Our Lady of the Rosary 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14

After fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas,

And Titus came with us. Following a revelation, I went to lay before them the Gospel that I am preaching to the pagans. I had a private meeting with the leaders—lest I should be working or have worked in a wrong way.

They recognized that I have been entrusted to give the Good News to the pagan nations, just as Peter has been entrusted to give it to the Jews. In the same way that God made Peter the apostle of the Jews, he made me the apostle of the pagans.

 James, Cephas and John acknowledged the graces God gave me. Those men who were regarded as the pillars of the Church stretched out their hand to me and Barnabas as a sign of fel­lowship; we would go to the pagans and they to the Jews. We should only keep in mind the poor among them. I have taken care to do this.

 When later Cephas came to Antioch, I con­fronted him since he deserved to be blamed.  Before some of James’ people arrived, he used to eat with non-Jewish people. But when they arrived, he withdrew and did not mingle anymore with them, for fear of the Jewish group.

The rest of the Jews followed him in this pretense, and even Barnabas was part of this insincerity. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas publicly: If you who are Jewish agreed to live like the non-Jews, setting aside the Jewish customs, why do you now compel the non-Jews to live like Jews?

 

Ps 117:1bc, 2

Go out to all the world, and tell the Good News.

 

＊＊＊＊ 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, just as John taught his disciples.” And Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this: Father, hallowed be your name, 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.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

Love for the Master impels us for mission! St. Paul in our first reading speaks of his mission to the pagans. And what zeal St. Paul had for the mission! He accepted no compromise with the Gospel of Mercy he had personally experienced and which he understood as the Gospel he would proclaim to all the world!

The world has need of this Gospel! There is in the world a raging conflict between good and evil. The world promotes hatred and violence, greed and deceit, passion and despair.

There is need for missionaries like St. Paul who would teach the world anew the prayer Jesus taught his disciples: Father, may your name be hallowed, may your kingdom come, give us our daily bread, teach us to forgive as we are forgiven.

The best companion for this mission of love is the Blessed Mother who has given us the Rosary as the weapon to combat the forces of evil. Down through the ages we have heard how through the intercession of the Virgin Mary the forces of evil have collapsed – in Lepanto, our La Naval, in Fatima. O Mary, Queen of peace, pray for us!