Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
The Two Ways
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. Hezekiah and Jeremiah chose to trust in God despite all odds.
Gospel. The moralising theme of the two ways, familiar to Jewish thought and also to Christian thinking from the early Church to the present – for example, Ignatian spirituality – underlies the readings today. Jesus says there is an easy, spacious road that leads to perdition, and a narrow, arduous road that leads to life. Today’s wealthy countries have created for themselves a life of comfort that is on the path to the self-destruction of nature, resources, and humankind itself. Would greater restraint not allow everyone on earth to live a life worthy of people, of the sons and daughters of God? Which way is ours?
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
You ask us through your Son Jesus Christ:
Which road do you want to take:
the one that is undemanding and effortless,
or the road and the gate
that are narrow and difficult
and full of obstacles?
Lord, whatever road or gate it is,
let it be that of your Son,
For he is our Lord forever.
First Reading
2 Kings 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent envoys to Hezekiah
with this message:
“Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah:
‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you
by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over
to the king of Assyria.
You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done
to all other countries: they doomed them!
Will you, then, be saved?’”Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it;
then he went up to the temple of the LORD,
and spreading it out before him,
he prayed in the LORD’s presence:
“O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim!
You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.
You have made the heavens and the earth.
Incline your ear, O LORD, and listen!
Open your eyes, O LORD, and see!
Hear the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.
Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations
and their lands, and cast their gods into the fire;
they destroyed them because they were not gods,
but the work of human hands, wood and stone.
Therefore, O LORD, our God, save us from the power of this man,
that all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that you alone, O LORD, are God.”Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah:
“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
in answer to your prayer for help against Sennacherib, king of Assyria:
I have listened!
This is the word the LORD has spoken concerning him:“‘She despises you, laughs you to scorn,
the virgin daughter Zion!
Behind you she wags her head,
daughter Jerusalem.“‘For out of Jerusalem shall come a remnant,
and from Mount Zion, survivors.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.’“Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria:
‘He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it,
nor come before it with a shield,
nor cast up siege-works against it.
He shall return by the same way he came,
without entering the city, says the LORD.
I will shield and save this city for my own sake,
and for the sake of my servant David.’”That night the angel of the LORD went forth and struck down
one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp.
So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp,
and went back home to Nineveh.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (see 9d) God upholds his city for ever.
Great is the LORD and wholly to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, fairest of heights,
is the joy of all the earth.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
Mount Zion, “the recesses of the North,”
is the city of the great King.
God is with her castles;
renowned is he as a stronghold.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
O God, we ponder your mercy
within your temple.
As your name, O God, so also your praise
reaches to the ends of the earth.
Of justice your right hand is full.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Holy Things
Do not give what is sacred to dogs, or toss your pearls before pigs. They might trample them and then attack you, tearing you apart.
The Golden Rule
So, do to others whatever you would want them to do to you: there you have the law and the prophets.
The Narrow Gate
Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many go that way.
How narrow is the gate that leads to life, and how rough the road; few there are who find it.
Prayers of the Faithful
– That we may not become demanding on others but ask the Lord to make us generous and mild in the way we want others to treat us, we pray:
– That we may never seek an easy way out through lies or passivity when life and the good of our neighbour demand sacrifices, we pray:
– That we may not tolerate people being exploited or discriminated against, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
your Son Jesus chose the way
of humility and poverty
and he still appears among us today
in the everyday sign of a piece of bread.
Give to us and to your Church, we pray you,
the mentality of Jesus Christ,
that we may not try to impress the world
with power and prestige
but change it from within
with a poverty of means
and the simple gift of humble service.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
God, Lord of life,
You respect our freedom
of choosing between two ways:
the easy road of self-will
that leads to nowhere
and the stony path of your will.
Let your Son stay with us
and walk by our side
on the only road that leads to life,
The road where your will is our will
And your happiness is ours
now and forever.
Blessing
“The gate is narrow, and the road that leads to life is hard.” Yes, sometimes the road of the Lord does not look straight, and we don’t know well where it is leading. But our faith tells us to entrust ourselves to Christ. May Almighty God lead and bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Matthew 7:6,12-14
The narrow gate
Today’s gospel presents the concluding part of Jesus’ sermon on the mount with a series of warnings. Matthew consistently reinforces Jesus’ emphasis that everyone is equal - men and women, Pharisees and tax collectors, the healthy and the sick - the lepers, the blind, and the lame. All lives matter – because life comes from God.
God created each of us; thus, we believe that human life is sacred and holy. We are created in God’s image and likeness. Each person is a reflection of the divine. In fact, each person is more than a reflection of God; we carry a spark of the divine within us.
Romans boasted of their triumphal gates and well-paved roads. Yet, the Roman way ultimately led to destruction. However, choosing the way to the Kingdom of God was difficult. This is a choice only made by a small minority, and others would oppose their way of life. Their lives would be filled with bitter criticism, opposition, and even persecution.
Jesus goes from a simple instruction regarding holiness to give us the well-known ‘golden rule’: “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” Human beings deserve respect and acknowledgement of their dignity if we believe each one is holy.
There are so many ways in which society fails to treat every human being with dignity and respect, from conception to natural death. Nowadays, it has become a culture to toss what is holy to swine. Millions of unborn children are killed each year due to abortion, and so do wars and violence. We have access to every form of entertainment today, from drugs and alcohol abuse to various addictions, all of which diminish the dignity of the human being, and we carelessly dispose of what is holy to pigs.
The dignity and sanctity of the human person are rooted in the Creator. He invites us today to
“Enter through the narrow gate.” And that gate is Jesus himself. Remember him telling us: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”