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October
19, 2003 - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
A.
Power Is Dangerous
B. Greatness Through Service
Readings:
Is 53:10-11; Ps
33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22; Heb
4:14-16;
Mk 10:35-45 or 10:42-45 (Listen
to MP3 - Against
Ambition)
Commentaries
/ Gospel Reflections from:
Sunday's
Into Silence • Diario Biblico • Daily Gospel
Greeting
(see Second Reading)
We
have here among us
a high priest capable of feeling our weaknesses
and who was tempted in every way that we are,
though he was without sin.
With his grace and mercy
may Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction
by the Celebrant
A.
Power Is Dangerous
Have
you noticed how in their campaign for office most politicians use the
word "service"? Very much they say they want to be the servants
of the people and to be elected so that they can serve. But when they
are elected, whom do they serve? Most usually serve themselves first
and then make the people serve them. That should never be the way of
the Church. People in church office or as ordinary faithful should have
the ambition to serve one another and in this way to serve God. That
was Jesus' way. We ask him today to make it our way.
B.
Greatness through Service
Not
those commanding as masters, not those seeking places of honor, promotion,
privileges and medals are great according to the standards of Jesus,
but those who know how to serve. To serve is the Christian's "career."
The servant is at the disposal of all, understands the weakness of others
and sees them in himself. To serve is often painful, but only those
capable of sacrificing themselves for others and not running away from
difficulties have something to contribute to the world. They accept
to be like seeds that die to give life. Ask Jesus who is with us here
to help us serve with him.
Penitential
Act
How
much we want others to serve us!
Let us ask the Lord and each other
to forgive us from the heart.
(PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, you tell us:
I, the Lord and Master,
came not to be served but to serve.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus
Christ, you warn us
not to imitate the high and the mighty
who make people feel how powerful they are:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord
Jesus, you assure us
that if we want to be great
we have to serve one another:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
In
your kindness forgive us, Lord,
and give us the insight and the strength
to serve one another in love.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening
Prayer
Let
us pray that Jesus may teach us
how to serve one another
(PAUSE)
Our God and Father,
your Son Jesus was your equal
and yet he made himself our brother and servant.
May his Spirit be alive in us
and dispose us to become, like your Son,
powerless and vulnerable,
so that we can serve one another,
especially the weakest of our brothers and sisters.
In this way may people experience
how bold you make our love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Scripture
Readings
First
Reading Introduction: Service through Suffering
The fourth song of the Suffering Servant
is fulfilled in Jesus. Humbly and compassionately, he took our sins upon
himself and made it possible for us to serve God and one another.
First
Reading: Is 53:10-11
Yet it was the
will of Yahweh to crush him with grief.
When he makes himself an offering for sin,
he will have a long life and see his descendants.
Through him the will of Yahweh is done.
For the anguish he suffered,
he will see the light and obtain perfect knowledge.
My just servant will justify the multitude;
he will bear and take away their guilt.
Responsorial
Psalm: Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22
R.
(22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
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. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
See,
the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
to deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Our
soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Second
Reading Introduction: Jesus, Our Strength in Weakness
Jesus understands our weakness because he
became a human being like us. He is our strength and help, for he is the
Son of God.
Second
Reading: Heb 4:14-16
We have a great
High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God, who has entered heaven. Let us,
then, hold fast to the faith we profess. Our high priest is not indifferent
to our weaknesses, for he was tempted in every way just as we are, yet
without sinning. Let us, then, with confidence approach God, the giver
of grace; we will obtain mercy and, through his favor, help in due time.
Gospel
Introduction: Serving with Jesus
The Christian's greatness lies in humble
service. We can learn this from Jesus' words and example.
Gospel
Reading: Mk 10:35-45 or Mk 10:42-45 (Listen
to MP3 - Against
Ambition)
 James
and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, "Master,
we want you to grant us what we are going to ask of you." And he
said, "What do you want me to do for you?" They answered,
"Grant us to sit one at your right and one at your left when you
come in your glory."
But Jesus said
to them, "You don't know what you are asking. Can you drink the
cup that I drink or be baptized in the way I am baptized?" They
answered, "We can." And Jesus told them, "The cup that
I drink you will drink, and you will be baptized in the way I am baptized.
