Saturday June 30
Introduction
“Cry aloud to the Lord! Lift your hands to him.” The message is one of hope, that when punishment comes for sin we should not blame God and abandon hope, but turn to God.
At a mere word of Jesus the health of the centurion’s servant is restored in response to the marvelous faith of the pagan centurion. He is a model of faith to all of us. His faith makes him worthy to take his place at the table of the kingdom.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
you come and visit us
often when we are not aware of your coming.
Make us aware of your presence,
that we may eagerly receive you
and be enriched by your visit.
Make us highly appreciate your hospitality
when you set for us the table
of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Reading 1 LAM 2:2, 10-14, 18-19
The Lord has consumed without pity
all the dwellings of Jacob;
He has torn down in his anger
the fortresses of daughter Judah;
He has brought to the ground in dishonor
her king and her princes.
On the ground in silence sit
the old men of daughter Zion;
They strew dust on their heads
and gird themselves with sackcloth;
The maidens of Jerusalem
bow their heads to the ground.
Worn out from weeping are my eyes,
within me all is in ferment;
My gall is poured out on the ground
because of the downfall of the daughter of my people,
As child and infant faint away
in the open spaces of the town.
In vain they ask their mothers,
"Where is the grain?"
As they faint away like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
And breathe their last
in their mothers' arms.
To what can I liken or compare you,
O daughter Jerusalem?
What example can I show you for your comfort,
virgin daughter Zion?
For great as the sea is your downfall;
who can heal you?
Your prophets had for you
false and specious visions;
They did not lay bare your guilt,
to avert your fate;
They beheld for you in vision
false and misleading portents.
Cry out to the Lord;
moan, O daughter Zion!
Let your tears flow like a torrent
day and night;
Let there be no respite for you,
no repose for your eyes.
Rise up, shrill in the night,
at the beginning of every watch;
Pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord;
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your little ones
Who faint from hunger
at the corner of every street.
Responsorial Psalm 74:1B-2, 3-5, 6-7, 20-21
R. (19b) Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your flock which you built up of old,
the tribe you redeemed as your inheritance,
Mount Zion, where you took up your abode.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
Turn your steps toward the utter ruins;
toward all the damage the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
Your foes roar triumphantly in your shrine;
they have set up their tokens of victory.
They are like men coming up with axes to a clump of trees.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
With chisel and hammer they hack at all the paneling of the sanctuary.
They set your sanctuary on fire;
the place where your name abides they have razed and profaned.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
Look to your covenant,
for the hiding places in the land and the plains are full of violence.
May the humble not retire in confusion;
may the afflicted and the poor praise your name.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
Alleluia MT 8:17
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Christ took away our infirmities
and bore our diseases.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MT 8:5-17
When Jesus entered Capernaum,
a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully."
He said to him, "I will come and cure him."
The centurion said in reply,
"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes;
and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes;
and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
"Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven,
but the children of the Kingdom
will be driven out into the outer darkness,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."
And Jesus said to the centurion,
"You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you."
And at that very hour his servant was healed.
Jesus entered the house of Peter,
and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.
He touched her hand, the fever left her,
and she rose and waited on him.
When it was evening, they brought him many
who were possessed by demons,
and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick,
to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet:
He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.
Intercessions
– That all the peoples of the earth may hear where the Lord can be found, come to know his name and pray to him, we pray:
– That we may care for the sick and bring them healing and strength by our friendship and encouraging words, we pray:
– That we may welcome foreigners and strangers in our Christian communities and invite them to form community with us, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God of all people,
we bring bread and wine before you
to celebrate our gratitude to you
as we are gathered around Jesus your Son.
For in him you have accepted us.
From his hospitable table
may men and women from all peoples and cultures
eat his bread of life
and drink his wine of joy,
that all may know your name
and praise your healing love.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Father in heaven,
we thank you that your Son
has spoken his healing word to us
even though we are not worthy.
May he find great faith in us.
We also thank you
that the promise of Jesus has been fulfilled:
Many have come from east and west
to eat from the same table with your people,
as they have joined us in the eucharist.
Accept our thanks
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
May the Lord speak to us also the words he spoke to the centurion when we sincerely pray to him: “Let it be done for you according to your faith,” and may God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Commentary:
Today, meet a different approach to words: meet an army officer, used to giving and receiving commands. Here we are dealing with a tight organization with its clear-cut ranks—an army—and not with the shifting sands of ordinary life and speech. For this officer, language was as clear as everything else in army life. This clarity holds great attraction for some people, and they would love to impose it on the whole society. They are called fascists. This comes from the Italian word “fascio”, meaning “a bundle” (it is related to the English word “fascicle”). Mussolini’s Fascists used to carry a bundle of twigs at the front of their marching columns, signifying the greater strength there is in a bundle of twigs than in any number of single twigs. Armies look very efficient, but they are surely the most wasteful organizations in any society. Why do soldiers have to march rather than just walk? Because when they march they look more like a mindless machine, and this is calculated to strike fear into everyone who sees them. We have to beware of people who worship uniformity and “efficiency”—in Church and state alike. It is only about appearances. There is infinitely more vitality and creativity in the drift of ordinary life.
But wait a moment! The army officer in today’s reading says to Jesus, “I am not worthy to have you under my roof.” He knew that Jews incurred ritual uncleanness on entering the house of a pagan, and he wanted to save Jesus this inconvenience. It was out of consideration that he said, “Say but the word….” He wasn’t an army man through and through. There is hope for every one of us!
