Churches of the Day
Pictorial Thought for Today
Jul 31 - St. Ignatius of Loyola (1) : success out of failure
Summary: St Ignatius of Loyola, priest, religious. Born at Loyola (Spain) in 1491; died on this day at Rome in 1556. A Spanish nobleman trained in diplomacy and the use of arms, wounded in battle against the French. The experience of conversion while convalescing led him to write the Spiritual Exercises. Then founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and became its first superior general. Noted for his loyalty to the Church and its renewal, his ministry to the marginal, his concern for education, and his dedication "to the greater glory of God, " the motto of the Jesuits.
Most people know that St Ignatius Loyola founded the Jesuits. That was not a simple matter. He got it right only on the third attempt. Paul Andrews S. J explains that success was what Ignatius did with his failures.
St Ignatius of Loyola, died on this day at Rome in 1556. A Spanish nobleman trained in diplomacy and the use of arms, wounded in battle against the French. The experience of conversion while convalescing led him to write the Spiritual Exercises. Then founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and became its first superior general. Noted for his loyalty to the Church and its renewal, his ministry to the marginal, his concern for education, and his dedication "to the greater glory of God, " the motto of the Jesuits.
Convalescence Conversion
You may remember that Ignatius started life as a soldier. After a cannonball broke his leg and disabled him, he became a poor pilgrim intent on finding God in all things. In three different cities, other good men gathered round him, wanting to join his search: in Barcelona, in Alcalá and in Paris.
Inquisition
Ignatius was a mystic who believed passionately in personal prayer, in finding God wherever you are. At the time of the Reformation, any new religious order emphasis aroused ecclesiastical suspicions, and on eight different occasions Ignatius was accused of heresy. When that happened in Spain, The Inquisition, God forgive them, burned heretics. Ignatius was imprisoned on several occasions. The accusation of heresy carried the sort of public disgrace that is associated today with the accusation of child abuse. So it lent itself to the same sort of witch-hunts as we have today.
Studies in Paris
It is small wonder that the pious men who had hoped to find God in Ignatius’ company were dismayed by what happened. They were seeking a quiet life, not the walls of a prison. The first three companions, Catalans from Barcelona, faded away when the heat came on.
Ignatius’ next set of companions, who joined him in Alcalá and Salamanca, also took fright and left him when he fell into public disgrace. When Ignatius eventually left the land of the Inquisition and pursued his studies in Paris, he was slow to accept anyone as a companion, though good men gathered round him, Francis Xavier, Peter Faber and others.
The difference between Ignatius and his earlier companions was that they were surprised by accusation, disgrace and prison. Ignatius was not. Again and again in the Spiritual Exercises he returns to the theme: the uniform of Jesus’ followers is like that of Jesus himself: poverty, humility, false accusations, maybe prison and death. You don't look for them, but if they hit you, don't think it is the end of the world. You meet insults and hardship with as much love and patience as you can muster. You show your mettle not in the good times but in the bad.
So Ignatius put his third set of companions, Xavier, Faber and the rest, through a testing time before he would think of organising them into a company – the Compañía - which became the Society of Jesus. In the Spiritual Exercises they tried to put themselves in the person of Christ when he was resisted, abused, accused falsely and finally tortured and killed. Ignatius wanted them to be unsurprisable in face of hardship, and to recognise there the ‘livery’ of Jesus.
Fighting for Justice
This does not mean that Ignatius lay down under accusations. He fought them tooth and nail. Like sickness, poverty, pain, they are an evil, to be remedied with every means at our disposal. God gave us a mission to possess this world and make it our own, and that means mastering the evils of this world. The work of researchers, of those who work for public health, justice and prosperity, is all part of that mission.
In face of false accusations Ignatius fought tooth and nail. He brought his accusers to court and confronted them. He asked the authorities to scrutinise his life and his teachings, both written and spoken. When they were satisfied, Ignatius demanded that they put their verdict in writing. He did not want anything to stand in the way of his preaching the Gospel, and a reputation for heresy would have hampered him badly.
