September 1, 2004 - Wednesday, 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM

Readings:
1 Cor 3:1-9a; Ps 33:12–13, 14 –15, 20 – 21; Lk 4:38-44

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Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
we thank you today for Jesus, your Son.
He came to heal our wounds
and to set us going on the way
to you and to one another.
Help us in our fumbling, stumbling attempts
to continue looking for him
and to make his gospel of hope and love
come true among us as the good news
that your Son is alive among us
and that he is our Lord for ever.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading Introduction:
       We are God's community, and therefore all division among us is a shame. It shows that we have not yet grown up in the Spirit as "spiritual" people. If we could only grow up!

First Reading: 1 Corinthians 3: 1 - 9

Brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as spiritual people,
but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ. I fed you milk, not
solid food, because you were unable to take it. Indeed, you are
still not able, even now, for you are still of the flesh. While
there is jealousy and rivalry among you, are you not of the
flesh, and walking according to the manner of man? Whenever
someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to
Apollos,” are you not merely men?

What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul? Ministers
through whom you became believers, just as the Lord assigned
each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the
growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who
waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth. He
who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive
wages in proportion to his labor. For we are God’s co-workers;
you are God’s field, God’s building.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 33:12–13, 14 –15, 20 – 21

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.
From heaven the LORD looks down;
he sees all mankind.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

From his fixed throne he beholds
all who dwell on the earth,
He who fashioned the heart of each,
he who knows all their works.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Gospel Introduction:
       Jesus has preached his message of hope in the lake town of Capernaum and confirmed it by liberating the poor and the sick from the powers of evil. He has to bring the same good news to other places. The gospel of hope in a new world is destined for all. With the people healed by Jesus, let us in this eucharist thank the Lord for his good news.

Gospel Reading: Lk 4:38-44

Leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to the house of Simon. His mother-in-law was suffering from high fever and they asked him to do something for her. Bending over her, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and waited on them.
At sunset, people suffering from many kinds of sickness were brought to Jesus.

Laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Demons were driven out, howling as they departed from their victims, "You are the Son of God!" He rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, for they knew he was the Messiah.

Jesus left at daybreak and looked for a solitary place. People went out in search of him and, finding him, they tried to dissuade him from leaving. But he said, "I have to go to other towns to announce the good news of the kingdom of God. That is what I was sent to do." So Jesus continued to preach in the synagogues of the Jewish country.

Commentary

IT'S as if his healing power was pent up from his experience in Nazareth, and now in Capernaum it rushes out in full flood. There, familiarity robbed him of his power. But here it is no barrier: first he heals Peter's mother-in-law, and then crowds of sick and demon-tormented people.

Dreadful thought: like the people of Nazareth we have the power to prevent miracles. The chances are that we all have prevented many miracles, just by filling the air with criticism, or cynicism, or discouragement. We can even do it with a belittling look; in short, with a habit of mind that reduces everything. Some people have a presence that is quite negative. In their atmosphere we die a little: we keep our stories and anecdotes to ourselves, we talk "safe." This is how human community is corroded. It is also how faith is corroded. We talk about "denying the faith," as if words were the worst we could do. We can do much worse than that! Words at least are explicit. But by a look, by our very presence, our atmosphere, we can corrode the faith subtly and silently and deeply. And we may not even be aware that we have done it.

General Intercessions

- That the Church may continue with compassion the task of healing of our Lord Jesus, that the sick may be comforted, the downtrodden set free, and the poor and the weak be protected, we pray:

- That the faith and the hope of the sick and the dying may be firmly anchored in our Lord Jesus who is the resurrection and the life, we pray:

- That we may learn more to heal one another by forgiving each other and by uplifting the sad and the discouraged, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
we need your Son Jesus Christ
to be with us today.
Give him to us in this bread and wine,
that, weak and fallible as we are,
we may not give up the hope
that your kingdom of justice and peace
can take shape among us.
Let it become the humble sign
of your goodness and justice
and of your joy that lasts for ever.

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
in your power you care for the weak,
and so Jesus preferred the poor and the helpless.
Give us his Spirit of compassion and strength,
that we too may commit ourselves
to bring hope and justice
to the dispossessed and the lonely.
And take away our pride, Lord,
for we are perhaps weaker and poorer
than those we presume to uplift.
Count us among those in need of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior for ever.

Blessing

Jesus cured the many who came to him with all sorts of diseases. Are we aware that we too can bring healing to others, by showing them affection, compassion, forgiveness? May the Lord make you attentive to the healing powers in you and may God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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