First Reading – Isaiah 66:10-14 ©
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm
65(66):1-7,16,20 ©
Second Reading – Galatians 6:14-18 ©
Gospel Acclamation – John 15:15
Alternative Gospel Acclamation – Colossians
3:15,16
The Gospel According to Luke 10:1-12
& 17-20 ©
(NJB)
Listen!
Oh children of Zion, stop what you are doing and do not wait for a savior; your salvation
is peace, and the path to peace is reconciliation. You will only fulfill
Isaiah’s vision through your commitment to justice and mercy, there is no other
way.
Do not look to aggrandize yourself with
trophies, do not continue to hold onto the “promised land” as if it were a kind
of idol; you are suffering for it already...worse, you are committing crimes to
defend it and visiting pain on others.
Know this!
God has forgiven your debts, you have no need
to be redeemed; you are loved, even in your calumny
You are only as holy as you are in your daily
life, and the measure of your holiness is the service you provide to your
community, your community which includes everyone: the stranger, the
Palestinian and anyone with whom you are aggrieved, as well as those by whom
you are hurt.
Forgive them and seek their forgiveness,
through service, humility and compassion.
It is boastful and dishonest to proclaim that
God, the creator of the universe has shown or shows, any of God’s children, any
family, any tribe, any nation…any amount of favor over and above the favor God
shows to anyone else, even the worst of us..
God does not intervene on behalf of any people
or person, God does not alter the course of their lives. God does not break
chains or crush rebellions…we do that ourselves. God does not establish
kingdoms or promise that they will rule forever, God does not bless the
conqueror or curse the vanquished.
God is not a land guarantor.
To the extent that faith is rooted in such notions
it is failing to keep people in the way. When
people express their faith in this way they have substituted their own desires
for the will of God and that kind of hubris is blasphemy.
Consider the wisdom of the apostle; set aside
your pride and your fixation with material world, with its honors and insignias,
the marks on your flesh that tell you what tribe you belong to, forget the
customs of your culture for a moment and the idea that anything important regarding
your relationship to God depends on their fulfillment, nothing depends on our
insular customs and they will all be forgotten.
So…forget about the importance you place on how
you cut your hair, what clothes you wear; forget about that.
What matters most is what you carry in your
heart, the service you give, the peace you bring, what you endure for the sake
of others, especially those weaker than you, less fortunate and those in need…that
is the way.
Give up the fetishes and idols you have made
yourself subordinate to; give up your sacred books, set down the bible, stop
pretending that God has made you a land grant, or given you special permission
to do anything…God did no-such-thing.
Give-up all such pretenses, do it for the sake of the way.
Remember
this!
The
greatest commandment is love; love is the whole of the law. To love one
another, to give of one’s self to another in love, there is no greater gift.
The
love that we are called to is not the love we call desire, though to desire and
be desired is an experience of great joy.
We
are called to move past the love we have for family and friends, because to
love in that way is only a short extension of the love we have for ourselves, seeing
ourselves in the faces of our mothers and fathers, we see our ambitions as tied
to the ambitions of our friends. We are called to love in a greater capacity
than merely to love them., though it is great to have such friends
We
are called to love to the point of selflessness, to love even those who stand
against us, to love our enemies, to forgive those who have hurt us and done us
harm, to feed the stranger and protect them…and to do so out of love.
To love and exercise compassion; to manifest goodwill
toward all of your sisters and brothers, this is the way. Allow the way to harmonize everything you do,
including your faults and failures, let love and compassion proceed you as a
servant of God.
Be mindful.
The
way is not easy, a life of faith needs support
and nourishment from others around you. We discover ourselves in community,
through our relationships we find the path to serve God.
Consider
the Gospel reading for today: it has a quality that reminds of me a recruitment
manual, there are heavy notes of propaganda and it is filled with dishonest mythology.
The
reader has no choice but to regard it as a false narrative.
The
propaganda begins with the formal address of the “Lord,” an appellation given
to Jesus, who was not a lord or a king of any kind, and never coveted such
titles.
