide what God has joined together. One flesh, what a wonderful mystery Christian marriage is. It is the fulfillment of creation. And dissolving all loneliness, a united man and woman become the living image of God. That is why the enemy of humanity rages against this stupendous image that is the couple.
Saturday, 17/08
Matthew 19:14
Jesus, however, said, “Let them, do not hinder the children from coming to me; for to such as are like them belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Children today do so many activities, they are stuffed from an early age with so many commitments and so many images, but little care is taken to introduce them to Jesus. This gap will cause an ever-growing void over time.