Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Hymn To Charity
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. St Paul gives us today his famous hymn to Christian love. It is greater than any charism, for charisms are vain if not rooted in love. Look at all the great things that love produces. Love will never pass, for all the rest is vowed to disappear.
Gospel. Luke compares those who reject Christ and God’s prophets to spoiled children. Jews, and later the pagans for whom Luke writes, see John the Baptist and Jesus and the things they say and do, but they do not recognise these signs.
Opening Prayer
God, your name is love.
You are the source of all love.
Let love become so characteristic
of the disciples of your Son
that it is part of our identity
and that it prompts people to say:
”See how they love one another.”
Make us recognise more
that it is a precious gift
that comes from your generosity.
We offer you our thanks
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
First Reading
But regardless, desire the most valuable gifts, and I will show you a better way.
Hymn to Christian Love
If I could speak all the human and angelic languages but had no love, I would just be making noise like a clanging cymbal or sounding brass.
If I had the gift of prophecy, understanding all mysteries, possessing all knowledge, and had faith enough to move mountains but lacked love, I would be nothing.
If I gave all I owned to the poor and even sacrificed my body to be burned, but am without love, it would be do no good for me.
Love is patient and kind, without envy. It is not boastful or arrogant. It is not rude, nor does it seek its own interests.
Love overcomes anger and forgives offenses.
It does not rejoice in wrongdoings but celebrates the truth.
Love forgives everything, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
Love will never end. Prophecies may cease, tongues will be silent, and knowledge will disappear.
For knowledge only partly understands the truth, and the same is true for prophecy.
But when what is perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
When I was a child, I thought and reasoned like a child, but when I grew up, I put away childish ways.
Now, we see dimly as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now, we know only part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. Now, faith, hope, and love remain, but the greatest of these is love.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life,
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to the crowds:
“What comparison can I use for the people? What are they like?
They are like children sitting in the marketplace about whom their companions complain:
‘We piped you a tune
and you wouldn’t dance;
we sang funeral songs
and you wouldn’t cry.’
Next, came the Son of Man, eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Look, a glutton for food and wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
But the children of Wisdom always recognize her work.”
Prayers of the Faithful
– That our anaemic and dried-up love may become rich and spontaneous, like a fresh breath of life and joy brightening the lives of those around us and a wordless song of praise to God, we pray:
– That we may be reliable friends to those marked by suffering in any form; that we may let them feel God’s presence by the warmth of our presence, we pray:
– That people may not lose their heart in today’s economic system of profit, production and competition but seek human relationships of respect, love and friendship, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Our loving Father,
we bring this bread and wine before you
to share in the meal of your Son.
Dispose us also to share in his love,
which made him lay down his life for us
and let the Eucharist become for us
the source that keeps nourishing our love
in everyday life.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
in this eucharistic celebration
you have let Christ pour out his love in us.
Let it be a love that expresses itself
not so much in words as in deeds
of forgiveness and patience,
of compassion and generosity,
and of endless service.
Let that love never end.
This we ask you through Christ our Lord.
Blessing
May love not be just something we are supposed to do, but something we do naturally and with great joy. May that love never end, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Luke 7:31-35
Hearing the melody of God’s wisdom
Jesus compares people to children who refuse every invitation. John the Baptist’s austerity is judged too severe; Jesus’ welcome of sinners is dismissed as indulgence. Nothing satisfies them because they are not seeking God. Instead, they seek confirmation of their expectations.
This Gospel exposes a spiritual danger that persists. We can criticise one preacher for being demanding and another for being gentle; one community for tradition or change. Complaints can hide resistance to conversion. When God does not play our preferred tune, we reject the messenger rather than examine ourselves.
Pope Leo XIV warns against seeking only what confirms our opinions. He teaches that listening is the first expression of relationship. Listening requires humility: letting another voice challenge us, enlarge our vision, and reveal where grace is already working.
Jesus concludes with the wise words, “Wisdom is vindicated by all her children,” reminding us that God’s wisdom is truly known by its fruits. While John’s call to repentance and Jesus’ act of sharing table fellowship may seem different, both are beautifully serving the same divine purpose. Genuine discernment is not about asking, “Does this suit my preference?” but rather, “Does this nurture truth, mercy and deepen love in our hearts?”
Today, let us surrender the habit of dissatisfaction. May Christ free us from rigidity, selective hearing, and the need to control how grace arrives. Let us welcome both the challenging call to change and the joyful invitation to communion. When we listen carefully and lovingly with open hearts, we discover that God has been speaking through melodies we once refused to hear, and wisdom begins bearing abundant fruit within us.