Miscarriage of justice
Let me update the scene with a more modern story. In the 1930s a pupil in a Jesuit boarding school accused a young priest (we'll call him Peter) of sexually abusing him. The boy’s father, a local doctor, took the matter up with the school. It was passed from the Rector to the Provincial, a nervous and impulsive man, who promptly summoned Peter and without due process dismissed him from the Jesuits. Peter himself denied the charges.
His Jesuit friends, appalled at the high-handed injustice of the affair, appealed to a US Jesuit province to help. A Jesuit bishop in Alaska interviewed Peter, believed him, and took him (as a diocesan priest) on to the Alaska mission. Years later the boy who started the witch-hunt came forward to say that his story was pure fiction, grounded only in his sense of grievance; Peter had never done anything wrong to him.
Happy Ending
There is a happy sort of ending.
Peter, no longer a Jesuit, had qualities so remarkable that he was appointed bishop of Alaska, but never the less remained a pupil of St Ignatius.
...St Ignatius of Loyola
Most people know that St Ignatius Loyola founded the Jesuits. That was not a simple matter. He got it right only on the third attempt. Paul Andrews S. J explains that success was what Ignatius did with his failures.St Ignatius of Loyola, died on this day at Rome in 1556. A Spanish nobleman trained in diplomacy and the use of arms, wounded in battle against the French. The experience of conversion while convalescing led him to write the Spiritual Exercises. Then founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and became its first superior general. Noted for his loyalty to the Church and its renewal, his ministry to the marginal, his concern for education, and his dedication "to the greater glory of God, " the motto of the Jesuits.
Convalescence Conversion
You may remember that Ignatius started life as a soldier. After a cannonball broke his leg and disabled him, he became a poor pilgrim intent on finding God in all things. In three different cities, other good men gathered round him, wanting to join his search: in Barcelona, in Alcalá and in Paris.
Inquisition
Ignatius was a mystic who believed passionately in personal prayer, in finding God wherever you are. At the time of the Reformation, any new religious order emphasis aroused ecclesiastical suspicions, and on eight different occasions Ignatius was accused of heresy. When that happened in Spain, The Inquisition, God forgive them, burned heretics. Ignatius was imprisoned on several occasions. The accusation of heresy carried the sort of public disgrace that is associated today with the accusation of child abuse. So it lent itself to the same sort of witch-hunts as we have today.
Studies in Paris
It is small wonder that the pious men who had hoped to find God in Ignatius’ company were dismayed by what happened. They were seeking a quiet life, not the walls of a prison. The first three companions, Catalans from Barcelona, faded away when the heat came on.
Ignatius’ next set of companions, who joined him in Alcalá and Salamanca, also took fright and left him when he fell into public disgrace. When Ignatius eventually left the land of the Inquisition and pursued his studies in Paris, he was slow to accept anyone as a companion, though good men gathered round him, Francis Xavier, Peter Faber and others.
The difference between Ignatius and his earlier companions was that they were surprised by accusation, disgrace and prison. Ignatius was not. Again and again in the Spiritual Exercises he returns to the theme: the uniform of Jesus’ followers is like that of Jesus himself: poverty, humility, false accusations, maybe prison and death. You don't look for them, but if they hit you, don't think it is the end of the world. You meet insults and hardship with as much love and patience as you can muster. You show your mettle not in the good times but in the bad.
So Ignatius put his third set of companions, Xavier, Faber and the rest, through a testing time before he would think of organising them into a company – the Compañía - which became the Society of Jesus. In the Spiritual Exercises they tried to put themselves in the person of Christ when he was resisted, abused, accused falsely and finally tortured and killed. Ignatius wanted them to be unsurprisable in face of hardship, and to recognise there the ‘livery’ of Jesus.
Fighting for Justice
This does not mean that Ignatius lay down under accusations. He fought them tooth and nail. Like sickness, poverty, pain, they are an evil, to be remedied with every means at our disposal. God gave us a mission to possess this world and make it our own, and that means mastering the evils of this world. The work of researchers, of those who work for public health, justice and prosperity, is all part of that mission.
