11th  SUNDAY  OF  THE  YEAR (Cycle C) Jesus told her, "Your sins are forgiven." ENTRANCE  ANTIPHON Lord, hear my voice when I call to you. You are my help; do not cast me off, do not desert me, my Saviour God (Ps 26:7,9). PENITENTIAL  RITE Every man and woman is created in the image and likeness of God. Often like the Pharisees we allow personal prejudices and our way of looking at people and events to influence our judgement. As we are going to take part in this Eucharist let us ask the Lord pardon for the times we have not forgiven others and not accepted them. (Pause) I confess... Glory to God in the highest, /and peace to his people on earth./Lord God, heavenly King,/almighty God and Father,/we worship you,/we give you thanks,/we praise you for your glory./Lord Jesus Christ,/only Son of the Father,/Lord God, Lamb of God,/ you take away the sins of the world:/have mercy on us;/you are seated at the right hand of the Father,/receive our prayer./For you alone are the Holy One,/you alone are the Lord,/you alone are the Most High,/Jesus Christ,/with the Holy Spirit,/in the glory of God the Father. /Amen. OPENING  PRAYER Let us pray. Almighty God, our hope and our strength, without you we falter. Help us to follow Christ and to live according to your will. We ask this through ... FIRST  READING (Nathan reminds David of his sins. David realizing his mistakes repents and is forgiven.) A reading from the second book of Samuel (12:7-10,13) Nathan said to David, You are the man. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul; and I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die." This is the Word of the Lord PSALM (31:1-2,5,7,11) Response: Forgive, Lord, the guilt of my sin. Happy the man whose offence is forgiven, whose sin is remitted. O happy the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, in whose spirit is no guile. R./ But now I have acknowledged my sins; my guilt I did not hide. I said: "I will confess my offence to the Lord." And you, Lord, have forgiven the guilt of my sin. R./ You are my hiding place, O Lord; you save me from distress. You surround me with cries of deliverance. R./ Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord, exult you just! O come, ring out your joy, all you upright of heart. R./ SECOND  READING (St Paul speaks of his freedom from the law because he is washed clean by Christ.) A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Galatians (2:16,19-21) We know that a man is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the Law, because by works of the Law shall no one be justified. For I through the Law died to the Law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification were through the Law, then Christ died to no purpose. This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION Jn 17:17 Alleluia, alleluia! Your word is truth, O Lord, sanctify us in the truth. Alleluia! GOSPEL (Jesus forgives a sinful woman and teaches Simon a lesson that forgiveness goes beyond the law.) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke (7:38-50) One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was sitting at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, 1 have something to say to you." And he answered, "What is it, Teacher?" "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly." Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little." And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." This is the Gospel of the Lord I believe in God,/the Father Almighty,/Creator of heaven and earth./ I believe in Jesus Christ,/his only Son, our Lord./He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit/ and born of the Virgin Mary./He suffered under Pontius Pilate,/was crucified, died, and was buried./He descended to the dead./On the third day he rose again./He ascended into Heaven,/and is seated at the right hand of the Father./He will come again to judge the living and the dead./I believe in the Holy Spirit,/the Holy Catholic Church,/the communion of saints,/the forgiveness of sins,/the resurrection of the body,/and the life everlasting./ Amen. PRAYER  OF  THE  FAITHFUL Cel: Dear brothers and sisters, God our loving Father is always ready to forgive our sins if only we turn to him with a contrite and humble heart. Let us turn to him and offer our petitions. Response: