Themes:
A. Let Our Yes Be Yes
B. We Say At Times A Reluctant Yes

Readings:
First Reading:     Ezk 18:25-28
Second Reading:   Phil 2:1-11
Gospel Reading:    Mt 21:28-32

Greeting (See 2 Cor 1:18-20)

The Son of God, Jesus Christ,
was never Yes-and-No.
His nature is all Yes.
Therefore it is through him
that we say our Yes to God.
May the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

A. Let Our Yes Be Yes
We admire parents and educators who are so patient with the young that when they make mistakes or refuse to take up their responsibilities, they give them the time to change their mind. That is what God is doing all the time with us. He patiently waits for us. He gives us new chances. Could we do the same with one another? Let us ask Jesus in this eucharist that with him we may always say Yes.

B. Our Yes Is At Times Reluctant
Quite often we feel within us the tension between what we know to be right
and our own interests and inclinations. We usually know what our faith demands
and yet we act against it or give only a reluctant Yes. Let us ask Jesus in this eucharist that we may always say Yes with him.

Penitential Act

Too often we have gone our own ways
and done our will rather than God's.
Let us ask forgiveness from the Lord.
              (PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, your Yes was a firm Yes
to the will of the Father,
even when it led you to suffering and the cross.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, your word was reliable,
for you lived as you believed:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, we owe forgiveness and life
to your Yes to the Father:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Lord, forgive us our hesitations
and cowardice in living up to the gospel.
Help us to serve you with generous love
and lead us to everlasting live. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray
that we may answer God's call
with love and faithfulness
         (PAUSE)
Loving Father,
you do not want sinners to die,
but to turn away from sin
and to do what is right,
so that they may live.

You know that we are weak and fragile.
Keep forgiving us,
give us the mentality of Jesus,
that with him we may say Yes to you
with the deep love of those who have been forgiven.
Make us, too, merciful to others.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading Introduction: We Are Responsible for What We Do
        The prophet Ezekiel insists in the name of God on personal responsibility for the good or evil we do. God seeks to forgive us and wants us to live in his love.

1st Reading: Ez 18:25-28

The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: You say: Yahweh's way is not just! Why, Israel! Is my position wrong? Is it not rather that yours is wrong? If the righteous man dies after turning from his righteous deeds and sinning, he dies because of his sins. And if the wicked man does what is good and right, after turning from the sins he committed, he will save his life. He will live and not die, because he has opened his eyes and turned from the sins he had committed.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 125:4-9

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time on and forevermore.

For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, so that the righteous might not stretch out their hands to do wrong.

Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts.

But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways the LORD will lead away with evildoers. Peace be upon Israel!

Second Reading Introduction: Be Self-effacing With Christ
             We must have the same fundamental disposition as Christ our Lord, namely, to be humble and self-effacing before God and people.

2nd Reading: Phil 2:1-11

If I may advise you in the name of Christ and if you can hear it as the voice of love; if we share the same spirit and are capable of mercy and compassion, then I beg of you make me very happy: have one love, one spirit, one feeling, do nothing through rivalry or vain conceit. On the contrary let each of you gently consider the others as more important than yourselves. Do not seek your own interest, but rather that of others. Let what was seen in Christ Jesus be seen in you:

Though being divine in nature,
he did not claim in fact equality with God,
but emptied himself,
taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness,
and in his appearance found as a man.
He humbled himself by being obedient to death,
death on the cross.
That is why God exalted him
and gave him the Name which outshines all names,
so that at the Name of Jesus all knees should bend
in heaven, on earth and among the dead,
and all tongues proclaim that Christ Jesus is the Lord
to the glory of God the Father.

Gospel Introduction: Which of These Sons Am I?
            The self-righteous leaders of the people reject Jesus and condemn sinners. The sinners welcome Jesus and are converted. Who does the will of God? With whom do we identify?

Gospel Reading: Mt 21:28-32

Jesus went on to say to the chief priests and the elders of the people, "What do you think of this? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said to him: 'Son, today go and work in my vineyard.' And the son answered: 'I don't want to.' But later he thought better of it and went. Then the father went to the second and gave him the same command. This son replied: 'I will go, sir,' but he did not go.