In face of false accusations Ignatius fought tooth and nail. He brought his accusers to court and confronted them. He asked the authorities to scrutinise his life and his teachings, both written and spoken. When they were satisfied, Ignatius demanded that they put their verdict in writing. He did not want anything to stand in the way of his preaching the Gospel, and a reputation for heresy would have hampered him badly.
Miscarriage of justice
Let me update the scene with a more modern story. In the 1930s a pupil in a Jesuit boarding school accused a young priest (we'll call him Peter) of sexually abusing him. The boy’s father, a local doctor, took the matter up with the school. It was passed from the Rector to the Provincial, a nervous and impulsive man, who promptly summoned Peter and without due process dismissed him from the Jesuits. Peter himself denied the charges.
His Jesuit friends, appalled at the high-handed injustice of the affair, appealed to a US Jesuit province to help. A Jesuit bishop in Alaska interviewed Peter, believed him, and took him (as a diocesan priest) on to the Alaska mission. Years later the boy who started the witch-hunt came forward to say that his story was pure fiction, grounded only in his sense of grievance; Peter had never done anything wrong to him.
Happy Ending
There is a happy sort of ending.
Peter, no longer a Jesuit, had qualities so remarkable that he was appointed bishop of Alaska, but never the less remained a pupil of St Ignatius.
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Memorable Proverbs for today
Discernment is the ability to see things for what
they REALLY are
and not for what you WANT them to be
...St Ignatius of Loyola
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Liturgical Readings for: Saturday, 1st August, 2026
Friday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day: July 31 - St Ignatius of Loyola, priest and founder
C/f A short look at the life of this saint can be found below today's Readings and Reflection.
(Optional memorials of Ss Eusebius of Vercelli, bishop
and Peter Julian Eymard, priest)
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Prophet Jeremiah 26:1-9.
The people were all crowding round in the Temple of the Lord.
At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word was addressed to Jeremiah by the Lord. The Lord says this:
Stand in t
he court of the Temple of the Lord.To all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the Temple of the Lord you must speak all the words I have commanded you to tell them; do not omit one syllable.
Perhaps they will listen and each turn from his evil way: if so, I shall relent and not bring the disaster on them which I intended for their misdeeds.
Say to them, "the Lord says this:
If you will not listen to me by following my Law which I put before you, by paying attention to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send so persistently to you, without your ever listening to them, I will treat this Temple as I treated Shiloh, and make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth".'
The priests and prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah say these words in the Temple of the Lord.
When Jeremiah had finished saying everything that the Lord had ordered him to say to all the people,
the priests and prophets seized hold of him and said,
'You shall die! Why have you made this prophecy in the name of the Lord,
"This Temple will be like Shiloh, and this city will be desolate, and uninhabited"?'
And the people were all crowding round Jeremiah in the Temple of the Lord.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 68:5.8-10. 14. R/v14
Response In your great love, answer me, O God.
1. More numerous than the hairs on my head are those who hate me without cause.
Those who attack. me with lies are too much for my strength.
How can I restore what I have never stolen? Response
2. It is for you that I suffer taunts, that shame covers my face,
that I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother's sons.
I burn with zeal for your house and taunts against you fall on me. Response
3. This is my prayer to you, my prayer for your favour.
In your great love, answer me, O God, with your help that never fails. Response
Gospel Acclamation 1 Thess 2: 13
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God's message for what i really is;
God's message and not some human thinking
Alleluia !
or 1 Pt 1: 25
Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of the Lord remains for ever: What is this word?
It is the Good News that has been brought to you.
Alleluia !
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 13:54-58 Glory to you, O Lord
'Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?: This is the carpenter's son, surely?
Coming to his home town, Jesus taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said,'Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?:
This is the carpenter's son, surely?
Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude?:
His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? So where did the man get it all?':
And they would not accept him.
But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house',:
and he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Friday Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 13:54-58
Asking questions is an important expression of our faith journey. When we are trying to respond to the Lord’s presence and call in our lives, there will always be room for questions. The Lord is infinitely mysterious; he is always beyond us as well as being present among us and within us. We are always searching for him, as well as responding to his daily presence to us. As we search for him, we will ask questions, and our questions can lead us closer to him. However, in today’s gospel reading, the questions asked by the people of Nazareth did not lead them closer to Jesus. Rather, their questions lead them away from Jesus. When Jesus taught in his home synagogue, the people of Nazareth asked very good and valid questions, ‘Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? So where did the man get it all?’ They recognized the wisdom of his preaching and teaching, and the healing and life-giving power of his ministry, and they wondered where it all came from. These were questions that could have lead the people of Nazareth to recognize Jesus as someone who had come to them from God.
