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OMELIE / Omelie EN

11 lug 2021
11/07/2021 – 15th Sunday in O. T. - B

11/07/2021 – 15th Sunday in O. T. - B

Reading 1 AM 7,12-15 Psalm 84/85 Reading 2 EPH 1,3-14 Gospel MK 6,7-13

Today's readings continue the topic of last Sunday: he who announces God’s word is not always welcomed! The prophet Amos is thrown out and invited to be quiet, because from what he is saying the king himself feels rebuked. The place where he is prophesizing from is the place frequented by the leaders, and you cannot talk in a way that they feel rebuked. Amos however knows he has been called by God: he cannot disobey Him in order to be pleasing to men, not even if they are rich and powerful. He was coming from very humble origins, he was a shepherd when he had been chosen by God.

These words of the prophet’s are at the bottom of the teachings Jesus is giving to the apostles. After calling them, He sends them out with instructions and precise tasks: they will have to go in couples, without human securities, rich in faith in the Providence of the Father.

They go in couples not only to help each other, and then feel safe, but also and foremost in order to have the occasion to show the fruits of what they are preaching: mutual love. Mutual love is the main characteristic of the Kingdom of Heaven announced by the Lord, which they must preach too. they cannot limit their action to talking about it, but they need to show it as already happened, making people enjoy the fruits of it. This happens thanks to faith in each other, mutual obedience, mutual love, material and spiritual healing.

And then, they will not take anything with them, because they will have no worry for themselves, but only for announcing the gospel. Their poverty will give God a way to care for them, regarding food, clothes and every other need. In this way their life will also show the beauty of the providential love of the Father. Furthermore, they will take care of the weaker person, above all the Sick and those who are suffering because of demons. They will console them, and in the name of Jesus they will free them from the forces opposed to the gospel. they will make shine the concreteness of the Father’s love.

Jesus knows that his name and his gospel will encounter obstacles, and that these obstacles will be a temptation for the apostles themselves: He warns them then, so they will not let themselves be overcome by guilt or discouragement. If someone does not welcome them, this happens not because they are not announcing the gospel in the best and most pleasurable way, but because the devil is setting obstacles, and because men, for convenience, obey him instead of God. In this case they need to leave that place, without condemning, but also without delude themselves of being able to convince and win over those men with other tools more convenient or arrangements more acceptable.

How much the Lord needs to be thanked and blessed for those who instead believe! In their life the beauty and the greatness of the gospel becomes clear, alongside God’s holiness and purity.

Saint Paul helps us bless him with the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians. He is also helping us to realise the magnificent destiny bestowed upon the Christians: they know they are children of God, carriers of His Holiness and his glory. God himself has chosen them so they may be «holy». What does this mean? «Holy» means elevated above the earth, therefore someone who is not influenced by what is happening on it and in it. On earth there is he who does evil, who insults and commits injustices. I have been chosen by God in order to be «holy», so like Him, who is the only holy person: I do not have to react to these things happening on earth, but I must react to the love He continues to give me. What men are doing on earth does not impress me, does not make me change my thoughts and behaviours. I will not seek vengeance nor resentment. Our siblings, who we call «holy», are of example for us.

we too sometimes leave among the people who are not welcoming the gospel: we will persevere in the faith and in the love, without letting ourselves be influenced by insults or offences, and not even by those laws which the government is giving us in order to separate us from the Father’s will. We will be «holy» for God’s glory.