Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
In God’s Hands
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. Isaiah (Yahweh is salvation) experienced the holiness of God and was so haunted by it that it was the central message of his prophecies – the most vigorous and beautiful of all the prophetic writings. In the name of God’s holiness, he demanded conversion, especially to end the social injustice rampant in his time.
Gospel. “Do not be afraid,” says Jesus to his disciples three times. Even when persecuted and apparently failing in their mission, like Jesus, their master, they are in God’s hands. God takes care of his own. God’s kingdom cannot be built up without crosses and sacrifices, not without being contested by a world that wants to create its own future.
Opening Prayer
Dependable God,
You are present with us in all things,
even in our miseries,
And you take care of your own.
Deepen our trust in you
and make us afraid of only one thing:
to become instruments of evil.
Make us instead messengers of the good news
that evil can be overcome
and that your goodness and justice will prevail.
Give us this faith and trust
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
First Reading
Isaiah’s Calling
In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne high and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the temple.
Above him, seraphs hovered with six wings each: two covering their faces, two shielding their feet, and two for flying.
They were calling to one another:“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Sabaoth.All the earth is filled with his glory!”
At the sound of their voices, the foundations of the threshold shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.
I said: “Poor me! I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips, yet I have seen the King, the Lord Sabaoth.”
Then one of the seraphs flew to me; in his hands was a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it and said: “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” I answered: “Here I am. Send me!”
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
A student is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.
A student should be content to become like his teacher and the slave like his master. If the head of the household has been called Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!
Exhortation to Courage
So, do not be afraid of them. Nothing hidden will remain secret. Everything concealed will eventually be revealed.
What I tell you in secret, you must speak openly; what you hear in private, proclaim from the rooftops.
Do not fear those who can only kill the body, but cannot harm the soul. Instead, fear the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna.
For just a few cents, you can buy two sparrows. Yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father knowing.
As for you, every hair on your head has been counted.
Don’t be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows!
Choice for Jesus
Whoever acknowledges me in front of others, I will acknowledge them before my Father in heaven.
Whoever rejects me in front of others, I will reject them before my Father in heaven.
Prayers of the Faithful
– For the Church, that free from all paralyzing fears it may have the courage born of faith to bear witness to the demands of the gospel, we pray:
– For presiders in the liturgy, that they may have a deep sense of God’s holiness and of their own limitations and shortcomings, we pray:
– For all of us, that we may not fear those who threaten or ridicule us for our faith, as we live in trust of God who carries us in his hands, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Believable and trustworthy God,
your Son, Jesus Christ committed himself
to the fight against evil and persecution,
Yet he himself was its victim.
As he encounters us here
in these signs of bread and wine,
may he help us to understand better
that the disciple is not above the master,
that we cannot make your kingdom come true
without being torn apart
nor without being contested by the world.
We trust in you through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Our holy God,
We have shared the table of your Son;
We are willing to share his life and mission.
Make us unafraid, as he was fearless.
Help us to be convinced
in the deepest of ourselves
that our life and death are in your hands
and that our crosses bear within themselves
the seeds of joy and happiness.
Give us this faith and strength
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
Do not be afraid of professing your faith or of living it. Trust in God, who stands behind you. May God strengthen and bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Do not be afraid …
Today’s Gospel passage is part of the missionary discourse, with which Jesus prepares the Apostles for their first experience of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Jesus repeatedly reminded them, “Do not be afraid,” even in moments of persecution and killing.
Jesus’s prophecy of physical torture against those who believe in him, even to the point of being killed, is fulfilled in every age. It is a painful reality, but it attests to the faithfulness of those who choose to follow him.
Pope Francis spoke of the modern-day persecutions against Christians and said, “We can say with certainty that there are more martyrs today than the martyrs of the early times: so many martyrs, merely for the fact of being Christians. Jesus advises these disciples of yesterday and today who suffer persecution: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (v. 28). The only fear that a disciple should have is to lose this divine gift of closeness to and friendship with God, to stop living according to the Gospel.
Another type of trial that Jesus indicates the Apostles will face is the fear that God has abandoned them, remaining distant and silent. Jesus suffered this trial in the Garden of Olives and on the cross: “Father, why have you forsaken me?” says Jesus. At times, one feels this spiritual dryness. We must not be afraid of it. Here too, Jesus exhorts them not to fear, because the disciples' lives rest firmly in the hands of God, who loves and cares for them. The Final prayer of Jesus on the cross is also the final lesson of Jesus for his disciples: “Father, into your hands, I commend my Spirit.” There is no despair in it, rather the ultimate trust in the saving grace of the Father.
May Mary Most Holy, the model of trust and abandonment in God in the hour of adversity and danger, help us never to surrender to despair, but protect us under your maternal care and help us always to entrust ourselves to the grace of God.