Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	It’s high summer now, school is out, the pace of work slows, and some people drift away. There are visitors in the churches every summer, and familiar faces are “among the missing.” Some find the summer’s call more appealing than the summons of the church bells. Many, however, would not dream of missing a Sunday, and so they make their way to Mass in unfamiliar places, watching the locals for clues as to when to sit or stand, where the Communion stations are. In answering the call, they keep the “sabbatical” rhythm of the Christian life: every seventh day, the Body of Christ assembles for worship.
	For centuries, there was no obligation to Sunday Mass in the sense of a written law, but Christians have always yearned to be together on Sunday. In the city of Abitina, during a persecution by the Emperor Diocletian, a group of Christians were urged to stop worshiping together on Sundays. They responded, “Then take our lives, for without the Sunday we cannot live.” By a curious coincidence, the appointed readings today center us on thoughts of peace. On our Independence Day, the experience of worship situates us in community, and evokes a commitment from us to be advocates of peace in all aspects of our society’s life.
—James Field