Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
1. It is Risky to Follow the Lord 2. Our Christian Living Is Our Main Worship
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Greeting
The Lord speaks to us, his disciples, today:
”Come, follow me, renounce yourselves,
take up your cross and come after me.”
May these words call us away from ourselves
and may the Lord go always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
1. It Is Risky To Follow the Lord
Do we have to seek suffering and death? Not at all! Jesus himself gives us the answer. He begged his Father to take suffering away from him. Yet he accepted death and the cross. Why? Because he loved the Father and he loved the people and wanted to save them. If he did that work and proclaimed his message, the religious leaders would turn against him and seek his death, to get rid of the nuisance he was. Yet he remained faithful to his mission, faithful until death. He is now asking us to remain faithful even at the cost of suffering and death.
2. Our Christian Living Is Our Key Worship
(This is a short but very important message of the second reading.)
Our Sunday Mass is the high point of our Christian living. It expresses what we try to live every day with intensity. Everything we think and say and do, our everyday life, as St. Paul says, must give honour and praise to God. This is what we sum up in our Sunday Eucharist. In turn, the Eucharist becomes the living source of a deeper commitment to God and people. A daily life that contradicts our Sunday worship is a distortion and a parody of religion. Let us ask the Lord that our everyday life may be a worship of God in spirit and truth.
Penitential Act
We want an easy religion, without demands,
without sacrifices, without any cost to ourselves.
Let us ask the Lord to forgive us.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, you resolutely took the way
to Jerusalem, to suffer there and die for us:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you wanted to remain faithful
to the Father who sent you,
and to us, whom you loved and wanted to save:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you invite us
to remain faithful with you to our mission in life:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us our cowardice and our compromises.
Give us your determination and courage
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
1. It Is Risky to Follow the Lord
Let us pray to God for the courage
to follow his Son the whole way of faithful love
(pause)
God our Father,
your Son Jesus knew that your heart was set
on offering light and life to all people,
and so he faithfully accepted his mission
even if it would bring him death on the cross.
We are afraid of the cross.
Make us follow Jesus all the way.
Let your Son pray for us
that our faith may not weaken
and that we may have the courage
to make the sacrifices that bring life to others.
May this give us the fullness of your life,
now and forever. R/ Amen.
2. Our Christian Living Is Our Key Worship
Let us pray to God
that our whole life may honour him
(pause)
Our God and Father,
Today we bring you the perfect worship
of your Son Jesus Christ.
With him we praise and thank you
by offering ourselves with him.
May this offering not be confined
to the fleeting moment of this Eucharist
but burst forth in the life of every day
through our love of you
and our dedicated service to the people given us
to cherish and to share with what we are and have.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading
There Is a Fire Burning in My Heart: The prophet Jeremiah complains against God, for his mission brings him only trouble. Yet he keeps trusting God and continues his task.
Jeremiah’s Confessions: End
O Lord, you have deceived me, and I allowed myself to be deceived. You have taken me by force and overcome me. I am a laughingstock all day long; people mock me,
because every time I speak, I have to shout: “Violence! Devastation!” The Lord’s word has brought me insult and ridicule all day long.
So I decided to forget about him and stop speaking in his name. But his word in my heart becomes like a fire, burning deep within my bones. I try so hard to hold it in, but I just can’t do it.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (2b) My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
for your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
My soul clings fast to you;
your right hand upholds me.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Second Reading
Offer Your Life as a Sacrifice: Paul stresses a basic truth: true worship consists in seeking God’s will and offering our lives as a sacrifice. Only then can our Eucharistic worship be genuine.
Rules of Christian Life
I urge you, dearly beloved, by God’s mercy, to present yourselves as a living and holy sacrifice pleasing to God; this is the kind of worship that makes sense for you as sensible people.
Don’t let the world shape you, but be transformed by renewing your mind. You need to understand God’s will: what is good, pleasing, and perfect.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our hearts,
that we may know what is the hope
that belongs to our call.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me: Jesus predicts his passion and resurrection. Then he asks his disciples to follow him on his road of the cross to life. Peter protests, for this is hard to take. But it is God’s way.
First Announcement of the Passion and Resurrection
From that day, Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, that he would suffer many things at the hands of the Jewish authorities, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he would be killed and be raised on the third day.
Then Peter pulled him aside and started to reproach him:
“Never, Lord! No, this must never happen to you!”
But he turned and said to Peter:
“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path. You are thinking not as God does, but as people do.”
Conditions for Being a Disciple
Then Jesus told his disciples:
“If you want to follow me, deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me.
Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for my sake will find it.
What does a person gain by winning the whole world if he destroys his soul? Or what can someone offer in exchange for his life?
Know that the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, and he will reward each person according to his deeds.
Prayers of the Faithful
Our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to follow him to carry the cross after him and to entrust to him all who suffer. Let us say to him: R/ Lord, be our strength.
