Saturday
7th
Week in Ordinary Time
IS
ANYONE SICK AMONG YOU?
Jas
5:13 20; Ps
141:1 2, 3 and 8; Mk 10:13 16
Daily
Gospel
Opening
Prayer
God our Father,
sickness, pain and suffering upset us,
for we are afraid of them.
And yet you let your Son be
a man of sorrows familiar with infirmity;
his heart reached out especially
to the sick, the poor and all who suffer.
Do not allow us to cover our faces
on seeing them in pain and distress
but move us by your Spirit of love
to recognize your suffering Son in them
and to serve him with gentle care,
for he is our Lord now and for ever.
Liturgy of the Word
James gives us today his famous text on anointing the sick. The sick person is the responsibility of the community. "I was sick and you visited me," says the Lord of the true Christian. In our difficult pastoral setting, the sick are not given all the attention they deserve by the community, particularly the poor and the lonely. Sickness is a very sensitive moment in a person's life, when a visit in the name of the Lord will do a lot of good.
Beloved:
Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in
good spirits? He should sing a song of praise. Is anyone among
you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the Church,
and they should pray over him and anoint him with oil in the
name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick person,
and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins,
he will be forgiven.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for
one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a
righteous person is very powerful. Elijah was a man like us;
yet he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and for three
years and six months it did not rain upon the land. Then Elijah
prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the earth produced its
fruit.
My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you should stray
from the truth and someone bring him back, he should know
that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way
will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Responsorial
Psalm: Ps 141:1 2, 3 and 8
R./ Let my prayer come like incense before you.
O LORD, to you I call; hasten to me;
hearken to my voice when I call upon you.
Let my prayer come like incense before you;
the lifting up of my hands, like the evening sacrifice.
R./ Let my prayer come like incense before you.O LORD, set a watch before my mouth,
a guard at the door of my lips.
For toward you, O God, my LORD, my eyes are turned;
in you I take refuge; strip me not of life.
R./ Let my prayer come like incense before you.
Gospel
Reading Introduction
"Christ's
reception of children cannot be regarded as a recommendation
of infantilism or a vain search for primeval innocence.
He recommends the adult attitude which acknowledges limitations
and accepts dependence upon God with interdependence between
people... The child, who acts with all his being, is in
the final analysis more human and more integral than the
thinker who becomes entangled in arguments and in worry
about motives." Guide to the Christian
Assembly II, p. 327.
People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch
them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he
became indignant and said to them, Let the children come to
me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to
such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the
Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it. Then he
embraced the children and blessed them, placing his hands on
them.
Children are utterly dependent upon the care and love of others. A child who does not experience love is often incapable of showing love as an adult.
To be childlike is not the same as acting childish. Being childlike means placing absolute trust in God to provide for our needs, be they physical, emotional or spiritual. Thinking that we are self-sufficient is the first step to spiritual ruin, for the one who can do everything on his own has no need for God. Prayer is an act of childlike trust in God to provide for all things, and is a sure remedy for self-centeredness.
General
Intercessions
- That our sick people may entrust themselves to Jesus our Lord, who bore our infirmities and endured our sufferings, we pray:
- That relatives, friends and neighbors may call the attention of our priests and ministers when someone is sick in the parish, we pray:
- That in our community the people may visit the Lord in those who are sick, we pray:
Prayer
over the Gifts
To the table of your Son we have brought
your own good gifts, Lord our God,
as signs that everything comes from your hands.
Prepare us to accept in life
joys and sorrows, health and sickness,
days of laughter and times of affliction.
Through your Son who suffered for us
we offer you our crosses and ask of you
for the strength to bear them with him.
For we place all our trust in you
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer
after Communion
God our Father,
we have shared the table of him
who tasted the depths of human ills,
your Son Jesus Christ.
When sickness and suffering remind us
of the limitations of human life,
help us seek healing and wholeness in him.
Give us the courage to uplift him in the sick,
by a quiet visit, an endearing present,
a Word of assurance, a prayer of hope.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
Blessing
Let us never forget the sick and the infirm! In them we visit and care for no less than the Lord Jesus himself. May God bless all the sick and you who visit them: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Claretian Publications MACAU