Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Barriers Are Broken Down
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. We should pay special attention to today’s beautiful first reading. Paul speaks directly about the wall of separation between Jews and non-Jews, which Christ has destroyed. All are called to be one in him. In this mission month we could ask ourselves how many are still outside God’s covenant, how many do not yet belong to the one single body of Christ.
Gospel. In the gospel Jesus exhorts his disciples to vigilance. They are like servants who should always be ready for the master’s call.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
Jesus your Son has broken down
the barriers dividing peoples and nations,
but why are we still so far apart,
even within our own households?
He has brought us close by his blood,
but why does his one body remain a dream
far removed from reality?
God, let us not be aliens to one another,
bring us together, help us to demolish
the walls of hatred and exploitation,
of distrust and power that divide your people,
that we may be all one
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
First Reading
And at that time, you were without Christ; you did not belong to the community of Israel. The covenant of God and his promises were not for you; you had no hope and were without God in this world.
But now, in Christ Jesus, and through his blood, you, who were once far away, have been brought near.
For Christ is our peace; he who has made the two people one;
destroying, in his own flesh, the wall—the hatred—that separated us. He abolished the law with its commands and precepts. He created peace by uniting the two groups within him, forming a new humanity from the two.
He destroyed hatred and reconciled us both to God through the cross, making the two one body.
He came to proclaim peace; peace to those who were far away, peace to the Jews who were near.
Through him, we—the two people—approach the Father in one Spirit.
Now you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people; you are of God’s household. You are the house,
whose foundations are the apostles and prophets, and whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus.
In him, the entire structure is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
In him, you too are being built to become a dwelling place for God.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (see 9) The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD–for he proclaims peace.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Be vigilant at all times and pray
that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man.
R. Alleluia, alleluia
Gospel
Be prepared, dressed for service, and keep your lamps lit
like people waiting for their master to return from a wedding. When he comes and knocks, they will open the door for him.
Happy are those servants whom the master finds alert when he arrives.
Truly, I tell you, he will put on an apron, have them sit at the table, and serve them. Blessed are those servants if he finds them awake when he comes at midnight or dawn!
Prayers of the Faithful
– That Churches that follow Christ as their Lord may always stress more what unites us than what divides us, we pray:
– That all the peoples of the earth may hear where the Lord Jesus can be found and come to know his name and to pray to him, we pray:
– That among the People of God there may not be aliens and strangers, but only people who are different and yet who accept one another, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God, you bring us together
around a piece of bread
and a cup of wine.
Let this bread and wine come alive,
give us Jesus, your Son
that we may no longer be foreign visitors
of this place and to one another,
but members of your own household,
and citizens of the kingdom
of peace, truth and justice
of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
however different we are,
whatever separates us here in your Church
and in the world at large,
you have given us the body and blood of your Son
to bring us all together.
Let Jesus be the cornerstone
on which we all build.
Let your Spirit make us the living stones
of the house in which you live
as our God for ever and ever.
Blessing
We are “all members of the household of God,” says Ephesians, not only to Jewish and ex-pagan Christians, but to us all here, however different we may be in personality, origin, profession, whatever. We are all one in Christ. May we become more one with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Barriers Are Broken Down
Luke 12:35–38
Two household images carry this short passage. Long robes had to be gathered and tucked into the belt before a person could work or run, so girded loins meant ready for action rather than dressed for rest. Small clay lamps burned olive oil and needed tending through the night, which made a lit lamp the sign of a household still awake.
The scene imagined is a master returning from a wedding, and wedding celebrations in that culture could run for several days, so nobody could predict the hour. Servants were expected to wait at the door and open at the first knock. Fr Fernando Armellini notes how this passage presents the Christian life as a vigil kept in the night, with three brief comparisons that repeat the same call to readiness; his commentary on Luke 12 also observes how harsh masters of antiquity were toward servants who failed.
The night was divided into watches, and the parable reckons with a master who might appear in the second or the third of them, when human alertness is lowest. That is what makes the promise startling. The returning master does not take his place at the table and issue orders; he girds himself, seats the servants, and serves them, reversing the household order so completely that the first hearers would have found it almost comic.
The notes to Luke's Gospel place these sayings among Luke's teachings on the Lord's return and the faithfulness asked in the meantime. Waiting, in this telling, ends not in inspection but in being waited upon.
Pope Francis read the girded loins as the stance of a pilgrim ready to set out, rather than of someone settled comfortably at home, and the burning lamp as attention to God passing through daily life (see Angelus, 11 August 2019).