– For the Church, that Christ may become more visible in its commitment to serve God and people, in its loving concern for the poor and its continuous conversion to the Gospel, let us pray: R/ Lord, be our strength.
– For all Christians who claim to follow Christ, that they may live up without fear to the demands of the Gospel and bear witness to the crucified Lord, let us pray: R/ Lord, be our strength.
– For those who suffer in their bodies and their hearts, for those who work for justice in the world and for peace among people, that they may realize that they are one with the Lord Jesus in his passion and death, let us pray: R/ Lord, be our strength.
– For those whom it is difficult to accept God’s will and their mission in life, that they may encounter friends who inspire them to regain their trust in God and people, and who encourage them when they are afraid, let us pray: R/ Lord, be our strength.
– For us gathered here for the Eucharist, that we may honestly seek God’s will in union with Jesus our Lord, let us pray: R/ Lord, be our strength.
Lord Jesus Christ, you invite us to follow you and to offer your sacrifice with you. We wish to work with you to bring your life and grace to all our brothers and sisters. Be with us now and forever. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
we wish to offer to you
the sacrifice that pleases you,
your Son Jesus Christ.
Accept also through him
the sacrifice of our lives,
that with your Son we may die to sin
and rise to new life
in the realities of everyday living.
Let this celebration reflect and express
our pains and hopes, our trials and joys,
in union with the paschal mystery
of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
By his cross and resurrection, Jesus brought us forgiveness and life. Let us join him in his sacrifice here, that we may follow him also in the sacrifices demanded by everyday life.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
With Jesus our Lord
we pray to our Father in heaven
that we may always seek his will,
so that God’s ways may be our ways. R/ Our Father...
Deliver Us
Deliver us Lord, from every evil
and grant us the inner peace
which comes from doing your will
even when it is hard to do so.
Keep us free from discouragement
and help us to spare no effort
in bringing your love and healing to all.
Lead us forward in joyful hope
toward the full coming
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation to Communion
This is the body of Christ,
our Lamb of God who suffered,
died for us on the cross
and is risen from the dead.
Happy are we, for we are invited
to share his meal and to follow him. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
we have eaten with your Son
the stale bread of our poverty
and the refreshing bread of his strength.
We have drunk with him
the sour wine of suffering
and the tasty wine of joy and hope.
May Jesus give us the courage
to turn the sorrows that are part of life
into gifts of self to others
and to make us reliable sources
of strength and comfort and hope
to all those we encounter
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
Sometimes, like the prophet Jeremiah,
we struggle and contest with God
in moments of trial and discouragement.
Keep in mind that God loves us
and wants our happiness.
Yet at times we must take up
the crosses demanded
by faithfulness to our family, our task in life,
to the ways of the Gospel.
May the Lord be then with you and bless you:
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
May the Lord Jesus go with you on all your ways.
R/ Thanks be to God.
REFLE TIONS
Matthew 16: 21-27
Do not conform to this age
Today's liturgy of the Word calls us to think and live differently from people of our time. For centuries, we Christians have been the avant- garde of the world in science, art, and social life, laying the foundations of contemporary Western culture with its human rights, democracy, and religious freedom. And how is it today?
"You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped". Who was a prophet of Israel? A reed swaying in the wind? A man living in palaces? No. He was a person whom God showed the enormity of evil and injustice that we commit on earth and commanded him to speak about it. It was an extremely difficult vocation - Jeremiah was tempted to quit - but through courage and faithfulness to the truth, the prophets of Israel have become the inspiration for many to change the world for the better.
The will of God was that Jesus would go to Jerusalem, die there for the salvation of the world, and on the third day, he would rise. But what is the desire of the apostles? In their view, the Messiah was to defeat the Romans and not to be killed by them. Their thinking, conforming to "this age" and opposing God's plan of salvation, reveals its satanic face. Peter "took" Jesus aside, and Satan "took" Jesus to the top of the temple. Jesus rebuked both of them. To Satan Jesus says, "go away!", and to Peter, "go behind me". The difference is that Satan cannot repent and follow Jesus, but the human being can.
What does it mean to think as humans or as God do? Humans strive for the world at the cost of their soul; God’s way is to deny oneself, take up the cross, and follow Jesus. Life offers two choices: a highway to perdition or a path to eternal life, a house on sand or rock. We often follow the majority's opinion, forgetting that falsehood has many preachers, while truth has only one, and many choose the wide gate to doom.
"Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it". At the centre of our faith is the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection. We participate in it through the sacrament of baptism when we die to sin and begin a new life for God. The cross is a narrow gate leading to life. Saint Maximilian Kolbe knew it when he offered his body "as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God". His death became a sign of victory over the Nazi system of contempt for man and God. He did not die. He gave his life for his brother, and after a momentary anguish, he now experiences eternal happiness.
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind". Let us be different. Let us have the courage to stand up for the truth, to proclaim that only God can satisfy the desire of our hearts, and to allow Jesus to lead us through the cross to the fullness of life.