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September
1 - Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Themes:
A.
It is Risky to Follow the Lord
B.
Our Christian Living Is Our Main Worship
Readings:
First Reading:
Jer 20:7-9
Second Reading: Rom 12:1-2
Gospel: Mt 16:21-27
Greeting
The
Lord speaks to us, his disciples today:
"Come, follow me, renounce yourselves,
take up your cross and come after me."
May these words call us away from ourselves
and may the Lord go always with you. R/ And
also with you.
Introduction
by the Celebrant
A.
It Is Risky To Follow The Lord
Do
we have to seek suffering and death? Not at all! Jesus himself gives
us the answer. He begged his Father to take suffering away from
him. Yet he accepted death and the cross. Why? Because he loved
the Father and he loved the people and wanted to save them. If he
did that work and proclaimed his message, the religious leaders
would turn against him and seek his death, to get rid of the nuisance
he was. Yet he remained faithful to his mission, faithful until
death. He is now asking us to remain faithful even at the cost of
suffering and death.
B.
Our Christian Living is Our Key Worship
(This
is the message of the short but very important second reading.)
Our
Sunday Mass is the high point of our Christian living. It expresses
intensely what we try to live every day. Everything we think and
say and do, our everyday life, as St Paul says, must give honor
and praise to God. This is what we sum up in our Sunday eucharist.
In turn, the eucharist becomes the living source of a deeper commitment
to God and people. A daily life that contradicts our Sunday worship
is a distortion and a parody of religion. Let us ask the Lord that
our everyday life may worship God in spirit and truth.
Penitential
Act
We
want an easy religion, without demands,
without sacrifices, without any cost to ourselves.
Let us ask the Lord to forgive us.
(PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, you resolutely took the way
to Jerusalem, to suffer there and die for us:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus
Christ, you wanted to remain faithful
to the Father who sent you,
and to us, whom you loved and wanted to save:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord
Jesus, you invite us
to remain faithful with you to our mission in life:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have
mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us our cowardice and our compromises.
Give us your determination and courage
and lead us to everlasting life. R/
Amen.
Opening
Prayer
A.
It Is Risky To Follow The Lord
Let
us pray God for the courage
to follow his Son the whole way of faithful love
(PAUSE)
God
our Father,
your Son Jesus knew that your heart was set
on offering light and life to all people,
and so he faithfully accepted his mission
even if it would bring him death on a cross.
We are afraid of the cross.
Make us follow Jesus all the way.
Let
your Son pray for us
that our faith may not weaken
and that we may have the courage
to make the sacrifices that bring life to others.
May this give us the fullness of your life,
now and for ever. R/ Amen.
B.
Our Christian Living is Our Key Worship
Let
us pray to God
that our whole life may honor him
(PAUSE)
Our
God and Father,
Today we bring you the perfect worship
of your Son Jesus Christ.
With
him we praise and thank you
by offering ourselves with him.
May
this offering not be confined
to the fleeting moment of this eucharist
but burst forth in the life of every day
through our love of you
and our dedicated service of the people given us
to cherish and to share with what we are and have.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/
Amen.
Scripture Readings:
First
Reading Introduction: There Is A Fire
Burning In My Heart
The
prophet Jeremiah complains against God, for his mission brings him
only trouble. Yet he keeps trusting God and continues his task.
First
Reading: Jer 20:7-9
Yahweh,
you have seduced me and I let myself be seduced.
You have taken me by force and prevailed.
I
have become a laughingstock all day long; they all make fun of me,
for every time I speak I have to shout, "Violence! Devastation!"
Yahweh's
word has brought me insult and derision all day long.
So I decided to forget about him and speak no more in his name.
But
his word in my heart becomes like a fire burning deep within my
bones.
I try so hard to hold it in, but I cannot do it.
Responsorial
Psalm: Psalms 63:2-6, 8-9
So
I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and
glory.
Because
your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
So
I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and
call on your name.
My
soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you
with joyful lips when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on
you in the watches of the night...My soul clings to you; your right
hand upholds me.
But
those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths
of the earth; they shall be given over to the power of the sword,
they shall be prey for jackals.
Second
Reading Introduction: Offer Your Life As A Sacrifice
Paul
stresses a basic truth: true worship consists in seeking God's will
and offering our lives as a sacrifice. Only then can our eucharistic
worship be genuine.
Second
Reading: Rom 12:1-2
I
beg you, dearly beloved, by the mercy of God, to give yourselves
as a living and holy sacrifice pleasing to God: such is the worship
of a rational being. Don't let yourselves be shaped by the world
where you live, but rather be transformed through the renewal of
your mind. You must discern the will of God: what is good, what
pleases, what is perfect.
Gospel
Introduction: Take Up Your Cross and Follow
Me
Jesus
predicts his passion and resurrection. Then he asks his disciples
to follow him on his road of the cross to life. Peter protests,
for this is hard to take. But it is God's way.