Instead, their questions led them to reject Jesus. After all, he was one of their own; they knew him as the son of a carpenter; they were very familiar with his mother and the other members of his family. How could someone so like them come from God? How could one of their own be God’s special messenger to them? They had asked good questions, but, in the end, they rejected him. The people of Nazareth could not come to terms with God powerfully present in one like themselves.
Yet, this is the mystery that is at the heart of our faith. God became human in Jesus. When we look upon the human life of Jesus, his words and deeds, his ministry, his death, we are looking upon the face of God. Here is a mystery to be delighted in, rather than rejected. Just as God came to us through one like us in all things but sin, so God continues to come to us in and through the ordinary circumstances of our day to day lives. The risen Lord who is beyond us, with God the Father, is also present with us to the end of time.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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Saint of the Day: July 31 - St Ignatius of Loyola
Pope Benedict XVI has said of St Ignatius: "He was first and foremost a man of God who in his life put God, his greatest glory and his greatest service, first". Through his Spiritual Exercises, St Ignatius has shown how to discern where God is leading the disciple in apostolic spirituality.
Patrick Duffy tells his story.
Early Years
Iñigo was born at the castle of Loyola near Azpeitia in the Basque country of Spain. Baptised Iñigo after a local saint, Iñigo (Eneco) of Ona (d. 1057), the change in name seems to have occurred when he went to live in France and Italy. He was the youngest of thirteen, eight brothers and four sisters. Both his parents were of distinguished families, but his mother died when he was a child and his father when he was about sixteen.A solitary man
He was only seven years old in 1498 when Martin, his next to oldest brother and heir to the family estate, married Magdalena, and she took charge of the house of Loyola. Iñigo grew up alongside his brother's children, probably distancing himself from them because he felt older and identifying with the adults, with whom he didn't really fit in either. This may explain why basically he was a solitary man, who for most of his life was a searcher, a kind of wandering adventurer.
Arévalo
When he was fifteen he became a page in the house of the contador mayor (chief treasurer) to the Reyes Catolicos Ferdinand and Isabella, called Juan Velazquez de Cuellar, at Arévalo, between Avila and Valladolid. Here he received a courtly education, read books of chivalry and romance and was involved in all the usual escapades of a courtier.
When King Ferdinand died in 1516, Velazquez de Cuellar lost his position. Iñigo went to Pamplona and spent five years in the army of the viceroy of Navarre, to whom he was related. In 1521 the French invaded Navarre and besieged Pamplona. Iñigo refused to surrender and was hit by a cannon ball, which badly broke one leg and injured the other. Crude surgery made it worse and left him with a limp for life.Convalescence
During his convalescence at home in Loyola, Iñigo asked to read novels of chivalry, but instead was given a copy of the Legenda Aurea (a book of lives of the saints) by James of Voragine. From the ideals of the saints like Francis and Dominic, he fantasised about becoming a knight of Christ. Doing penance was the start of this and he began to plan a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Montserrat and Manresa
Setting off for Jerusalem, he made a general confession at the monastery of Montserrat and seems to have been dissuaded from going further till he became more settled in his converted life. He spent ten months as a hermit at nearby Manresa, in prayer and penance. Here he experienced the alternations of desolation and consolation in prayer. He came away at peace and with the germs of the Spiritual Exercises in note form. It became a practical manual of apostolic spirituality. It shows the way for those who, like Iñigo, seek discernment as to where God is leading them and how to live "for the greater glory of God".
Jerusalem
He did go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem (1523), begging as he went, but the Franciscans there dissuaded him from a project for converting Muslims, and he came back asking himself quid agendum? (Autobiography 50), what he ought now to do. Eventually he resolved to study, in order to be of greater help to others. He spent eleven years - one third of the remaining years of his life - studying.