The
first paragraph concludes with a statement of need, telling the reader that
there is much work to do, but not enough people to do it. The movement needs
people, but not just any people; it needs people who are able to work covertly,
to pass as lambs among wolves. It needs people of the utmost discretion; people
who are able to work without drawing attention to themselves.
The
new movement needs special people, and it tells the reader that they might be
one of them.
The
people are told that those who carry out this mission will be taken care of, they
are given the promise that they will be fed, that they will be housed. These
missionaries are told through the gospel to stay with those who are willing to
give, when they find those people to remain with them.
The
third paragraph promises special powers; the extraordinary ability to cure the
sick, to cast out demons, and the ordinary power to bear witness against the
inhospitable.
In
the fourth paragraph, the promise of special powers are confirmed; the reader
is told that if they accept the mission, they will not only be able to cure and
condemn, but that even devils will bow to them, and that neither serpents nor
scorpions can hurt them; they are told that their names will be written, like
those of the heroes, their names will be written in the stars.
These
promises take us far from the way, because
they are false.
The way
is love, the way is service, the way is compassion, the way is justice…and there is no other
way; to follow it is to accept a life of humility in the furtherance of grace.
First Reading – Isaiah 66:10-14 ©
Towards Jerusalem I Send Flowing
Peace, Like a River
Rejoice,
Jerusalem, be glad for her, all you who love her!
Rejoice,
rejoice for her, all you who mourned her!
That
you may be suckled, filled, from her consoling breast, that you may savour with
delight her glorious breasts.
For
thus says the Lord:
Now
towards her I send flowing peace, like a river, and like a stream in spate the
glory of the nations.
At
her breast will her nurslings be carried and fondled in her lap.
Like
a son comforted by his mother will I comfort you.
And
by Jerusalem you will be comforted.
At
the sight your heart will rejoice, and your bones flourish like the grass.
To
his servants the Lord will reveal his hand.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 65(66):1-7,16,20 ©
Cry out with joy to God, all the
earth.
Cry
out with joy to God all the earth,
O sing to the glory of his name.
O
render him glorious praise.
Say to God: ‘How tremendous your deeds!
Cry out with joy to God, all the
earth.
‘Before
you all the earth shall bow;
shall sing to you, sing to your name!’
Come
and see the works of God,
tremendous his deeds among men.
Cry out with joy to God, all the
earth.
He
turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the river dry-shod.
Let
our joy then be in him;
he rules for ever by his might.
Cry out with joy to God, all the
earth.
Come
and hear, all who fear God.
I will tell what he did for my soul:
Blessed
be God who did not reject my prayer
nor withhold his love from me.
Cry out with joy to God, all the
earth.
Second Reading – Galatians 6:14-18 ©
The Marks on My Body Are hose of
Jesus
The
only thing I can boast about is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. It does not matter if a
person is circumcised or not; what matters is for him to become an altogether
new creature. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, who form the Israel
of God.
I
want no more trouble from anybody after this; the marks on my body are those of
Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, my brothers.
Amen.
Gospel Acclamation – John 15:15
Alleluia, alleluia!
I
call you friends, says the Lord, because I have made known to you everything I
have learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
Alternative Gospel Acclamation –
Colossians 3:15,16
Alleluia, alleluia!
May
the peace of Christ reign in your hearts; let the message of Christ find a home
with you.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Luke 10:1-12
& 17-20 ©
Your Peace Will Rest on
that Man
The
Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to
all the towns and places he himself was to visit. He said to them, ‘The harvest
is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send
labourers to his harvest. Start off now, but remember, I am sending you out
like lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no
one on the road.
‘Whatever
house you go into, let your first words be, “Peace to this house!” And if a man
of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come
back to you. Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to
offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house.
‘Whenever
you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is set before you.
Cure those in it who are sick, and say, “The kingdom of God is very near to
you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome, go out
into its streets and say, “We wipe off the very dust of your town that clings
to our feet, and leave it with you. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of God is
very near.” I tell you, on that day it will not go as hard with Sodom as with
that town.’
The
seventy-two came back rejoicing. ‘Lord,’ they said ‘even the devils submit to
us when we use your name.’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall like
lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents
and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you.
Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your
names are written in heaven.’
The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary
Time (Year C)
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