NEWSLETTER INSERTS - FOR THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

‘Many young people and adults are rediscovering the Christian faith, perhaps after a period in their lives in which they had drifted somewhat away from God. This is a truly important step. Indeed, everything we discover, embrace, and gradually experience along the way certainly contributes to our growth, our maturity, and the expansion of our inner life; but, at the same time, amidst joys, successes, and setbacks, we realize that we need a different kind of water to quench our thirst more deeply. Our desire for truth and happiness needs a broader horizon. And this restlessness is a gift that God himself has given us: we are made to the measure of the infinite and therefore, every finite horizon, every step, every conquest, while satisfying us at the same time impels us forward and invites us to continue searching, to search by advancing, but, above all, to search by “descending inwardly”, that is, going into the depths’.

Pope Leo XIV , Barcelona Prayer Vigil, 9^TH June 2026

‘For the Christian community, social justice is a concrete way of following Jesus and remaining faithful to the Gospel. In the New Testament, Jesus proclaims the “good news to the poor” ( Lk 4:18) and identifies himself with the lowly, the sick, the imprisoned and strangers (cf. Mt 25:31-46). He thus teaches us that justice is born from, and fulfilled in, fraternity, because the way we approach and relate to the least among us becomes, in concrete terms, the measure of our relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters’.

Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, 77.

ON THE FIRST READING AT MASS THIS SUNDAY

‘On entering the People of God through faith and Baptism, one receives a share in this people’s unique, priestly vocation: “Christ the Lord, high priest taken from among men, has made this new people ‘a kingdom of priests to God, his Father.’ The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood’.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 784.

'God wants from us the one thing that he cannot take: Our heart, our love, our self. And as it turns out, that is in fact the only thing that is ours to give.” Such is the essence of the priestly sacrifice of the baptized: “Lord, I am all yours. Take me, make of me what you will'.

Author Unknown

'God's priests kneel before the cross because they have to preach the cross and they are always drinking from the chalice of his failure. They kneel there because, with their sins and weaknesses, they are always putting themselves between God's light and men because more than all others they need his mercy.’

Karl Rahner (1904-1984).

ON THE SECOND READING

‘When we say that Jesus Christ died for us, we simply mean that we deserved to die, but Jesus died in our place. The Bible says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Let me explain it this way. Suppose you had committed a serious crime and were brought before a judge for sentencing. There was no question about your guilt; you knew you had committed the crime, and you knew you deserved the sentence the judge was about to hand down. You had broken the law; the penalty had to be paid – and you were the one who had to pay it. Then the judge pronounced the sentence, and the deputies started to take you away to jail.

But then, suppose the judge suddenly ordered them to stop, stepped down from his bench and announced that he was going to take your place! You deserved to go to prison – but he was going instead! In other words, he was innocent but was willing to take upon himself the penalty that the law demanded for your crime – the penalty you should have paid.

This is what Jesus Christ has done for us. We deserve to die and be separated from God forever because of our sins – but Christ took our place. By His death on the cross He paid the price for our sins – fully and completely. In other words, He died for us; He died in our place. Now all we have to do is accept His forgiveness, by trusting Him alone for our salvation. Have you opened your heart and life to Christ?’

From www.billygraham.org

ON THE GOSPEL:

‘Come, stay and go – the whole Christian life moves within these three pillars in a circular motion. Christ calls us to himself to be with him and be united with him. He then sends us out on mission and then he calls us back again to be refreshed once more. It is a flow of grace that involves giving and receiving and that gives us life and joy’.

Fr Billy Swan on The Gospel for 11^th Sun. Ordinary Time