Studying
Iñigo first went to Barcelona, then to Alcalá de Henares near Madrid, Salamanca and finally Paris (1528), where he studied philosophy for three years, graduating in 1534 as a master of arts. In Paris he gathered six disciples to whom he gave the Spiritual Exercises; they took vows of poverty and chastity and promised to serve the Church either by preaching in Palestine or in other ways the Pope thought fit.
RomeThe companions met at Venice in 1537, but were unable to get to the Holy Land. So they went on to Rome, where they resolved to become a new religious order. By now they had all been ordained priests. They became involved in works of charity, such as teaching the young and uneducated, as well as in missions to the new colonies. Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese) (1534-49) approved the Society of Jesus. Ignatius was chosen as the first Superior General.
Expansion
For the next fifteen years he inspired and directed the expanding order. Francis Xavier sailed to Goa in 1541 and in 1549 was in Japan. Colleges were opened in major Italian cities, and in 1551 the Collegio Romano; this eventually became known as the
Gregorian University (after Pope Gregory XIII Ugo Buoncompagni, 1572-85). Less than a decade after his death there were Jesuit colleges in Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, India, Brazil and Japan.Death and Canonisation
Ignatius died suddenly on 31 July 1556 and his remains were enshrined in what is now the Church of the Gesù in Rome. He was canonised in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV (Alessandro Ludovisi) along with Teresa of Avila, Philip Neri, Francis Xavier, and the humble St Isidore the farmer from Spain. With over 18,000 members, the Society is the largest religious order in the world.
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Memorable Proverbs for today
"Whatever you are doing, that which makes you feel the most alive... that is where God is."
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Discernment is the ability to see things for what they really are
and not for what you WANT them to be
Liturgical Readings for: Saturday, 1st August, 2026
CÉAD LÉACHT Sliocht as Leabhar Irimia, Fáidh 26:1-9.
Bhí an pobal uile ag plódú thart ar Irimia i dTeampall an Tiarna.
I dtosach réim Iahóiácaím mhic Iósíá, rí Iúdá, tháinig an briathar seo [go Irimia] ón Tiarna:“Seo mar a deir an Tiarna:
‘Seas i gcúirt Theampall an Tiarna. Le muintir uile chathracha Iúdá a thagann go Teampall an Tiarna a adhradh, abair na briathra uile a d’ordaigh mise duit a labhairt leo; ná fág siolla ar lár. B’fhéidir go n-éistfidh siad agus go bhfillfidh gach aon duine óna dhrochshlí; má fhilleann, tiocfaidh aithreachas ormsa faoin olc atá ar intinn agam a dhéanamh orthu mar gheall ar a míghníomhartha. Abair leo:
Seo mar a deir an Tiarna:
Mura n-éisteann sibh liomsa trí mo dhlí a chuir mé romhaibh a chomhlíonadh, trí aird a thabhairt ar bhriathra mo sheirbhíseach, na fáithe, a sheolaim chugaibh gan scor agus nár éist sibh leo, déanfaidh mise an Teampall seo cosúil le Sileo, agus déanfaidh mé an chathair seo ina mallacht do chiníocha uile an domhain.’”
Chuala na sagairt agus na fáithe agus an pobal uile Irimia ag rá na mbriathar sin i dTeampall an Tiarna.
Nuair a bhí gach rud ráite ag Irimia a d’ordaigh an Tiarna dó a rá leis an bpobal uile, rug na sagairt agus na fáithe air agus dúirt siad:“Go deimhin cuirfear chun báis thú. Cad chuige ar thairngir tú in ainm an Tiarna á rá:
‘Beidh an Teampall seo cosúil le Sileo, agus beidh an chathair seo uaigneach agus gan áitreabhach’?”
Agus bhí an pobal uile ag plódú thart ar Irimia i dTeampall an Tiarna.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia
Salm le Freagra Sm 68: 5. 8-10. 14. R/v14
Freagra Éist liom, a Thiarna, de réir do mhórthrócaire
1. Ní lia ribí mo chinn ná lucht m’fhuatha gan fáth.
An drong lér mian mo mhilleadh sáraíonn siad mé go héagórach.
