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Sunday, July 26, 2009

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17th Sunday Ordinary Time


2 Kings 4:42-44
Ephesians 4:1-6
Psalm 145:10-11, 15-18
John 6:1-15

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multiplication table

"How can I set this before a hundred men?" —2 Kings 4:43

Many times what we have to offer seems so inadequate. We may only have a couple free hours a week. So how can we renew the Church? We may be confined to home. Our main contact with people is by phone. Under these circumstances, how can we make disciples of all nations? (Mt 28:19) We have five dollars to give, but the church needs $100,000 to shelter the homeless. What good is five dollars?

We often find ourselves in the same situation as Jesus when He found Himself with five loaves, two fish, and fifteen to twenty thousand people to feed. Perhaps we don't need food multiplied as much as time, energy, and money multiplied. We need Jesus' multiplication miracle daily to change our inadequacy into His sufficiency. Jesus works this miracle daily in the Mass. Because of this, the early Church called the Mass "breaking of the bread." When Jesus breaks bread, our little lives are multiplied to transform the world.

Prayer:  Jesus, I give You all of my little life. Multiply it.

Promise:  "Make every effort to preserve the unity which has the Spirit as its origin and peace as its binding force." —Eph 4:3

Praise:  Praise You, risen Jesus! Your broken body has multiplied our healing. Praise You, Lamb of God, for shepherding us with Your love.

Reference:  (Begin to transform the world by reading the Bible every day. We have several tape series to help you. Overview of the Bible is six audio tapes starting with AV 10A-1 or three video tapes starting with V-10A. 15-minute Bible Teaching - New Testament is forty audio tapes starting with #700. An Introduction to each book of the Bible is thirty-two audio tapes starting with AV 21-1 or seventeen video tapes starting with V-21.)

Rescript:  †Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, January 5, 2009

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