St. Denis, bishop  & martyr. & Companions, martyrs  / St. John Leonardi, Priest 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

 Jonah 4: 1-11

 But Jonah was greatly displeased at this, and he was in­dignant.

 He prayed to Yahweh and said, “O Yah­weh, is this not what I said when I was yet in my own coun­try? This is why I fled to Tar­shish. I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and full of love, and you relent from imposing terrible punishment.   I beseech you now, Yahweh, to take my life, for now it is better for me to die than to live.”   But Yahweh replied, “What right have you to be angry?”

 Jonah  then  left  the  city.  He  went to a place east of it, built himself a shelter and sat under its shade to wait and see what would happen to Nine­veh.  Then Yahweh God provided a castor-oil plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade over his head and to ease his discomfort. Jonah was very happy about the plant.

 But the next day, at dawn, God sent a worm which attacked the plant and made it wither.  When the sun rose, God sent a scorching east wind; the sun blazed down upon Jo­nah’s head, and he grew faint. His death wish returned and he said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

 Then God asked Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the castor-oil plant?” Jonah answered, “I am right to be angry enough to wish to die.”

 Yahweh said, “You are concerned about a plant which cost you no labor to make it grow. Overnight it sprang up, and overnight it perished.   But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish right from left and they have many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned for such a great city?”

 

Ps 86 Lord, you are merciful and gracious.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

 Luke 11: 1-4

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” And Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this:

Father, may your name be held holy, may your kingdom come, give us each day the kind of bread we need, and forgive us our sins, for we also for­give all who do us wrong,and do not bring us to the test.”

 

Reflection gospel：

“LORD TEACH US TO PRAY.”

I sense a beautiful connection of the gospel text today to those of the past two days. Last Monday, the gospel recalls the incident where a teacher of the law inquired about inheriting eternal life (LK. 10:25-37).

Using a parable, Jesus pointed out that to inherit eternal life, knowing the commandments loving God and neighbor-is not enough. One must put knowledge into practice. In other words, Jesus emphasized action.

Yesterday, we heard again of the story of Martha and Mary (LK. 10:38-42). Recall that Martha complained doing all the work by herself while Mary simply sat at the feet of Jesus to listen to him. But instead of Jesus taking Martha’s side, he praised Mary for choosing “the better part”.

Hence, instead of action, Jesus, at this point, emphasized contemplation and prayer Today, Jesus teaches us how to pray: pray from the heart. It is in those moments when we pray from the heart that our prayers become more honest and we become more authentic before our Father.