Lord
our God,
when your Son spoke his Good News
to people who were poor and blind, they understood him,
for they knew what its means
not to be satisfied and not to see.
Make us poor with the hungry,
groping with the blind, powerless with the defenseless
and small with the little people,
that we may experience the message of the Gospel
to the marrow of our bones
and share it as Good News with all those around,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Liturgy
of the Word
First
Reading Introduction
We
have in the following days some readings from the cycle
of the great prophet Elijah and his gigantic fight against
the evils of his day. He is bold enough to face the godless
king Ahab and the dreadful queen Jezebel, for he is sure
that God sends him and that he is, therefore, in the hands
of God.
First
Reading: 1 Kgs 17:1– 6
Elijah
the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab: “As
the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, during
these
years there shall be no dew or rain except at my word.”
The
LORD then said to Elijah: “Leave here, go east and hide
in the
Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. You shall drink of
the stream,
and I have commanded ravens to feed you there.” So he
left
and did as the LORD had commanded. He went and remained
by the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. Ravens brought
him
bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in
the evening,
and he drank from the stream.
R./
Our help is from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
I
lift up my eyes toward the mountains;
whence shall help come to me?
My help is from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth. R./ Our help is from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
May
he not suffer your foot to slip;
may he slumber not who guards you:
Indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps,
the guardian of Israel. R./ Our help is from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
The LORD is your guardian; the LORD is your shade;
he is beside you at your right hand.
The sun shall not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night. R./ Our help is from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
The
LORD will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your life.
The LORD will guard your coming and your going,
both now and forever. R./ Our help is from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
Gospel
Reading Introduction
What
Jesus proposes in the beatitudes is a turning upside-down
of values, (attuned with the message of Paul in Year I).
But we are not too eager to take them seriously; they
are too uncomfortable... Many say they are utopian, but
that can be said of many parts of the Gospel, unless you
believe. Followers of Christ are dreamers, of a brotherhood
of all people, of a better world and a better earth.
Gospel
Reading: Mt 5:1–12
When
Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and
after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He
began to
teach them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of
righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because
of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in
heaven.
Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Commentary
Today
we begin a continuous reading from the Gospel of Matthew
that will take us several months to complete. St. Matthew
wrote his Gospel to fit the particular needs of Jewish
converts to Christianity, and we find in his Gospel many
references to and quotes from the Old Testament.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of the prophets
of the Old Testament, He is the New Moses who gives the
new law, the new way of life through His Sermon on the
Mount, a sermon that begins with today's reading of the
Beatitudes.
General
Intercessions
- Lord,
you call the poor blessed, give us people who know how to
live soberly, who find joy in simple things, we pray:
- Lord, God of the gentle, make us peaceful, merciful and
compassionate, that your kingdom may be ours, we pray:
- Lord, strength of those persecuted, give perseverance
to those who suffer persecution, we pray:
Prayer
over the Gifts
Lord
our God,
in the poverty and emptiness of our hearts
we place on this altar
a bit of bread and a mouthful of wine.
It is not much, Lord,
but we know what you can do with simple things
and with people aware of their indigence.
And so we pray you: turn this bread into Jesus Christ
and change us into men and women
rich with your life and enriching themselves
by giving away to others without measure
their time and attention and love.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
Prayer
after Communion
Lord
our God,
you write straight with crooked lines.
Let the disturbing Words of your Son
wake us up and help us to see
where to find your kind of happiness,
for it is the only one that lasts.
And let your Son here with us
be our nourishment for the road
to you, our God for ever and ever.
Blessing
The
disciples of Jesus are called "blessed," that
is happy, if we are so open to God that we let him fill
us with something of his own happiness. We have to be poor,
not filled with ourselves. Then the happiness of God's kingdom
will be ours, like a foretaste of the happiness of heaven.
Put yourselves in God's hands and ask him to bless you,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Claretian Publications MACAU