An amhlaidh a thabharfaidh mé ar ais an ní nár ghoid mé? Freagra
2. Ar do shonsa a d’fhulaing mé aithis agus bhí luisne na náire i mo ghnúis.
Is strainséir mé ag mo bhráithre féin; is coigríoch mé ag clann mo mháthar.
Tá mé ar lasadh le dúthracht do do theach; is orm a thit aithisí lucht do cháinte. Freagra
3. Chugatsa a chuirim m’urnaí, a Thiarna, ar uair na faille, a Dhia.
Éist liom de réir do mhórthrócaire agus do chúnaimh gan teip. Freagra
SOISCÉAL
Go raibh an Tiarna libh. Agus le do spiorad féin
Sliocht as Soiscéal naofa de réir Naomh Mhatha 13:54-58, Glóir duit, a Thiarna
Sliocht as an Soiscéal naofa de réir Naomh Matha
“Cá bhfuair sé seo,” deiridís, “an eagna seo agus na míorúiltí? Nach é mac an tsaoir adhmaid é seo?
San am sin ar theacht ina dhúiche féin dó, bhíodh Íosa ag teagasc na ndaoine ina sionagóg, ionas gur ghabh iontas iad:“Cá bhfuair sé seo,” deiridís, “an eagna seo agus na míorúiltí?
Nach é mac an tsaoir adhmaid é seo?
Nach í a mháthair an bhean a bhfuil Muire uirthi?
Agus nach iad Séamas agus Iósaef agus Síomón agus Iúdás a bhráithre? A shiúracha freisin, nach bhfuil siad uile inár measc? Cá bhfuair sé na nithe seo uile, mar sin?” Agus ghlac siad scannal ann.
Ach dúirt Íosa leo:
“Ní bhíonn fáidh faoi neamhchion ach amháin ina dhúiche agus ina theaghlach féin.”
Agus ní dhearna sé mórán míorúiltí ansiúd de dheasca a ndíchreidimh.
Soiscéal an Tiarna. Moladh duit, a Chriost
AN BÍOBLA NAOFA
© An Sagart
Liturgical Readings for: Sunday, 2nd August, 2026
18th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah 55:1-3
Come and eat.
Thus says the Lord:Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come!
Buy corn without money, and eat, and, at no cost, wine and milk.
Why spend money on what is not bread, your wages on what fails to satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.
Pay attention, come to me; listen, and your soul will live.
With you I will make an everlasting covenant out of the favours promised to David.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 144: 8-9. 15-18. R/v 16
Response You open wide your hand, O Lord, you grant our desires.
1. The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures. Response
2. The eyes of all creatures look to you and you give them their food in due time.
You open wide your hand, grant the desires of all who live. Response
3. The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him, call on him from their hearts. Response
SECOND READING
A reading from the second letter of St Paul to the Romans 8:35. 37-39
No created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ
Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us.For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
Gospel Acclamation Lk 19: 38
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessings on the King who comes, in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens!
Alleluia!
Or Mt 4:4
Alleluia, alleluia!
Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 14:13-21 Glory to you, O Lord
They all ate as much as they wanted.
When Jesus received this news of John the Baptist's death, he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.
When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, 'This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food'.
Jesus replied, 'There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves'. But they answered 'All we have with us is five loaves and two fish'.
'Bring them here to me' he said. He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds.
They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining; twelve baskets full. Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children.
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here: https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/
Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.
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Liturgical Readings for: Sunday, 2nd August, 2026
CÉAD LÉACHT Sliocht as an Leabhar Íseáia, Fáidh. 55: 1-3
Hóigh, a lucht an íota, tagaigí faoi choinne uisce
Seo mar a deir an Tiarna:
Hóigh, a lucht an íota, tagaigí faoi choinne uisce; fiú mura bhfuil airgead agaibh, tagaigí;
Ceannaigí cruithneacht agus ithigí gan díol as, agus fíon agus bainne gan íoc. Cén fáth a gcaitheann sibh airgead air rud nach arán é,agus luach bhur saothair ar rud nach bhfuil sásamh ann?