But to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to grant. It has been
prepared for others."
On hearing this,
the other ten were angry with James and John; Jesus then called them
to him and said, "As you know, the so-called rulers of the nations
act as tyrants and their great ones oppress them. But it shall not be
so among you; whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
and whoever would be first among you shall make himself slave of all.
Think of the Son of Man who has not come to be served but to serve and
to give his life to redeem many."
Commentary
"Our
high priest is not indifferent to our weaknesses, for he was tempted
in every way just as we are, yet without sinning." My professor
in theology made this beautiful reflection on priesthood: "Priesthood
is about mankind and broken eggshell pieces, and the failure of all
the king's horses and all the king's men (technology and all our human
resources) to put them together again. Priesthood is about the One,
the only One, who could take the stories of all mankind into his heart,
because his heart is broken-open too. Who could offer them and his
pierced heart together, and place them in the hands of him from whose
love first they came. And how in those hands the pieces come together
again, into one whole and lovely thing. And through this thing, Love
shining like circling and singing rainbows, the glory of God and Adam
coming fully alive again. (C.G. Arevalo,
And They Shall Name Him Emmanuel, p. 93).
General
Intercessions
Let
us pray to God who serves us in many ways that we may learn from his
Son not to spare ourselves so as to spare others, and let us say: R/
Lord, make us servants of your love.
- For
the Church, that it may serve the world by standing up for justice and
peace and defending the freedom and dignity of the human person, let
us pray: R/ Lord, make us servants of your love.
- For
those in authority in the Church, that they may not become functionaries
but be "ministers," that is, servants, let us pray: R/
Lord, make us servants of your love.
- For
our Christian families, that by their mutual care and service parents
may prepare their children to render service to others, let us pray;
R/ Lord, make us servants of your love.
- For
the many who serve us in various way to provide us with the things and
help we need - servants, drivers, nurses, technicians and all the others,
too many to name - that we may be grateful to them, let us pray: R/
Lord, make us servants of your love.
- For
ourselves and our communities, that all of us may be less demand-ing,
that we may be attentive to one another and serve each other's needs
and more, let us pray: R/ Lord, make us servants of your love.
Lord
our God, we pray you to convert us to the demands of the gospel. Help
us to become servants to one another, together with the Servant of all,
Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Prayer
over the Gifts
Lord
our God,
as your Son serves us himself at table
in the signs of bread and wine,
he asks us to drink with him the cup
of self-sacrificing service.
Let your Son fill us with that love
which alone can understand
that to be great is to serve others
and to use up our lives
to give them a chance to live.
May we seek no other reward
than to share the destiny of Jesus,
our Lord and Savior for ever. R/ Amen.
Introduction
to the Eucharistic Prayer
Let
us lift up our hearts and voices to thank God for giving us Someone
who experienced our weakness and became one of us to serve and save
us and to make us serve the Father and each other.
Invitation
to the Lord's Prayer
Let
us pray with Jesus to our Father in heaven
that we may do his will
and serve his kingdom. R/ Our Father...
Deliver
Us
Deliver
us, Lord, from every evil,
keep us from the urge
to seek positions of honor or power
at the expense of others.
Help us to pay with our service
the cost of peace and love,
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming among us
of our Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation
to Communion
This
is the Lamb of God
who came not to be served but to serve
and to pay with his life
the price of our freedom.
Happy are we to be invited
to share his table
and to learn from him
what to serve means. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer
after Communion
Loving
Father,
your Son has been with us
in this eucharistic celebration
as the servant of us all.
Let him dispose our hearts
and give us his courage
to understand and accept others,
to accompany them on the road of life,
to suffer their pains,
to rejoice with their joys
and to carry each other's burdens,
that he may be with us
now and for ever. R/ Amen.
Blessing
The
message of the gospel is uncomfortable.
It goes against the grain
of our ingrained human attitude
to be told to serve rather than to be served,
to be willing to spare others
by not sparing ourselves
for the good of others
and to give up the urge for power.
But this is the hard truth
with which Christ has confronted us today.
Like Jesus, then, let us try
in our homes, in our communities, in the Church,
to spend ourselves for others,
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let
us go and serve the Lord in people. R/ Thanks be to God.
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