Sunday June 16, 2024 – TO 11 – 11:00 a.m. in Embrun – Prejubilary retreat on the Lord’s Prayer
1st communion of 3 children Diego, Louise and Maylis + blessing from the fathers
https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?visual=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1849186188&show_artwork=true&maxheight=750&maxwidth=500
“It is like the reign of God” then Jesus shares two parables, that is to say two beautiful stories to illustrate a profound truth, that of the seed of wheat which springs up without anyone doing anything about it and that of the seed of mustard which becomes a large tree.
This morning we have already shared about the reign of God on the occasion of the first teaching of our pre-jubilee retreat, on the second request of the Our Father: may your kingdom come! We have said that the Kingdom is understood above all in the sense of the Reign, of the action of God, and not of territory. We beg our Father that his royal power be exercised more sovereignly, more widely over more hearts. We thus pray for evangelization, for the mission. And it is ultimately an encouragement for our mission of missionary discipleship, and for your parish to prepare its parish missionary project, an element of which will be shared with other parishes during a diocesan gathering next Saturday, November 16. But even more than a supplication, it is a cry of confidence and impatience, a word of hope: “Come the fullness of your kingdom which is already being accomplished. »
I return to the first parable: “The kingdom of God is like a man who throws seed into the ground: night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed germinates and grows, he knows not how. » (BIS) The farmer or gardener does not make it grow, but he does everything to make it grow. This is also our mission in the world, to do everything so that the growing Kingdom of God can grow.
This makes me think of two concrete things:
1/ the current influx of young people and adults requesting baptism. It is not parish missionary projects that convert, but our mission is to work the land so that the seed sown by the Lord can spring up, and therefore to work on this parish project.
2/ Christian education: how to do everything so that the Kingdom of God grows in your family? You know from experience that it is not by telling your children and grandchildren to come to Mass that they will come, it is only through your personal example of fidelity to prayer and the sacraments. On this Father’s Day, I especially address fathers and grandfathers: Your testimony as a fervent Christian is essential for your children and grandchildren. Do you know the testimony of St John Paul II to his dad? In his autobiographical book “My vocation, gift and mystery”, he describes his particularly close relationship with his father, reinforced by a family tragedy: little Karol lost his mother when he was barely 9 years old. His father, a non-commissioned officer, a deeply religious man, then devoted his entire widowed life to his young son, who paid tribute to him as follows: “My gratitude goes especially to my father, who remained a premature widower. I had not yet made my first communion when I lost my mother. After his death, and subsequently, after the disappearance of my older brother, I was left alone with my father. I could observe him in his daily life (…) He was a professional soldier and, when he was a widower, his life became one of constant prayer. I would sometimes wake up at night and find my father on his knees, just as I always saw him on his knees in the parish church. Between us, we did not talk about a vocation to the priesthood, but his example was for me, in a way, the first seminary, a sort of domestic seminary. »
The two parables of the kingdom turn on us both towards the definitive advent of the Kingdom of God, at the end of time, but also towards its present coming: “The Kingdom of heaven is among you” (Lk 17:21), that is to say within your reach . This is the Christological reading of these parables. The more Jesus has room in my life, the more the Kingdom of God progresses. My part is to make room for him in my life.
The mustard seed is Jesus: “when we sow it in the ground”, it is the incarnation, Christmas, “it is the smallest of all seeds”, an infant in a stable. “But when it is sown,” when it dies and comes back to life, “it grows and surpasses all the vegetable plants; and it spreads out long branches, so that the birds of the air can make their nests in its shade. » The entire creation is redeemed.
Jesus was planted in my soul at my baptism. A fundamental step is our first communion.
On May 24, the Pope approved the decrees which will lead to the canonization of Carlo Acutis. It is a whole young Italian, who left for Heaven in 2006 at the age of 15 following a devastating leukemia, and already beatified by Pope Francis in 2020. He made his first communion on Tuesday June 16, 1998, and I been struck by the fact that it is June 16, 2024. You will remember that you made your first communion on the same day as Saint Carlo Acutis. Carlo, surrounded by his entire family, is well prepared and very aware of what he is about to do. He receives Jesus for the first time. From that day on, he will participate in mass every day, he will receive communion every day, with the same ardor as on the day of his first communion. Allow me to quote this very young saint: “My secret is to have daily contact with Jesus. » “The Eucharist is the highway to heaven. » “Jesus is love and the more we nourish ourselves with him, the more we increase our capacity to love. » “The more we commune, the more we will become like Jesus and already on this earth we will have a foretaste of paradise. » “If we approach the Eucharist every day, we go straight to Paradise. » “When we stand in front of the sun, we tan. When we place ourselves before Jesus-Eucharist, we become saints. »
Do you know the last word of the Bible, when you take this great book from the end: Maranatha: well Lord Jesus. May your kingdom come in each of these children, but also in a new way in each of us. Amen!
Discover the new website of the parishes of Embrunais-Savinois
