Liturgy Alive: Models of Celebrations

September 7, 2003 - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

A. Lord, Open Our Ears and Lips
B. Ephphatha! Be Opened!

Readings:
Is 35:4-7; Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10;
James 2:1-5 (Listen to MP3 - Partiality); Mk 7:31-37

Commentaries / Gospel Reflections from:
Sunday's Into Silence • Diario Biblico • Daily Gospel

Greeting (see the Gospel)

Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ,
who did all things well.
He makes the deaf hear
and the mute speak.
May he open our ears to his Word
and may he always be with you.
R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

A. Lord, Open Our Ears and Lips!

We live in era of communication explosion: fax, E-mail, internet or web, and so on. And at the same time it is an age of isolation and loneliness of people. What people have is information, and what they have lost is personal relations. In this eucharist we pray to the Lord, to open our ears. that we may again listen to one another and to God speaking to us. May we also learn again to speak to one another, person to person.

B. Ephphatha! Be Opened!

The sign that Jesus is the promised Savior is that he first goes to the poor, the sick, the marginalized people, for they need him most. Not only material poverty is meant. The deaf and the mute, the hard of hearing and the stammerers are we who are shut up within ourselves, often closed to God and one another. Jesus comes to open our ears and mouths to the words and deeds of God, that we may listen to his message and respond to his love, and that we may also hear the poor and speak to them with our help. Let Jesus in the eucharist heal us and commit us to God and people.

Penitential Act

We ask the Lord and one another
to forgive us that we have been deaf
to the Lord speaking in his Word
and in the cries of the poor.
         (PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, touch our ears
and open them to your message
and to the appeals of those in need:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, touch our tongues,
that we may speak words of endearment
to those we love.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, touch our eyes,
that we may see and feel the needs
of those lonely and abandoned:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Lord, touch us with your forgiving hand
and open us to your love
and to the needs of those around us.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

A. Lord, Open Our Hearts and Ears

Let us pray that God's Spirit
may open us to all that is good
        (PAUSE)
God our Father,
you wait for us to be open to you, to people,
and to all that is true, beautiful and good.
Let your Spirit open our ears
to the liberating word of your Son.
Let him open our hearts and hands
to everyone who needs us.
Let him open our lips,
that we may proclaim everywhere
the marvels you do for us.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

B. Ephphatha! Be Opened!

Let us pray to God with receptive hearts
        (PAUSE)
Our saving God,
Jesus, your Son, made the deaf hear
and the dumb speak.
Make us see that often we are stutterers
and hard of hearing.
Open our ears to the message of your Son,
that it may stir our hearts and change our lives.
Loosen our tongues to proclaim
the great things you do for us
through your Son Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior for ever. R/ Amen.

Scripture Readings

First Reading Introduction: The Ears of the Deaf Shall Be Opened
        To a people deaf and blind to God, the prophet announces the joy of salva-tion: they will see and hear and become new.

First Reading: Is 35:4-7a

Say to those who are afraid:
"Have courage, do not fear.
See, your God comes, demanding justice.
He is the God who rewards,
the God who comes to save you."

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unsealed.
Then will the lame leap as a hart
and the tongue of the dumb sing and shout.

For water will break out in the wilderness
and streams gush forth from the desert.
The thirsty ground will become a pool,
the arid land springs of water.
In the haunts where once reptiles lay,
grass will grow with reeds and rushes.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10

R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul! or: R. Alleluia.

The God of Jacob keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul! or: R. Alleluia.

The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul! or: R. Alleluia.

The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul! or: R. Alleluia.

Second Reading Introduction: No Double Standard! God Loves the Poor
        It is a betrayal of the Christian sense of community to honor the rich and humiliate the poor, says James. God loves the poor and makes them rich in faith.

Second Reading: Jas 2:1-5

My brothers and sisters, if you truly believe in our glorified Lord, Jesus Christ, you will not discriminate between persons. Suppose a person enters the synagogue where you are assembled, dressed magnificently and wearing a gold ring; at the same time, a poor person enters dressed in rags. If you focus your attention on the well-dressed and say, "Come and sit in the best seat," while to the poor one you say, "Stay standing or else sit down at my feet," have you not, in fact, made a distinction between the two? Have you not judged, using a double standard?

Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters, did God not choose the poor of this world to receive the riches of faith and to inherit the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?

Gospel Introduction: Be Opened!
        The deaf-mute stands for those closed to God. Jesus came to open people to God, so that they can praise his great deeds. His attention to the poor is the sign that the kingdom has come.

Gospel Reading: Mk 7:31-37

Again Jesus set out; from the country of Tyre he passed through Sidon and skirting the sea of Galilee he came to the territory of Decapolis. There a deaf man who also had difficulty in speaking was brought to him. They asked Jesus to lay his hand upon him.

Jesus took him apart from the crowd, put his fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue with spittle. Then, looking up to heaven, he groaned and said to him, "Ephphetha," that is, "Be opened."

And his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone, but the more he insisted on this, the more they proclaimed it. The people were completely astonished and said, "He has done all things well; he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."

Commentary

"My brethren, show no partiality." James was well aware that injustice may creep in his young church. Special places and special treatments are given to the rich but lowly places and shabby treatments to the poor. The wise and the educated are given first places while the uneducated are relegated to the last. While this system has worked in the civil society, the church of Christ is different. In Christ, there is only one head and the rest are members of his body. And every member draws his dignity from his being incorporated into Christ just as a branch that is grafted into a vine draws its life from the vine. Jesus even went further, the poor and the lowly are accorded the preferential love in the kingdom of God. Are we disciples of Jesus in this regard?

Read also: • Gospel Reflections by Fr. Gerry Pierse, C.Ss.R.
          • Biblical Commentaries fro Diario Biblico

General Intercessions

Let us pray with fullest trust to the Father in heaven who always listens to what we ask him in Jesus' name, and let us say: R/ Listen to your people Lord.

- For the Church, that we may not only love the poor and care for them, but speak out with courage when they are trampled upon, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people Lord.

- For educators in the faith - priests, sisters, catechists, teachers - that they themselves may listen to God's word and then pass it on with conviction and love, let us pray : R/ Listen to your people Lord.

- For the poor, the sick and the handicapped, that in them we may recognize and welcome the suffering Lord himself, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people Lord.

- For those who are deaf and blind to other people and to their love and needs, that their eyes and ears may be opened to the treasures of love and sharing, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people Lord.

- For all of us, that our empty hearts may become spacious and generous, like doors open to all people and to all needs, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people Lord.
God our Father, listen to us as we pray to you in the name of Jesus our Lord. R/ Amen.

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God, merciful Father,
you set the table of your Son
for rich and poor alike.
By the strength of this bread of life
do not allow us to remain deaf
to your voice crying out
in the needs of the poor and oppressed.
Teach and help us to speak to them
not just words of pity
but deeds of justice, dignity and love.
May this be the sign
that your Son is alive among us,
he who is our Lord and Savior for ever. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

Let us with one heart and voice give praise and thanks to our saving God. He showed the power of his love in Jesus, his Son, who did all things well. He has opened our ears to his Good News and made us capable of praising God in the name of all that lives.

Invitation to the Lord's Prayer

Thankful for God's great deeds of love,
we cannot remain deaf or silent,
and so we let our tongues pray to our Father
in the words of Jesus, our Savior: R/ Our Father...

Deliver Us

Deliver us, Lord, from all our infirmities,
from being deaf to your word
and blind to the needs of our brothers and sisters.
Make us responsive to your love
and help us to bring your joy
to all those around us,
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming in glory among us
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus the Lord
who came to heal us from sin's blindness
and to open our ears and hearts
to his Good News of God's love.
Happy are we to hear his voice
as we eat from his table. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

Saving God,
in your Son Jesus Christ you have chosen
what is poor and weak in this world
to be rich in faith and love
and to be heirs to your kingdom.
He has done all things well.
Speak through us who were once
faint-hearted and tongue-tied,
deeds of mercy and hope,
for you have healed and freed us all
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Blessing

Jesus has been with us
in this eucharistic celebration
to bring us out of our isolation
and to open us, in respect and love,
to God and to our neighbor, that is, to all.
Like Jesus, may we become available,
particularly to the poorest among us,
and let them feel
that, with God, we too care.
May almighty God give you this openness and bless you,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Let us go in peace
and proclaim with our lives
the wonderful things God has done to us. R/ Thanks be to God.

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