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Religious pendant showing Christ blessing, framed with rubies and pearls [ Wikipedia ] The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it (Matthew 13:45). For Readings and Reflections for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, click on the following: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Chaldean Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows, Baghdad, Iraq [ Wikipedia ] In Sunday Reflections for this Sunday three years ago I highlighted the situation of Christians in Iraq and Syria and included a statement by Patriarch Louis Raphael I of the Chaldean Catholic Church dated 17 July 2014. Below is a video of the Patriarch reopening a Catholic Church in Tel Kaif ( Tel Keppe ), about 12 kms north of Mosul, in January of this year. This area is historically the centre of the Chaldean Catholic community in Iraq. Please pray for all of the Christians of Iraq and Syria,

Fr Jacques Hamel (3o November 1930 - 26 July 2016) Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,  for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Colossians 3: 2-4. Second Reading.) Gospel   Luke 12:13-21  ( NRSV, Catholic Ed . , Can.)  Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”   But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”   And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”   Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly.   And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’     Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will stor

From  The Gospel of John  (2003)    Directed by Philip Saville. Jesus played by Henry Ian Cusick; narrator, Christopher Plummer. [John 6:24-35 is found between 2:36 and 4:24 in the video.] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   John 6:24-35  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition , Canada)  When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”   Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.   Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.

Flock of Sheep in the Campagna , Claude Lorrain Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna [ Web Gallery of Art ] Gospel   Mark 6:30-34  ( NRV,Version, Catholic Edition , Canada)    The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.   He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.   And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.   Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.   As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.   Fr Ragheed Aziz Ganni  (20 January 1972 - 3 June 2007) I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the

Christ in Agony on the Cross , El Greco, 1600s Art Museum, Cincinnati, USA [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  Gospel   John 3:13-17  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition ; Canada)    Jesus said to Nicodemus:  No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.   And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,   that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.   “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “ Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Nicodemus ,  Unknown Master, Flemish Museum voor Schone

Chaldean Catholic Church ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ Ecclesia Chaldaeorum Catholica Emblem of the  Chaldean Catholic Church Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  Gospel   Matthew 13:44-52 [or 13:44-46]  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition , Canada)  Jesus said to his disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls;   on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. [“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind;   when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.   So it wil

Blind Pensioner with a Stick , Van Gogh, November 1882 [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings  (New American Bible: Philippines,USA)                                   Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel  John 9:1-41 [or John 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38]  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition , Canada)    [Shorter form of the Gospel: omit what is in square brackets] As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. [ His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”     Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.   We   must work the works of him who sent me   while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.     As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”]   When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mu