First Reading – Zechariah 12:10-11,13:1 ©
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm
62(63):2-6,8-9 ©
Second Reading – Galatians 3:26-29 ©
Gospel Acclamation – John 8:12
Alternative Acclamation – John 10:27
The Gospel According to Luke 9:18-24
©
(NJB)
Listen!
Zechariah is a false prophet, a nationalist, and a jingoistic liar, giving voice to the machinations of men, they are the fantasies of folly and we must abandon them.
God, the creator of the universe, is not a God of wars and battles; God does not intervene in human affairs or conflicts. God does not appoint princes and kings, neither does God show favor to some of God’s children over and against others.
Remember.
God is loving, God is just and God is good, kind, merciful and humble.
It is right to thank God for all the good things that come our way. It is right and good to give thanks, but do not blame God for the hardships we suffer in this life. The good and the bad come to us irrespective of who we are, what we do or have done or who we might become; there is no plan in it because God is no respecter of persons.
There is peace to be had through practice of patience, in the comfort of contemplation, meditation and prayer. Therefore, make your life a constant prayer, praying for the grace which comes from God and brings peace to the spirit. Let that peace bubble-up within you, overflowing like a fountain that may quench another’s thirst.
Be mindful
We are the children of God and God is parent to everyone.
Our faith in God, our faith in the way that Jesus showed us, that trust frees us to transcend our place in the world, it erases the distinctions between rich and poor, between male and female, between the priest and the lay person
We are all in the way, no-one is excluded from it; we are all moving inexorably toward God, the divine source of all being…trust in that, it is God’s plan for creation.
Understand this,
The sheep do not choose the shepherd, the shepherd chooses the sheep; and God is the shepherd in whom all that is--comes to be. There is the one shepherd, one sheepfold, and whether it make sense to us or not, it is to that shepherd we all belong.
Hearken to the voice of the shepherd; do not trouble yourself with how the shepherd speaks to you, in what language, in what text, through your sister or your brother, from the mouth of your neighbor or the stranger.
The divine spirit is speaking to them to, and they are listening (like you) as they are able (or willing), God will speak through them to you, you may hear it if you are willing and able.
Everyone that is, everyone who has ever been or ever will be, everyone without exception is with the scop of God’s care and concern, there is no other way. Do not trouble yourself if you do not understand the journey that another person is on…God is guiding them as God is guiding you.
If you resist, God will be patient; God will wait for you as God waits for everyone, be thankful for this and pray that you may emulate the patience of God.
God is love, and love is patient as love is kind; be kind to one another and to yourself. Have faith, that God will not lose a single one of us. Neither will any one of us lose God, no matter what; God is with us.
Know this.
Jesus lived among us and taught by word and deed; he never wrote a thing. He gave this command: “love one another, as I have loved you.” He told us in the simplest of terms that this is the whole of the law, and the only way to serve God.
He went to his death as an exemplification of this rule; it is the only rule that matters. He spoke in parables, but there was no mystery in them. He spoke plainly, and he spoke true. This was the source power in his teaching…that is how he shook the world.
In the generations that followed after him, the message Jesus delivered became contorted, as it took on the trappings of the false prophet Zechariah whose words we encountered at the beginning of today’s readings.
The story of his life became distorted by myths and tales of power.
It was not enough to tell the truth as Jesus himself told it, they had to make him into a king, the Christ, Kyrios, the anointed one, a prophet like his predecessor John, or the hero Elijah, a mysterious being pre-figured in arcane literature like the Books of Enoch; they cast him as the Son of Man, and exalted figure, and more…he became known as the Son of God, and even as God’s own self, dwelling amongst us in the flesh.
That is the trajectory of the propaganda that dogged the story of Jesus of Nazareth, replacing the real with the fantastic and surreal.
Jesus was a man, he taught us about the good and the just, he instructed us in the demands of humility and love. We should honor the truth he spoke, we should honor him by seeing him for who he truly was; a human being like the rest of us and a role-model for us to emulate.
First Reading – Zechariah 12:10-11,13:1 ©
They Will Look on the One Whom they Have
Pierces
It
is the Lord who speaks: ‘Over the House of David and the citizens of Jerusalem
I will pour out a spirit of kindness and prayer. They will look on the one whom
they have pierced; they will mourn for him as for an only son, and weep for him
as people weep for a first-born child. When that day comes, there will be great
mourning in Judah, like the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
When that day comes, a fountain will be opened for the House of David and the
citizens of Jerusalem, for sin and impurity.’
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 62(63):2-6,8-9 ©
For you my soul is thirsting, O Lord
my God.
O
God, you are my God, for you I long;
for you my soul is thirsting.
My
body pines for you
like a dry, weary land without water.
For you my soul is thirsting, O Lord
my God.
So
I gaze on you in the sanctuary
to see your strength and your glory.
For
your love is better than life,
my lips will speak your praise.
For you my soul is thirsting, O Lord
my God.
So
I will bless you all my life,
in your name I will lift up my hands.
My
soul shall be filled as with a banquet,
my mouth shall praise you with joy.
For you my soul is thirsting, O Lord
my God.
For
you have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice.
My
soul clings to you;
your right hand holds me fast.
For you my soul is thirsting, O Lord
my God.
Second Reading – Galatians 3:26-29 ©
All Baptised in Christ, You Have All
Clothed Yourselves in Christ
You
are, all of you, sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. All baptised in
Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more
distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of
you are one in Christ Jesus. Merely by belonging to Christ you are the
posterity of Abraham, the heirs he was promised.
Gospel Acclamation – John 8:12
Alleluia, alleluia!
I
am the light of the world, says the Lord; anyone who follows me will have the
light of life.
Alleluia!
Alternative Acclamation – John 10:27
Alleluia, alleluia!
The
sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord, I know them and they
follow me.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Luke 9:18-24
©
'You Are the Christ of
God'
One day when Jesus was praying alone
in the presence of his disciples he put this question to them, ‘Who do the
crowds say I am?’ And they answered, ‘John the Baptist; others Elijah; and
others say one of the ancient prophets come back to life.’ ‘But you,’ he said
‘who do you say I am?’ It was Peter who spoke up. ‘The Christ of God’ he said.
But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this.
‘The Son of Man’ he said ‘is
destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests
and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’
Then to all he said, ‘If anyone
wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross
every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it;
but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it.’
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