Photo: Jesus and his Mom

 

Poem: “When I Am Among the Trees” by Mary Oliver

 When I am among the trees,            

especially the willows and the honey locust, 

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines 

they give off such hints of gladness.                  

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

 

I am so distant from the hope of myself, 

in which I have goodness, and discernment, 

and never hurry through the world

but walk slowly, and bow often.

 

Around me the trees stir in their leaves 

and call out. “Say awhile.” 

The light flows from their branches.

 

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,                 

“and you too have come 

into this world to do this, to go easy, to be filled 

with light, and to shine.”

Photo: Ignatius and Companions

 

Spirituality: Joe Nangle, “Community as Home,” in Sojourners Magazine, May 1994

Our communities may not conform to any blueprint, but we know we have them…I once knew two elderly shut-ins, longtime friends, both of whom lived alone. Every day they watched a religious program on television and as it ended each would offer a prayer for the other. They knew who formed their unique community…

Why is community a near-universal experience—especially for people of faith? One person put it this way: “Community is God’s strategy for reaching the world.” That’s a neat way of saying that as community—rather than as individuals—we model what God has in mind for humanity.

Photo: Fordham University Church, Jesuit Province Day

 

Spirituality: from To Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donohue

 It is such a privilege to have people who continue each day to bless us with their love and prayer. These inner friends of the heart confer on us inestimable gifts. In these times of greed and externality, there is such unusual beauty in having friends who practice profound faithfulness to us, praying for us each day without our ever knowing or remembering it. There are often lonesome frontiers we could never endure or cross without the inner sheltering of these friends. It is hard to live a true life that endeavors to be faithful to its own calling and not become haunted by the ghosts of negativity, therefore, it is not a luxury to have such friends; it is necessary.

Spirituality: from Haiku Mind by Patricia Donegan

I remember years ago in Korea in the Peace Corps, how I felt the first time I partook of the daily culture of "just sitting" together with friends in informal tearooms in Seoul, without saying a word; at first I felt quite nervous and bored, but when I was able to relax my mind and just be, it was a refreshing communion... each moment's meeting of a person or even a flower is precious and fleeting, it is to be savored completely, perhaps best in silence. 

Photo: A Wall of Rosaries

 

Prayer: John Cassian

Hope is sure of pardon and is without fear of being punished. Hope knows of the good works done. Hope is able to be on the lookout for the promised reward.

Let’s work for the Common Good: The Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time2026

                                            Let’s work for the Common Good:

The Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time 2026 

June 14, 2026

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Exodus 19:2-6; Psalm 100; Romans 5:6-11; Matthew 9:36-10:8

 

 

The reason for calling these first twelve men as his disciples was this line: his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned. Jesus responded compassionately to the emotional and spiritual needs of the people. In the first reading, God’s heart is likewise moved by the plight of the Israelites and takes them under his care. We get a glimpse of God’s emotions and God’s desire to care for us as a parent does a child. Because of this care, the Israelites and the Disciples are called to greater matters. They are called to care for humanity.

 

Pope Leo introduced his first encyclical called “Magnificent Humanity” so that he could call us to greater behavior. We are called to care for others, which is the reason he relies upon Catholic Social Teaching with four points. (1.) The letter calls us to build a civilization of humanity built upon the common good by having a foundational relationship with God. (2.) Building the common good means accepting the limits and weakness of humanity without considering them an error to be corrected. True fulfillment is not achieved by eliminating weakness but through harmonious growth. (3.) Building a world where everyone can flourish requires shared responsibility and courage. Tensions and differences are welcome because they can become the creative forces when guided by shared responsibility. (4.) Building the common good requires respectful language. We are to avoid humiliating or antagonistic words. Instead, we need to choose clarity that sheds light on our issues, and we need frank discussions that unlock new possibilities. 

 

The Pope’s letter says that we need to set standards for discernment, especially upon these issues – the dignity of the human person, the universal destination of goods like food and basic necessities, including health care, the preferential option for the poor, care for our common home, and peace between neighbors. The Pope writes, “True progress always stems from a heart open to others, an intelligence that is willing to listen, and to a will that seeks what unites rather than what separates.” 

 

Back to Scripture, we see that God raised the Israelites to a new relationship and that Jesus raised twelve men to a ministerial responsibility. We must discern how the Spirit, through Pope Leo’s words, are raising us up to a new form of discipleship. We are invited to become builders of communion. We are to be servants with God’s project for the world instead of those who lord it over others. We are asked to adopt the heart of a shepherd and a loving parent to help others to join forces to build up the common good, so that humanity, in the face of today’s challenges, will never lose its beauty, and that the world once again will recognize the human heart as the place where God desires to dwell. Are you ready to respond, “yes?”

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

Monday: (1 Kings 21) Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard to be my vegetable garden, since it is close by, next to my house. I will give you a better vineyard in exchange, or, if you prefer, I will give you its value in money.” Naboth answered him, “The LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral heritage.”

 

Tuesday: (1 Kings 21) After the death of Naboth the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite: "Start down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He will be in the vineyard of Naboth, of which he has come to take possession. This is what you shall tell him, 'The LORD says: After murdering, do you also take possession?

 

Wednesday: (2 Kings 2) When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, he and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here; the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan.” “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you,” Elisha replied.

 

Thursday: (Sirach 48) Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace. Their staff of bread he shattered, in his zeal he reduced them to straits;
By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens and three times brought down fire.

 

Friday (2 Kings 11) When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead,
she began to kill off the whole royal family. But Jehosheba, daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, his son, and spirited him away, along with his nurse.

 

Saturday (2 Chronicles 24) After the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to King Joash, and the king then listened to them. They forsook the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and began to serve the sacred poles and the idols.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Matthew 5) You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.

 

Tuesday: (Matthew 5) You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

 

Wednesday (Matthew 6) Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others.

 

Thursday (Matthew 6) In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 

Friday (Matthew 6) Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.

 

Saturday (Matthew 6) Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky.

 

Saints of the Week

 

June 19: Romuald, abbot (950-1027), was born into a family of dukes from Ravenna and became known for founding the Camaldolese Benedictine order that combined the solitary life of hermits into a monastic community life. He founded other hermitages and monasteries throughout Italy. 

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• June 14, 1596. By his brief Romanus Pontifex, Pope Clement VIII forbade to members of the Society of Jesus the use or privilege of the Bulla Cruciata as to the choice of confessors and the obtaining of absolution from reserved cases. 
• June 15, 1871. P W Couzins, a female law student, graduated from Saint Louis University Law School, the first law school in the country to admit women. 
• June 16, 1675. St Margaret Mary Alacoque received her great revelation about devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 
• June 17, 1900. The martyrdom at Wuyi, China, of Blesseds Modeste Andlauer and Remy Asore, slain during the Boxer Rebellion. 
• June 18, 1804. Fr. John Roothan, a future general of the Society, left his native Holland at the age of seventeen to join the Society in White Russia. 
• June 19, 1558. Fr. Lainez, the Vicar General, summoned the opening of the First General Congregation, nearly two years after the death of Ignatius. Some trouble arose from the fact that Fr. Bobadilla thought himself entitled to some share in the governance. Pope Paul IV ordered that the Institute of the Society should be strictly adhered to. 
• June 20, 1626. The martyrdom in Nagasaki, Japan, of Blesseds Francis Pacheco, John Baptist Zola, Vincent Caun, Balthasar De Torres, Michael Tozo, Gaspar Sadamatzu, John Kinsaco, Paul Xinsuki, and Peter Rinscei.