Lord, forgive us and heal us. 1. For all the Church leaders that they may carry out the work of Jesus in forgiving sins and binding up hearts that are broken, let us pray. R./ 2. For ourselves that we may be open and honest in being aware of our many sins and making due reparation, let us pray. R./ 3. For those who are searching for God in their lives that they may find Christ who is the way, the truth and the life, let us pray. R./ 4. For those who are sick and those who care for them that they may experience the healing power of the almighty God, let us pray. R./ (Pray for personal/local needs.) Cel: God almighty, when we grow careless and wander off the right path, guide our steps. Grant us, we beseech you, the grace to forgive others as you are ready to forgive them. We make this prayer… PRAYER  OVER  THE  GIFTS Lord, God, in this bread and wine you give us food for body and spirit. May the eucharist renew our strength and bring us health of mind and body. We ask this... PREFACE (P 36) COMMUNION  antiphon Father, keep in your name those you have given me, that they may be one as we are one, says the Lord (Jn 17:11). PRAYER  AFTER  COMMUNION Lord, may this Eucharist accomplish in your Church the unity and peace it signifies. Grant this through Christ our Lord. LITURGY  AND  LIFE We sin as finite creatures but God forgives as the infinite creator. David was a privileged friend of God but he sinned. When he repented, God forgave him (2 Sam 12:13). Repentance like faith is a prerequisite for receiving forgiveness from God. It is a part of salvation. God will take nine steps towards us but unless we repent he will not take the tenth step. That is why David had to be reminded of the horror of his sin by prophet Nathan. When Jesus was in Simon’s house a woman known as a sinner repented before Jesus by her act of homage. Simon thought that Jesus became unclean by the touch of the sinful woman. Such uncleanness does not matter to Jesus when a sinner seeks forgiveness. So he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven" (Lk 7:48). We may take our debtor by the throat but God will forgive him seventy times seven. What God requires from the sinner is faith and repentance. We may say, "Of course I believe." But what do we really believe in? Some believe in laws and prescriptions, and think that they will save them. A doctor had prescribed a sleeping pill for a patient. "Wake up, sir", said the nurse, shaking the sleeping patient. "What is the matter?" asked the startled patient. "Nothing, I just forgot to give you your sleeping pill." The nurse remembered only the prescription, not its purpose, so the prescription served only to increase the burden of the patient. The law of God has a purpose. Our hearts are like a dirty pool. The law stirs the mud at the bottom of the pool and shows how foul the water is. But the law will not cleanse the water. Only Lord Jesus can do it. So we must not believe in the law but in Jesus, our Saviour. We acknowledge that what makes a man righteous is not obedience to the law but faith in Jesus (Gal 2:16). Jesus challenged Simon forcing him to see the mistakes he himself had made as a host. John Milton says, "Repentance is the golden key that opens the palace of eternity." Repentance is not merely hating sin for fear of punishment. It is the ultimate honesty with one’s own sinfulness. If that is the case the first step towards repentance is owning up responsibility for one’s own sins. How often people blame others for anything and everything! Failure to recognize one’s responsibility for one’s actions seems to be everyone’s character today. Therefore we must first accept responsibility for our evil doing. Let us remember one thing – we may succeed in dodging our responsibility but we cannot dodge God’s judgement. June 2007 READINGS  OF  THE  WEEK (Psalter Week 3) 18/Mon (G) 2 Cor 6:1-10; Ps 97:1,2-3ab,3cd-4; Mt 5:38-42 19/Tue (G/W) Or S. Romuald, ab 2 Cor 8:1-9; Ps 145:2,5-6ab,6c-7,8-9; Mt 5:43-48 20/Wed (G) 2 Cor 9:6-11; Ps 111:1-2,3-4,9; Mt 6:1-6,16-18 21/Thu (W) S. Aloysius Gonzaga, rel – mem 2 Cor 11:1-11; Ps 110:1-2,3-4,7-8; Mt 6:7 -15 22/Fri (G/W/R) Or S. Paulinus of Nola, bp Or Ss. John Fisher, bp & Thomas More, mm 2 Cor 11:18,21b-30; Ps 33:2-3,4-5,6-7; Mt 6:19-23 23/Sat (G/W) 2 Cor 12:1-10; Ps 33:8-9,10-11,12-13; Mt 6:24-34