 Gospel:
Mt 16:21-27
Jesus
began to make it clear to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem;
he would suffer many things from the Jewish authorities, the chief
priests and the teachers of the Law. He would be killed and be raised
on the third day.
Then
Peter took him aside and began to reproach him, "Never, Lord!
No, this must never happen to you." But Jesus turned to him
and said, "Get behind me, Satan! You would have me stumble.
You are their king not as God does, but as people do."
Then
Jesus said to his disciples, "If you want to follow me, deny
yourself, take up your cross and follow me. For whoever chooses
to save his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for
my sake will find it. What will one gain by winning the whole world
if he destroys himself? There is nothing you can give to recover
your own self.
Know
that the Son of Man will come in the Glory of his Father with the
holy angels, and he will reward each one according to his deeds."
Commentary
• Gospel
Reflections by Fr. Gerry Pierse, CSsR
General
Intercessions
Our
Lord Jesus Christ calls us to follow him to carry the cross after
him and to entrust to him all who suffer. Let us say to him: R/
Lord, be our strength.
-
For the Church, that Christ may become more visible in its commitment
to serve God and people, in its loving concern for the poor and
its continuous conversion to the gospel, let us pray: R/
Lord, be our strength.
-
For all Christians who claim to follow Christ, that they may live
up without fear to the demands of the gospel and bear witness to
the crucified lord, let us pray: R/ Lord,
be our strength.
-
For those who suffer in their bodies and their hearts, for those
who work for justice in the world and for peace among people, that
they may realize that they are one with the Lord Jesus in his passion
and death, let us pray: R/ Lord, be our strength.
-
For those for whom it is difficult to accept God's will and their
mission in life, that they may encounter friends who inspire them
to regain their trust in God and people, and who encourage them
when they are afraid, let us pray: R/ Lord,
be our strength.
-
For us gathered here for the eucharist, that we may honestly seek
God's will in union with Jesus our Lord, let us pray: R/
Lord, be our strength.
Lord
Jesus Christ, you invite us to follow you and to offer your sacrifice
with you. We wish to work with you to bring your life and grace
to all our brothers and sisters. Be with us now and for ever. R/
Amen.
Prayer
Over the Gifts
Lord
our God,
we wish to offer to you
the sacrifice that pleases you,
your Son Jesus Christ.
Accept
also through him
the sacrifice of our lives,
that with your Son we may die to sin
and rise to new life
in the realities of everyday living.
Let
this celebration reflect and express
our pains and hopes, our trials and joys,
in union with the paschal mystery
of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction
to the Eucharistic Prayer
By
his cross and resurrection Jesus brought us forgiveness and life.
Let us join him in his sacrifice here, that we may follow him also
in the sacrifices demanded by everyday life.
Introduction
to the Lord's Prayer
With
Jesus our Lord
we pray to our Father in heaven
that we may always seek his will,
so that God's ways may be our ways. R/ Our
Father...
Deliver
Us
Deliver
us, Lord, from every evil
and grant us the inner peace
which comes from doing your will
even when it is hard to do so.
Keep us free from discouragement
and help us to spare no effort
in bringing your love and healing to all.
Lead us forward in joyful hope
toward the full coming
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For
the kingdom...
Invitation
to Communion
This
is the body of Christ,
our Lamb of God who suffered,
died for us on the cross
and is risen from the dead.
Happy are we, for we are invited
to share his meal and to follow him. R/ Lord,
I am not worthy...
Prayer
after Communion
Lord
our God,
we have eaten with your Son
the stale bread of our poverty
and the refreshing bread of his strength.
We have drunk with him
the sour wine of suffering
and the tasty wine of joy and hope.
May Jesus give us the courage
to turn the sorrows that are part of life
into gifts of self to others
and to make us reliable sources
of strength and comfort and hope
to all those we encounter
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
Sometimes,
like the prophet Jeremiah,
we struggle and contest with God
in moments of trial and discouragement.
Keep in mind that God loves us
and wants our happiness.
Yet at times we must take up
the crosses demanded
by faithfulness to our family, our task in life,
to the ways of the gospel.
May the Lord be then with you and bless you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
May the Lord Jesus go with you on all your ways.
R/ Thanks be to God.
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Gospel
Commentary
(Sunday)
After
Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ, the latter is said to
have started his discourse on his impending passion. Evidently the
confession, said correctly on behalf of the other disciples, was
distorted by the prism of their selfish interests. They would not
want such consequences of the proclamation of God's reign by Jesus
as the Christ. Clearly at this stage, their concern was not yet
the Lord's - i.e., the message of God's reign no matter whither
it might lead - but their own worldly selfish ambitions. Rightly
Peter and the other disciples were called Satan (adversary). As
disciples, their duty was not to dictate to the Master what to do
but to get behind him and follow his footsteps in the proclamation
of God's reign. Our involvement with church activities - are they
inspired by true discipleship or by our own hidden agenda?
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