Thanks to all who make this radio broadcast possible, today August 8, the nineteenth Sunday of ordinary liturgical time. We hear in all the Catholic churches of the world the Gospel according to Saint John, chapter 6, verses 41 to 51.
(GOSPEL)
Jesus Christ has told us: “I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. I am the bread of life”. He is spiritual food both in his Word and in his Body and Blood, actually present in the bread and wine consecrated by the very words of Jesus, which the priest repeats at His command.
With this spiritual food we have life. Life is love. Our life begins with the love of our parents and has to grow with that paternal and maternal love that continues in each moment of our existence.
As we are the image and likeness of God, who is love, we are love, and that growing love makes life very happy, which is fuller every day.
There is full life in a home if there is love.
There is full life in a marriage if there is faithful love, and from there more life will emerge in the blessed fruits.
There is full life in the elderly who feel loved, loved, cared for, treated with affection. Old people like that, surrounded by affection, do not want to die.
There is full life in children that make their parents happy.
There is full life in the couple who are preparing to establish together, forever, the beautiful family dreamed of, talked about.
There is full life in the neighbors who help each other.
There is full life in those who settle their differences and conflicts as brothers.
There is a full life in those who, having fallen into violence, alcohol, drugs and other vices, get up, abandon the ugly past and restart the good taught by the family.
Jesus Christ is life. He shows us that life in the Word of God written in the Bible, and with the spiritual bread of his Communion he makes our life like his: all love, all peace, all forgiveness, all mercy.
And by being one with Christ, we will live with Him, we will serve with Him, we will fight with Him, we will suffer with Him, we will die with Him, we will rise with Him, and then the happiness felt and lived in this life will multiply infinitely when we arrive at the house of the Heaven, where He waits for us forever.
(SINGING)
Pope Francis, who has already restarted his catechesis on Wednesdays, last August 4, continues to speak of the Letter of Saint Paul to the Christians of Galatia, a region that more or less includes present-day Turkey.
We listen to a fragment of this catechesis, which is bread of life and spiritual food of our full lives.
“Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
When it comes to the Gospel and the mission to evangelize, Paul gets excited, he goes out of his mind. He seems that he sees nothing other than this mission that the Lord has entrusted to him. Everything in him is dedicated to this announcement, and he has no interest other than the Gospel. It is Pablo’s love, Pablo’s interest, Pablo’s job: to advertise. He even goes so far as to say: “Because Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel” (1 Cor 1:17). Paul interprets his entire existence as a call to evangelize, to make the message of Christ known, to make the Gospel known: ‘Woe to me – he says – if I did not preach the Gospel’ (1Cor 9:16) . And writing to the Christians of Rome, he presents himself simply like this: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, an apostle by vocation, chosen for the Gospel of God” (Rom 1: 1). This is his calling. In short, he is aware of having been “set apart” to bring the Gospel to all, and he cannot do anything but dedicate himself with all his strength to this mission.
”Therefore, we understand the sadness, disappointment and even the bitter irony of the apostle with the Galatians, who in his eyes are taking a wrong path, which will lead them to a point of no return: they have taken the wrong path. The axis around which everything revolves is the Gospel. Paul does not think of the ‘four gospels’, as is spontaneous for us. In fact, while he is sending this Letter, none of the four gospels has been written yet. For him, the Gospel is what he preaches, what is called the kerygma, that is, the announcement. And what announcement? Of the death and resurrection of Jesus as the source of salvation. A Gospel that is expressed with four verbs: ‘that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas’ (1Cor 15, 3-5). This is Paul’s announcement, the announcement that gives life to all of us. This Gospel is the fulfillment of the promises and it is the salvation offered to all men. Whoever welcomes him is reconciled to God, he is welcomed as a true son and inherits eternal life ”.
Read the letter to the Galatians, tell in which chapter and verses the word Abba is found and what it means. Call the Archdiocese of Havana, telephone 78624000.
(SINGING)
Lord, you are present in the sacrament of Love …
Lord, in the Eucharist you gave us all your Love …
Lord, you are looking for a very close union with us …
Lord, here you give us the supreme embrace of your Love …
Lord, for Love you gave yourself to passion and to the Cross …
Lord, you have left us here the memorial and the living memory of your Love …
Lord, you ask us to love you with all our heart …
Lord, you remain in us when we receive you …
(SINGING)
Lord, you have your delights in being with us …
Lord that you unite us with you to all the brothers …
Lord, you make us love each other with one heart …
Lord, you will bring our love to the fullest in the glory of Heaven …
(SINGING)
Lord Jesus, our divine physician, we ask you to keep us from the coronavirus and from all deadly diseases. Have mercy on all who have died; heal all who are sick.
Virgin of Charity, pray for us …
Enlighten all scientists who are looking for a remedy … Strengthen and protect all health assistants who are helping the sick at this time. Grant wisdom to all those responsible who are trying to limit the contagion.
Virgin of Charity, pray for us …
Give peace to all those who are afraid and worried, especially the elderly and people at risk. May your precious blood be our defense and salvation. And by your grace transform the evil of illness into moments of consolation and growth in faith, hope, and a greater experience of love. May we fear the contagion of sin more than any other disease. We confidently abandon ourselves to your maternal love full of mercy.
Virgin of Charity, pray for us …
The blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit descend on all of us and accompany us forever… Amen.
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