June 27.  SEE.  Many learners knew very little of the history of God’s people but Samuel and Amos had taken Biblical Studies as a subject and were able to share in the YCS group how these Old Testament readings speak much about punishment of those who abandoned God’s ways and as a result were taken into captivity in Babylon. Was God being merciful at that time? Some said, no, while others argued that it was the punishment they deserved. Punishment is not to make the punisher feel good but to teach.  It teaches the one who punishes as well as the one being punished.  In current world crises many young people are suffering innocently and unjustly. Young men and women cannot see a future for themselves and children are deprived of opportunities to learn effectively.  

JUDGE. Reflect, share. Scripture.  Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord. Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street. Lamentations 2:18- 19. But all was, and is, not negative.  When Jesus heard the centurion he marvelled and said to those who followed him, “Truly I say to you not even in Israel have I found such faith. Matt  8:5-17.  Pope Francis: Being church means being God’s people, in accordance with the great plan of fatherly love.  We are to be God’s leaven in humanity.  It means proclaiming and bringing God’s salvation into our world, which often goes astray and needs to be encouraged, given hope and strengthening on the way.  The Church must be a place of mercy freely given where everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged to live the good life of the Gospel. EG 114. Pope Leo: The diverse sensibilities present in the Church and the strong convictions that animate each person are a source of richness if they remain anchored in the certainty that unity is a gift received and a responsibility to be fulfilled.  MH 88

ACT AND PRAY. With Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on AI to help us, how can the world wake up to the needs of families and the poor.      Pray for understanding and commitment.