Celebración de la palabra

Saturday June 15, 2019

Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Introduction

The experience of Elijah in God’s word today is a deeply moving human experience, wherein God shows himself as the Lord of life and resurrection as soon as a person discovers who he is when confronted with God whom he begins to understand a bit. Elijah, God’s loyal, formidable, fiery prophet, encounters defeat, despair and persecution the day after his victory.
He doubts himself, his future, his task, the people, and withdraws into the desert of himself. And then Elijah experiences God, not the formidable God of storm, earthquake and fire, which he pictured in his heart, but the God found in the gentle breeze caressing his face. This experience of the living God raises Elijah back to his feet and gives him the strength to return to people and to hope again in people and in the future. For now he takes God on God’s terms. Could this not be our own experience?

Why do people require that at special occasions a statement be backed up by an oath? Is it that they doubt one another’s sincerity and truthfulness, particularly when it matters? And if God invoked in witness of the truth, is it always the truth that is sworn to? In the mind of Jesus, Christians should always be so reliable that there is no need for swearing oaths. We should mean what we say at all occasions.

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
we fear to take ourselves as we are,
with our weaknesses and our strength,
with our cowardice, failures, and projections.
God, touch us, seize us,
throw us down to earth if necessary,
that we may discover you as the source of life and strength
and constant resurrection
by the power of Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives with you and with us for ever.

Reading 1: 2 Cor 5:14-21

Brothers and sisters:
The love of Christ impels us,
once we have come to the conviction that one died for all;
therefore, all have died.
He indeed died for all,
so that those who live might no longer live for themselves
but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh;
even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh,
yet now we know him so no longer.
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.
And all this is from God,
who has reconciled us to himself through Christ
and given us the ministry of reconciliation,
namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting their trespasses against them
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
So we are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12

R.(8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

Alleluia: Ps 119:36a, 29b

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Incline my heart, O God, to your decrees;
and favor me with your law.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Mt 5:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples:
"You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
Do not take a false oath,
but make good to the Lord all that you vow.
But I say to you, do not swear at all;
not by heaven, for it is God's throne;
nor by the earth, for it is his footstool;
nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Do not swear by your head,
for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.'
Anything more is from the Evil One."

Intercessions

– That the Church may be the living sign of God’s love for people by its concern for the poorest among us, we pray:
– That the leaders of the world may look after the welfare of the people entrusted to them and bring them peace, justice, and dignity, we pray:
– That we may learn to take ourselves as we are with all our faults and weaknesses and entrust ourselves into the hands of God, were pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our living God,
your Son Jesus taught us
to seek your will not in our way
but in your own way and on your own terms.
As he is with us now,
may he help us with his word and his body
to bend our wills to yours.
And when we feel hurt in our struggles,
and disappointed with people,
do not allow us to withdraw within ourselves
but keep us going your way, not ours, to people.
For this was the way of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Lord, our God of hope,
we have learned from your Son
and from those who were close to him
that faith and hope grow in us
when they are tested in trials and struggles.
God, help us win our struggles,
for they are your struggles in us.
Let your Spirit storm or breeze in us
and let us experience you as you are.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

Blessing

We could end this celebration by saying again: God is with you! Don’t forget this, especially when your life or your task is difficult. God is there, and in him you can trust. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Commentary

The principal work of Christ as God’s emissary to the world was reconciliation. This is clear in Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, in which he speaks of our being ministers of reconciliation. In Christ, we have all died. In dying to the old unregenerated sell, we have now put on a new life, by which we live no longer for ourselves but for God.
We now have the responsibility of proclaiming this to the world. God reconciles the world to himself in Christ because s is his principal work. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, meaning that all the effects of sinful conduct have been heaped upon him, while he himself was innocent. By his vicarious atonement, the burden of sin has been lifted from our shoulders. e midst of all manner of suffering and affliction, he remained the faithful ambassador.
Living in a new era with a new life, there is no need for some of the practices of the past. Oath taking was one of those practices. False oaths were clearly discredited. Now all oaths are excluded. When asked to testify, our answer itself is our testimony to the truth. Truth flows from the new life in Christ that we possess, not from any oath or formulaic affirmation of the truth.

Points to Ponder

Christ as the reconciler
Our sharing in Christ’s reconciling work
Honesty in testifying.