16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 17, 2022)

Gen 18.1-10a; Col 1.24-28; Lk 10.38-42

• Today, Paul tells us about our role in proclaiming the Gospel: rejoice in your sufferings and make up in your flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of His body, which is the Church. But what does it mean to fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ?

• The wisdom, the will, and the justice of Christ requires and ordains that His body and members should be companions of His sufferings, as they expect to be companions of His glory; that so suffering with Him, and after His example, they may apply to their own needs and to the needs of others, the merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ.

• We, like Paul, must be bearers of the Good News. Being the Body of Christ, the Church is united to Him through the Eucharist and called to live out His life every day until we are with Him in heaven.

• Though painful, suffering is necessary because it purifies us. When suffering comes, let us not run from it, but warmly embrace it, uniting ourselves to Christ’s suffering on the Cross and applying the merits for the salvation of souls and the building up of the Culture of Life.

Pro-Life Intercession

That the gift of hospitality may fill our families and communities and shape the way we respond to the terminally ill, the unborn, and all people, we pray to the Lord…