16th  SUNDAY  OF  THE  YEAR (Cycle C) "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." ENTRANCE ANTIPHON God himself is my help. The Lord upholds my life. I will offer you a willing sacrifice; I will praise your name, O Lord, for its goodness. PENITENTIAL RITE All our important decisions must be influenced by faith especially when it is a question of choosing priorities in life. We need to listen to the word of God and be open to it. Let us ask pardon for not being aware of God’s presence in our lives and not listening to him. (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. Lord, be merciful to your people. Fill us with your gifts and make us always eager to serve you in faith, hope and love. Grant this... FIRST READING (Abraham recognized God when He visited him and also believed that though his wife was advanced in age she would bear a child.) A reading from the Book of Genesis (18:1-10) The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, "My lord, if I have found favour in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I fetch a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on – since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said." And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes." And Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds, and milk, and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" And he said, "She is in the tent." The Lord said, "I will surely return to you in the spring, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." This is the Word of the Lord PSALM (14) Response: Lord, who shall be admitted to your tent? Lord, who shall dwell on your holy mountain? He who walks without fault; he who acts with justice and speaks the truth from his heart; he who does not slander with his tongue. R./ He who does no wrong to his brother, who casts no slur on his neighbour, who holds the godless in disdain, but honours those who fear the Lord. R./ Who takes no interest on a loan and accepts no bribes against the innocent. Such a man will stand firm for ever. R./ SECOND READING (St Paul knows that as an apostle he has to complete the preaching of the gospel where Christ has not been preached.) A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Colossians (1:24-28) I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church, of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ. This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION (1 Sam 3:9; Jn 6:68) Alleluia, alleluia! Speak, Lord, your servant hears; you have the words of eternal life. Alleluia! GOSPEL (Sitting at the feet of the Lord and listening to him is the most meritorious act of a Christian.) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke (10:38-42) Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her." 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, to sit and listen to the word of God is to put ourselves under the power of our Father’s love. There is nothing more important than this, so let us pray to the Lord. Response: Lord, help us to listen to your word. 1. For our Holy Father the Pope, our bishops, priests and religious that whenever their flock visit them they may feel that Christ visits them, let us pray... R./ 2. For our Christian community that at the beginning of each Mass we may hasten to remove our differences through sincere repentance so as to open the way to Christ who comes, let us pray... R./ 3. For the sick and those who suffer that they may be convinced that Christ is by their side in all the trials, ready to console them and give them strength, let us pray… R./ 4. For those who are persecuted and are suffering for their faith that the Spirit may grant them relief, consolation and peace in all their pains and struggles, let us pray… R./ (Pray for personal/local needs.) Cel: Father in heaven, your Son came to the world bringing forgiveness. Help us to welcome him as he comes to continue his work of salvation among us that we may one day become his guests in heaven. We make this prayer… PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Lord, bring us closer to salvation through these gifts which we bring in your honour. Accept the perfect sacrifice you have given us, bless it as you blessed the gifts of Abel. We ask this… PREFACE (P 29-36) COMMUNION ANTIPHON I stand at the door and knock, says the Lord. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sit down to supper with him, and he with me. PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Merciful Father, may these mysteries give us new purpose and bring us to a new life in you. We ask this... LITURGY  AND  LIFE Once God sent an angel to a sage with this message, "Ask for a million years of life and they will be given to you, or a million million, how long do you wish to live?" "Eighty years", said the sage without the slightest hesitation. His disciples were surprised. "But, master, if you lived a million years, think how many generations would profit by your wisdom." The sage replied, "If I lived for a million years, people would be more intent on lengthening their life than on cultivating their wisdom." Was he not right? Today when the average life span is 70 or 80 years, people get so much involved in living that they forget why they are living; so involved in what they are doing that they forget why they are doing; so involved in pursuing things, which money can buy that they forget about things that money can’t buy. If there is something which money can’t buy it is wisdom, and true wisdom comes from the Lord Jesus. Martha and Mary went out of their way to extend to Jesus their hospitality, but each differently. Martha by preparing many delicious dishes and Mary by listening to his words. However Jesus chided Martha because she was distracted with all the serving and was "fretting and worrying about many things" (Lk 10:41). She had forgotten something more important. Jesus praised Mary for "she had chosen the better part" (Lk 10:42). Often we are too busy like Martha, too busy doing things. Of course we must use our energy, time and talents God has given us. The problem is that we give too much importance to them that we don’t give a chance to Jesus to reach out to us. He reaches out to us through his word. In today’s second reading St Paul tells us that he was able to make up for what was lacking in the suffering of Christ. Actually nothing was lacking in the suffering of Christ. But the word which he came to proclaim was so much part of him that it made Christ alive in his life. Mary recognized this fact – the importance of the WORD. So she sat at Jesus’ feet. She experienced his word as life-giving, as nourishment and so she gave him an open ear. Though we are attending to the duties of piety, like Martha, mentally we can be very far away, bogged down by earthly realities – planning what to do, when to do it, whom to meet and when to meet that person. We continue to gossip and criticize others and we fret and fume about useless things. God is there always to guide us, help us and get the better of earthly realities and our frustrations. And this he does in a special way through the Eucharist which we celebrate. We must reflect on Thomas Merton’s words, "It is becoming increasingly evident that the only people in the world who are happy are the ones who know how to listen to the word of God."   July 2007 READINGS  OF  THE  WEEK (Psalter Week 4) 23/Mon (G/W) Or S. Bridget of Sweden, rel Ex 14:5-18; Ps Ex 15:1-2,3-4,5-6; Mt 12:38-42 24/Tue (G/W) Or S. Charbel Makhluf, pt Ex 14:21-15:1; Ps Ex 15:8-9,10&12,17; Mt 12:46-50 25/Wed (R) S. JAMES, Ap – Fst 2 Cor 4:7-15; Ps 125:1-2ab,2cd-3,4-5,6; Mt 20:20-28 26/Thu (W) Ss. Joachim & Anne, Parents of the BVM – mem Ex 19:1-2,9-11,16-20b; Ps Dn 3:52,53-54,55-56; Mt 13:10-17 27/Fri (G) Ex 20:1-17; Ps 18:8,9,10,11;Mt 13:18-23 28/Sa t (W) Bl. Alphonsa Muttathupadathu, vg – mem Ex 24:3-8; Ps 49:1-2,5-6,14-15; Mt 13:24-30