Simony–the buying and selling of sacred offices and things; the unlawful marriage of the clergy;

and lay investiture—kings and nobles controlling the appointment of Church officials, plagued the Church then.

Gregory’s papalreasserted the unity of the whole Church based on Christ.

 

 Blessed Virgin Mary/St. Bede the Venerable, priest & doctor

St. Gregory VII, pope/ St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, virgin

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

James 5:13-20

Are any among you discouraged?

They should pray. Are any of you happy? They should sing songs to God. If anyone is sick, let him call on the elders of the Church. They shall pray for him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer said in faith will save the sick person; the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. 

 

There will be healing if you confess your sins to one another, and pray for each other. The prayer of the upright man has great power, provided he perseveres. Elijah was a human being, like ourselves, and when he prayed earnestly, for it not to rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. Then he prayed again: the sky yielded rain and the earth produced its fruit.

 

Brothers, if any one of you strays far away from the truth, and another person brings him back to it, be sure of this: he who brings back a sinner from the wrong way, will save his soul from death and win forgiveness for many sins.

 

Ps 141:1-2, 3, 8 Let my prayer come like incense before you.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊     

Mark 10:13-16

People were bringing their little children to him to have him touch them; and the disciples rebuked them for this. When Jesus noticed it, he was very angry and said, "Let the children come to me and don't stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Then he took the children in his arms and, laying his hands on them, blessed them.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"Let the children come."

In Mark's Gospel, the disciples of Jesus appeared to be slow learners. Jesus kept on teaching them lessons on radical discipleship but they also kept missing the point of Jesus' message. During their discussion on who is the greatest (cf. Mk. 9:33-37), Jesus took a child to teach them a lesson on true greatness.

 

Jesus told them that whoever welcomes a child, welcomes Jesus and whoever welcomes Jesus, welcomes the one who sent him. In today's Gospel, the disciples were preventing the little children to come to him. Hence, Jesus had to reiterate that the kingdom of God belongs to such children. And whoever does not receive a child will not enter the kingdom of God.

 

Today's Gospel also depicts Jesus' gentle side when he took the children in his arms and blessed them. The disciples appeared too slow to understand the true path to greatness, which is having a heart like that of a child. We, adults, have proud hearts. We often think we know everything. Moreover, there are times when we even tend to be arrogant. Then before we know it, we have already lost our gentle side. We are all God's children. We should keep a child's heart.