A New Presentation for Sunday's Liturgy

Covenant Transformation
(March 14, 2004 - 3rd Sunday of Lent)

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This presentation is originally prepared in Spanish by Fr. Cristo Rey García Paredes, cmf. The original version,along with other very useful materials for pastoral agents and Christians in general can be found at: http://ciudadredonda.org

March 14, 2004 - 3rd Sunday of Lent

A. Unless You Repent
B. I Have Seen the Misery of My People

Readings:
Ex 3:1-8, 13-15 (Listen to MP3 - Moses Vocation)
Ps 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11; 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12; Lk 13:1-9

Commentaries / Gospel Reflections from:
Sunday's Into Silence • Diario Biblico • Daily Gospel  • Preaching the Word

Greeting (See First Reading)

The Lord says:
"I have seen the misery of my people;
I have heard their cry to be free;
I am aware of their suffering.
I intend to set them free."
May this caring God be always with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

A. Unless You Repent

We all know that Lent is a time for conversion. There is much evil in the world and we know that there are also things wrong with us. These are certainly reasons for change. But the deepest reason for conversion is not the evil we see in the world and in us, nor the penalties we may have to pay for it. The ultimate "why" for conversion is God himself, that we encounter God and his love. Our faith in God and his fidelity to us and the goodness God showed us in Christ are the most profound motives to repent and to respond to his holiness and patient love.

B. I Have Seen the Misery of My People

If we are living with both feet firmly on the earth, we cannot but see that we live in a world that is not exactly God's world. We are not the people we are called to be, many situations and structures need change, and many people live in misery. We need conversion, the world around us needs it. The Lord is quoted as saying on this Third Sunday of Lent: "I have seen the misery of my people." Do we see it and what do we do about it? For conversion means changing our ways, turning to God and to people. Are we willing to change?

Penitential Act

How far are we still from being the persons
whom God calls to be fully human and deeply Christian!
We ask God to give us the spirit of repentance.
                      (PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, you were in all things like us
but there was no sin in you.
Make us aware of the evil there is in us:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, you repeatedly call us
to conversion and penance:
Make us humble enough to repent:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you rejoice over one repentant sinner.
Bring us the joy of your forgiveness:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us all the evil we have done.
Let your holiness shine on us
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray that God give us the courage
to repent and to turn to him and to people
                      (PAUSE)
Patient God,
we are reluctant and slow
to make the change of heart we need.
Give us the time to understand
the extent of your mercy and your love,
which your Son Jesus showed us in its fullness
in his suffering and death.
Recognize your own Son in us
and accept us in our poverty.
Raise us up, change us,
that we may proclaim your persistent love,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Scripture Readings

First Reading Introduction: God Is a God of People
        In the burning bush God reveals himself to Moses as a God ever-present to people. He will lead his chosen people from a land of slavery to a land of freedom.

First Reading: Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15 (Listen to MP3 - Moses Vocation)

Moses pastured the sheep of Jethro his father-in-law, priest of Midian. One day he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the Mountain of God.

The Angel of Yahweh appeared to him by means of a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. Moses saw that although the bush was on fire it did not burn up. Moses thought, "I will go and see this amazing sight, why is the bush not burning up?"

Yahweh saw that Moses was drawing near to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush, "Moses! Moses!" He replied, "Here I am." Yahweh said to him, "Do not come near; take off your sandals because the place where you are standing is holy ground." And God continued, "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."

Moses hid his face lest his eyes look on God. Yahweh said, "I have seen the humiliation of my people in Egypt and I hear their cry when they are cruelly treated by their taskmasters. I know their suffering. I have come down to free them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a beautiful spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the territory of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.

Moses answered God, "If I go to the Israelites and say to them: 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' they will ask me: 'What is his name?' What shall I answer them?"

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO AM. This is what you will say to the sons of Israel: 'I AM sent me to you." God then said to Moses, "You will say to the Israelites: 'YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me.' That will be my name forever, and by this name they shall call upon me for all generations to come."

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11

R. (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills,
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

The LORD secures justice
and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

Second Reading Introduction: To Be Baptized and Eat the Eucharist Is Not Enough
        God had led his people through the saving waters and given them manna to eat, yet many failed to respond to his love and perished. We are baptized and eat the eucharist, but we are not saved unless we live as people redeemed by Christ.

Second Reading: 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12

Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, about our ancestors. All of them were under the cloud and all crossed the sea. All underwent the baptism of the land and of the sea to join Moses and all of them ate from the same spiritual manna and all of them drank from the same spiritual drink. For you know that they drank from a spiritual rock following them, and the rock was Christ. However, most of them did not please God, and the desert was strewn with their bodies.

All of this happened as an example for us, so that we might not become people of evil desires, as they did. Nor grumble as some of them did and were cut down by the destroying angel.

These things happened to them as an example, and they were written as a warning for us, as the last times come upon us. Therefore, if you think you stand, beware, lest you fall.

