Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Hospitality
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. Paul asserts that he has the right to speak in the name of Christ because Jesus Christ himself has given him the good news to speak it.
Gospel. A hospitable family or person makes guests feel at home and gives them the best available. But if we are truly hospitable, we are also listening to the guest and receiving from him or her, perhaps more than we give, and in a deeper way. We receive the guest as a person. God presents himself in the Bible as a traveller on a journey. He asks for hospitality as a stranger or a poor person. Christ also says that in the homeless we welcome him.
Opening Prayer
Our loving God and Father,
you have invited us to stay with you,
to listen to the message of Jesus, your Son
and to accept from him your peace and love.
May we welcome him wholeheartedly
and learn from him to welcome him too
in people who appeal to us
for forgiveness and a bit of warmth,
for patience and hope and joy.
Let them not pass your servants by.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
First Reading
You have heard of my previous involvement in the Jewish community; I vehemently persecuted the Church of God and tried to destroy it.
For I was more committed to the Jewish religion than many of my fellow Jews my age, and I defended my ancestors’ traditions more passionately.
But one day, God called me, out of his great love, he, who had chosen me from my mother’s womb; and he was pleased
to reveal his Son to me, that I might make him known among the Gentiles. Then, I did not seek human advice
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. I immediately went to Arabia and then returned to Damascus.
Later, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to meet Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other apostles except James, the LORD’s brother.
As I write this to you, I affirm before God that I am not lying.
After that, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
The churches of Christ in Judea did not know me personally;
they had only heard of me: ‘He, who once persecuted us, is now preaching the faith he tried to uproot.’
And they praised God because of me.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15
R. (24b) Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are those who hear the word of God
and observe it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
As Jesus and his disciples were traveling, he entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
She had a sister named Mary, who sat beside the Lord at his feet, listening to him speak.
Meanwhile, Martha was busy with all the serving, and finally she said:
“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me!”
But the Lord replied:
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things,
but only one thing is truly needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Prayers of the Faithful
– That we may recognise the Lord in the features of a stranger and welcome him as we would welcome the Lord himself, we pray:
– That we may welcome the best our brothers and sisters give us, even before we share the best of ourselves with them, we pray:
– That we may be and remain hospitable people, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Father,
may we welcome Jesus, your Son
in these offerings of bread and wine,
Open us to his word and his mentality.
Prepare us to welcome him in people
and to encounter him in their person,
even when he comes at another time
and in another way than we expect him.
Enrich us by giving to, and receiving from, one another
your greatest gift to us,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
you have come among us in your Son
to be our guest.
In our everyday life,
may we always be open to anyone in need.
Help us to recognise you and welcome you
in everyone who comes to us.
In every human encounter
offer us your grace and love
through Jesus Christ your Son,
who lives with you and stays with us
now and forever.
Blessing
In this Eucharist we have been the Lord’s own guests. He has been very hospitable to us, listening to us and speaking to us his warm words of friendship. He sends us out now to be one another’s guests and hosts. Welcome now the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Luke 10: 38-42
New sending, old convictions.
Nineveh was a big old city outside Israel, so old that it existed prior to many ancient empires. Even so, the Lord decides to send Jonah to deliver a message of conversion... and it works. It works for Nineveh, but not for Jonah. God is concerned about the salvation and well-being of all mankind, not just the people of Israel. Yahweh is the God of all nations, not just his beloved people. After realising their wrongdoings, the people of Nineveh changed their behaviour. Is Jonah's life going to be challenged by their conversion? We’ll see tomorrow.
While today's Gospel may seem far from the theme of the first reading, I believe it shares a common theme: How can we please God? Nineveh converted, and the Lord was pleased; He also changed his ways and did not carry out what He said he would. How do we truly please the Lord?
Both Martha and Mary were pleasing to the Lord. One did it through catering to his needs, the other through attentive listening to Jesus’ words. Martha's problem may have been a matter of "face", as we say it in Chinese culture. By becoming a good hostess, she wanted to give a good image, show Jesus how much she appreciated him and his mission by making him feel comfortable and welcomed. This was quite a good thing for her!
Jesus, without diminishing the significance of her good work, teaches her what it means to be a true hostess in God's eyes: to listen, to take to heart, and to put into practice what he says.
Mary's disposition and attitude are valuable and worth recognising, but they are not the ones we should take as lightly as Martha's. Whatever we do, we are doing it to put the Lord's words into action, not for the sake of looking good in front of Him.
How often do I try to portray a positive image before the Lord while forgetting those important factors?