Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Building Community
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. Ephesians says today that each and all of us were given our gifts given for building up the body of Christ. To build community is our task, and each one is important, even though one’s role may seem secondary or of little account. Every part adds its own strength. Or do we, as joints or parts, contribute to the weakness of the whole?
Gospel. We are sinners, deserving of punishment. But God is a patient God, willing to give new chances.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
it is heartening for us to hear
that whether we are known
and influential in this world or not,
whether our talents are many or few,
we are all important to you
and you need us to build up
the body of your Son.
Thank you for this trust
and make us capable
of building unity and community
through the graces and gifts
with which you enrich us
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
First Reading
But to each of us, divine grace is granted in proportion to Christ’s gift.
Therefore, it is said: When he ascended on high, he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.
He ascended; does that mean he also descended to the lower parts of the world?
He himself, who went down, then ascended far above all the heavens to fill all things.
Regarding his gifts, to some he gave to be apostles; to others, prophets, evangelists, or pastors and teachers.
So, he prepared those who belong to him for the ministry to build up the Body of Christ,
until we are all united in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. In this way, we will become complete persons upon reaching maturity and sharing in the fullness of Christ.
Then, we will no longer be like children, tossed about by waves or wind of doctrine, and deceived by the cleverness of people who drag them into error.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow in every way toward him who is the head—Christ.
From him comes the growth of the whole body, which is given order and cohesion by a network of joints, considering and utilizing the function of each part. Thus, the body builds itself in love.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord,
but rather in his conversion that he may live.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
One day, some people told Jesus what had happened in the temple: Pilate had killed Galileans and their blood was mingled with their sacrifices.
Jesus asked them:
“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this?
No, I tell you. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did.
And those eighteen people in Siloam, who were crushed when the tower fell, do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem?
I tell you, no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish just as they did.”
And Jesus continued:
“A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none.
Then he told the gardener:
‘Look here, I’ve been searching for figs on this tree for three years and found none. Cut it down, why should it keep draining the soil?’
The gardener replied:
‘Leave it one more year, so I can dig around it and add some fertilizer,
maybe it will bear fruit from now on. But if it doesn’t, you can cut it down.’
Prayers of the Faithful
– That our local communities may be deeply aware that they are united in faith and love, in hope and service, with the pope and the worldwide Church, we pray
– That in our Church and in our communities we may accept one another in all our diversity as the one People of God, we pray:
– That each of us, in his and her place and role, may be deeply aware that each is accepted and needed for the good of the whole body of Christ, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
this community offers you
in this bread and wine
its desire to be one.
Let this meal unite us even more
and make us the visible sign
of the unity to which you call all your people
under the one head in the one body
of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
it is beautiful to be united here
beyond all our differences
in one faith and one love
around Jesus your Son.
Let the variety of our potentials
of heart and mind,
of our inclinations and functions,
even our deficiencies,
contribute to the growth in love
of the body of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
REFLECTIONS
Gospel: Luke 13:1–9
Building Communities
Two disasters are brought to Jesus, one political and one accidental. The event of Galileans being killed during sacrifice isn't mentioned in other sources, but the notes to Luke's Gospel mention that it aligns with what the historian Josephus Flavius reported about Pilate. He once ordered Samaritan pilgrims to be slain on Mount Gerizim.
The collapse of a tower at Siloam, near the pool at the southern end of Jerusalem, is likewise known only from this passage. The people who bring the news are looking for an interpretation, and the assumption in the air was that misfortune revealed guilt, a conviction Fr Fernando Armellini notes was widespread and still is; his commentary on this Gospel points out that the questioners wanted Jesus either to condemn Pilate or to justify the deaths as punishment. He refuses both and turns the question toward the listeners' own lives, answering as a prophet who asks for a deeper reading of events, even though the book of Job had already unsettled the neat link between suffering and sin.
This story from the orchard paints a meaningful picture. A fig tree among vines was judged by how much fruit it bore, reflecting how a landowner's patience can only stretch so far. When three summers passed without any fruit, felling the tree seemed like the right choice for everyone listening. But then, the vinedresser gently asks for one more year and offers to care for the tree, digging around its roots and adding manure. That extra year, given at someone's kind request, is the heart of this story. It shows how time itself can be a gift, offering us a gentle, unhurried opportunity to grow, nurture, and make the most of what we have.
Pope Francis described this parable as a portrait of God's mercy: the gardener asks for another year, and God's patience keeps making room for a change of heart (see Angelus, 24 March 2019).