Which of the two did what the father wanted?" They answered, "The first." And Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you: the publicans and the prostitutes are ahead of you on the way to the kingdom of heaven. For John came to show you the way of goodness but you did not believe him, yet the publicans and the prostitutes did. You were witnesses of this, but you neither repented nor believed him."

Commentary  •  Gospel Reflections by Fr. Gerry Pierse, CSsR

General Intercessions

Let us not think of our interests first but pray for the needs of our sisters and brothers here and everywhere in the world. Let us say: R/ Lord, let your word guide us:

- With the people of God, the Church in our day, that members and leaders may be guided by the mentality of Jesus Christ in serving God and people faithfully, we pray to the Lord: R/ Lord, let your word guide us.

- With those who refuse to live according to their faith and conscience, that they may find the way back to God we pray: R/ Lord, let your word guide us.

- With those who seek God's will in everyday life, that we may do so in all humility and with great love, aware of how fragile we all are, we pray: R/ Lord, let your word guide us.

- With those working in the mass media, that they may respect people and the truth and contribute to peace and understanding everywhere, we pray: R/ Lord, let your word guide us.

- With all those who have spoken their "I do" to God or to one another in marriage, that they may draw strength from the fidelity of Jesus and of the faithful love of good Christian families, we pray: R/ Lord, let your word guide us.

Lord our God, do not let us grow self-satisfied. Make each of us and our communities question whether we really seek your will or follow our own whims. Be our faithful and loving God now and for ever. R/ Amen.

Prayer Over the Gifts

God our Father,
we bring before you
the sacrifice of Jesus your Son.
Let our offering express that we are willing
to enter into his dispositions
of total loyalty to your will.
Help us to say with him
an unconditional Yes to your life and love
and to forget ourselves
in the service of our brothers and sisters.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

Jesus was the obedient servant who committed himself totally to the will of the Father to bring us the Father's life and love, whatever the cost. With him we now offer ourselves.

Introduction to the Lord's Prayer

With his obedient servant Jesus Christ
we seek God's will and with him we pray
that we may not refuse to serve our Father well.R/ Our Father...

Deliver Us

Deliver us, Lord, from the stranglehold
of sin and all evil.
Let your forgiveness come to us
as a liberation from our doubts and fears
and from our self-contented pride
at the expense of others.
Help us to seek your will in all we do
and to prepare for the full coming among us
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus Christ our Lord
who accepted death on the cross
while saying his Yes to the Father
to make us a free people.
Happy are we to receive him
as our glorious Lord. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,
as a friend at table,
your Son Jesus has broken for us
his bread of peace
and spoken to us your word of forgiveness.
Let him be our strength
as we go to you and one another
our plodding way of good mixed with evil.
Help us to encourage each other
and to grow together nearer to you,
our living God, who have lifted us up
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Blessing

We have heard Jesus' disturbing statement
that notorious sinners may be ahead of us
in entering the kingdom of God.
Let these hard words wake us up
from our smug self-contentment
and make us aware that our life too
is a mixture of Yes and No,
of an honest seeking to do what is right
together with moments of cowardice.
May God give you this insight and bless you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Let us go in the peace
and the love of Christ. R/ Thanks be to God.

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Gospel Commentary (Sunday)

A very strong judgment is passed on the religious leaders of Jesus' times. Even the eschatological reversal is already here. Those put at the margins of society are now included among co-humans, nay close to the living God, after they have believed the good news of God's reign previously preached also by John the Baptist. These were the ones who gave a more generous credence to Jesus' teaching and life-enhancing deeds. Such a pronouncement must have shocked Jesus' contemporaries. For, who would be better expected to believe the good news but the religious leaders? But, lo and behold, they were the first ones to exclude themselves from God's reign by not changing their minds and hearts. Sometimes we again meet such situations in today's world. The unchurched show greater openness to the renewal demanded in becoming a church of the poor.

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