Gospel Introduction: Be Converted and Bear Fruit!
        God is patient and gives everyone a chance. Accidents and calamities are not to be taken as signs that God is vengeful, yet the events of life are a constant call to conversion and Christian living.

Gospel Reading: Lk 13:1-9

One day some persons told Jesus what had occurred in the Temple: Pilate had Galileans killed and their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus replied, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this? I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did.
"And those eighteen persons in Siloah who were crushed when the tower fell, do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem? I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did."
And Jesus continued with this story, "A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the gardener: 'Look here, for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree and I have found none. Cut it down, why should it use up the ground?' The gardener replied: 'Leave it one more year, so that I may dig around it and add some fertilizer; and perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it doesn't, you can cut it down."

Commentary

GOD revealed his name to Moses: it is Yahweh. "That will be my name forever, and by this name they shall call upon me for all generations to come" (first reading). The Jews regarded this name as so holy that it should not be pronounced. In Hebrew, vowels are not written-only consonants. So the name was something like YWH. When they came to this name in the Scriptures they said "Adonai" instead (Lord). As time went by and no one had ever heard the word pronounced, no one knew any longer how it was meant to be pronounced! (Later, some people began to put to vowels of "Adonai" with the consonants of YWH, and it yielded-more or less-the artificial name "Jehovah".)

It's somehow a wonderful thing to have a name for God that must never be pronounced. The 13th-century mystic, Bl. Angela of Foligno, had a deep experience of God, and when her confessor asked her to tell him about it, she said, "Father, if you experienced what I experienced and then you had to stand in the pulpit to preach, you could only say to the people, 'My friends, go with God's blessing, because today I can say nothing to you about God.'"

Read also Sundays Into Silence: Do You Deserve What You Get?

General Intercessions

God is patient and aware of our miseries. Let us pray to him to help us on the way of conversion and renewal, and let us say: R/ Have mercy on your people, Lord.

- That all the faithful, leaders and members, may heed the call of Christ and his Church to look into our hearts and to change what ought to be changed, let us pray: R/ Have mercy on your people, Lord.

- That God may give us the courage to commit ourselves to the liberation in Christ of all those imprisoned in their selfishness and in unjust political and economic systems, let us pray: R/ Have mercy on your people, Lord.

- That those responsible for others may be people of faith and vision, close to the people entrusted to them and concerned about their material and spiritual welfare, let us pray: R/ Have mercy on your people, Lord.

- That we may bring a bit of warmth to those whose hearts are empty and cold, that they may discover happiness in the love of God and of their neighbor, let us pray: R/ Have mercy on your people, Lord.

- That the word of God may stir all in our communities us to bear fruits of justice and love and that the bread of the eucharist may give us strength and faithfulness, let us pray: R/ Have mercy on your people, Lord.

God of compassion and love, hear the cries of a word trapped in suffering and sin and make us free and eager to do all that is good, through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord, merciful Father,
in baptism you have sown in us
the seeds of new life;
in the eucharist you give us your Son
as our companion in life
and our food for growth.
Do not allow us to think we are safe
because your Son is with us.
Let him help us not to fall
but to grow in your life
and to support one another
on the way to you,
our God for ever and ever. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

Let us give thanks to the Father for giving us each year during Lent the opportunity to change and to grow closer to him and to people.

Invitation to the Lord's Prayer

Let us pray with Jesus our Lord
to the Father who sees all our needs: R/ Our Father...

Deliver Us

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
and grant us the peace
of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Set us free from all the shackles of sin
and give us the courage
to lead the life to which you have called us.
Strengthen us in the trials of life,
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus our Lord,
the Lamb of God who came
to free the world from sin
and to sustain us in our struggles
against the forces of evil.
Happy are we to be called
to live the life of our Lord. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,
let your Son stay with us
on the way of renewal,
that we may speak your name
with respect and thanks;
that we build your kingdom and do your will,
that we give bread and space to every person,
that there be forgiveness for all;
that we may not tempt one another
nor harden in our selfishness.
Let there be redemption and liberation from sin,
so that we keep hoping in you
and live in your love
today and tomorrow and for ever. R/ Amen.

Blessing

Where God reveals himself to people,
there he gives them a mission.
Today he has again spoken to us
in this eucharist through Jesus:
"I have seen the miseries of my people."
He tells us too:
Tell them, your brothers and sisters,
that the God of our fathers sends me to you
to lead them to a land of freedom,
where it is good to live together
in peace and friendship.
Bring God's love to one another
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Let us go in peace
and share God's concern for people. R/ Thanks be to God.

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Additional Resource Material for this Sunday

Ideal for catechetical and liturgical dramatization of today"s gospel.

The Blood of the Galileans
(Lk 13:1-9)

(taken from the book A Certain Jesus, Vol. 2)
Click here for other Readings --> Index of A Certain Jesus