Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Gospel: Lk 13, 22-30
Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.
Today’s Gospel, Luke 13:22-30, reminds us that our Church is universal; it is inclusive – open to everyone. Everyone in this world can be saved. However, Baptism is not all that is required to enter into heaven.
It is true, as Pope Benedict XVI said to those gathered at St Peter’s Square on Jan 12, 2010, that with the sacrament of baptism, “the faithful become children of God, and brothers and sisters with each other.”
Today we celebrate the Assumption of Mary. As Catholics we believe that Mary was assumed into heaven – body and soul. On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of our faith. He stated in his Apostolic Constitution: Munificentissimus Deus (The Most Bountiful God): “By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”
Gospel: Lk 1, 39 – 56
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
Luke 12:32-48
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.