Éistigí liomsa agus beidh sólaistí le hithe agaibh
agus beidh taitneamh á bhaint agaibh as togha an bhia.
Tugaigí cluas agus tagaigí chugam, éistigí
agus beidh bhur n-anam saolach.
Déanfaidh mé conradh libh, conradh buan an uair seo,
an chomaoin cheanúil a chur oraibh a ba mhinic ag Dáiví.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia
Salm le Freagra Sm 144
Freagra Osclaíonn tú do lámh, a Thiarna, is sásaíonn tú sinn.
I. Is ceansa trócaireach é an Tiarna, mall chun feirge agus lán de chineáltas.
Is maith é an Tiarna don uile ní, is is trócaireach é dá oibreacha uile. Freagra
2. Bíonn súile cách ag feitheamh ort, agus túgann tú bia dóibh in am trátha.
Osclaíonn tú do lámh, a Thiarna, is sásaíonn tú a bhfuil beo le do chineáltas. Freagra
3. Is fíréantá an Tiarna ina shlite uile is is naofa é ina oibreacha go léir.
Is gairid an Tiarna dá ngaireann air, dá ngaireann air go fírinneach. Freagra
DARA LÉACHT
Sliocht as Litir Naomh Pól chuig na Rómhánaigh 8:35. 37-39
Ná dúil chruthaithe ar bith eile sinn a scaradh ó ghrá Dé atá in Íosa Críost ár dTiarna.
A bhráithre,
cé a scarfaidh ó ghrá Chríost sinn? Trioblóid an ea? nó cruatan, nó géarleanúint, nó gorta, nó nochtacht, nó guais, nó an claíomh féin? Ach sna cúrsaí seo go léir, beirimid an bua go caithréimeach tríd an té úd a thug grá dúinn.Mar táim cinnte dearfa de nach bhféadfaidh bás ná beatha, aingil ná prionsaí ná cumhachtaí, nithe atá ann anois ná nithe atá le teacht, an domhan thuas ná an domhan thíos, ná dúil chruthaithe ar bith eile sinn a scaradh ó ghrá Dé atá in Íosa Críost ár dTiarna.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia
Alleluia Véarsa Mth 4:4
Alleluia, alleluia!
Ní ar arán amháin a mhairfidh an duine,
ach ar an uile fhocal a thagann as béal Dé.
Alleluia!
SOISCÉAL
Sliocht as Soiscéal naofa de réir Naomh Mhatha 14:13-21
D’ith siad uile agus bhí siad sách.
San am sin nuair a chuala Íosa faoi bhás Eoin, , chuaigh sé i leataobh as sin i mbád go dtí áit uaigneach ar leithligh. Ach fuair na sluaite scéala air, agus tháinig siad amach as na cathracha á leanúint dá gcois. Ar theacht i dtír dó, chonaic sé slua mór agus ghlac sé trua dóibh agus leigheas na hothair a bhí leo.
Nuair a bhí an tráthnóna ann, áfach, tháinig na deisceabail chuige agus dúirt siad: “Áit uaigneach é seo agus tá sé deireanach feasta. Mar sin, scaoil uait na sluaite go dtéidís isteach sna bailte agus bia a cheannach dóibh féin.”
Ach dúirt Íosa leo: “Ní gá dóibh imeacht; tugaigí sibhse rud le hithe dóibh.”
“Ach,” ar siadsan leis, “níl anseo againne ach cúig builíní agus dhá iasc.”
“Tugaigí chugam anseo iad,” ar seisean. D’ordaigh sé do na sluaite luí fúthu ar an bhféar; thóg sé na cúig builíní agus an dá iasc, agus, ar dhearcadh suas chun na bhflaitheas dó, bheannaigh, bhris, agus thug na builíní do na deisceabail, agus thug na deisceabail do na sluaite iad. D’ith siad uile agus bhí siad sách, agus thóg siad suas an bruscar fuílligh, lán dhá chiseán déag.
Timpeall cúig mhíle fear a fuair an béile, gan mná ná páistí a áireamh.
Soiscéal an Tiarna. Moladh duit, a Chriost
AN BÍOBLA NAOFA
© An Sagart
