TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Sunday August 29

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1. The Spirit of the Law
2. With All Your Heart
3. 

Greeting (see the Gospel)

Jesus our Lord has called us together
and he says to us today:
“Listen to me, all of you,
and try to understand.”
May we hear his word
and put it into practice,
and may the Lord be always with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebran

1.The Spirit of the Law

How do you experience laws, especially God’s commandments? Many people consider them as something coming from outside themselves, as burdens imposed on them. Of course, if they are outside you, you cannot love them, you feel like rejecting them or observe only the absolute minimum required. If we understand that their inspiration is love of God and love and respect for people, then they can become a part of ourselves and live in our hearts. Let us ask the Lord that with generosity and love we may go far beyond the letter of the law.

2.With All Your Heart

We are gathered here to listen to the word of God and to eat from his table. To listen means not simply to hear what the Lord has to say, but to let his word guide our life. But even our obedience to God’s word should not become a mechanical compliance. God is a God who loves us, who wants to be near to his people. If we respond to his love, our response to him and to his word and commandments cannot be anything else than a response from the heart, an answer given to him by free and responsible people.

Penitential Act

Let us ask the Lord to forgive us
that we have not always lived
according to the spirit of the commandments.
                 (pause)
Lord Jesus, you said,
This is my commandment:
Love one another as I have loved you.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, you taught us:
Do to one another
what I have done for you.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you told us:
what you do to the least of those who are mine
you do to me.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Forgive us our sins, Lord,
and help us to serve you and others.
with a generous love.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray that our whole life
may give praise and thanks to the Lord
                 (pause)
Father, God of the ever-new covenant,
you have tied us to yourself
with leading strings of lasting love;
the words you speak to us
are spirit and life.
Open our hearts to your words,
that they may touch us
in the deepest of ourselves.
May they move us to serve you
not in a slavish way
but as your sons and daughters
who love you and whom you have set free
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

First Reading: The Law Brings Life and Wisdom

Keeping God’s law brings wisdom and life to his people. It is their response of loyalty to God’s liberating nearness.

Reading 1: DT 4:1-2, 6-8

Moses said to the people:
"Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees
which I am teaching you to observe,
that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land
which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 
In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin upon you,
you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. 
Observe them carefully,
for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,
'This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.'
For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him? 
Or what great nation has statutes and decrees
that are as just as this whole law
which I am setting before you today?"

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5

(1a) One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.
Whoever walks blamelessly and does justice;
who thinks the truth in his heart
and slanders not with his tongue.
R.One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.
Who harms not his fellow man,
nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;
by whom the reprobate is despised,
while he honors those who fear the LORD.
R. One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.
Who lends not his money at usury
and accepts no bribe against the innocent.
Whoever does these things
shall never be disturbed.
R. One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Second Reading: Live by God’s Word

God’s word has brought us life. We should put it into practice, with love of neighbor as the heart of it; then we will give genuine worship to God.

Reading 2: JAS 1:17-18, 21B-22, 27

Dearest brothers and sisters:
All good giving and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change. 
He willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and is able to save your souls.

Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this:
to care for orphans and widows in their affliction
and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Alleluia: JAS 1:18

Alleluia, alleluia.
The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Serve God with the Heart

True religion consists in a personal relationship with God (and people), not in the observance of the law. Human traditions often stand in the way of God’s law of love.

Gospel: MK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. 
—For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace 
they do not eat without purifying themselves. 
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds. —
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
"Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?" 
He responded,
"Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition."

He summoned the crowd again and said to them,
"Hear me, all of you, and understand. 
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.

"From within people, from their hearts,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile."

Intercessions

Let us pray to God, the giver of all good gifts, that we may always obey his laws with the free attitude of Christ, and let us say:

R/ Father, your will be done.

–   For the Church, that it may not replace the Gospel with rites and laws of human invention but bring people to the freedom, the gentleness and the light of Christ, let us pray:

     R/ Father, your will be done.

–   For the leaders of people everywhere, that God’s Spirit may inspire them to give their people wise laws that bring them freedom and justice, let us pray:

     R/ Father, your will be done.

–   For those who do not know Christ, that they may discover God’s law written in their hearts and find salvation by the integrity of their lives and the love of their neighbor, let us pray:

     R/ Father, your will be done.

–   For those upset by the changes in the Church, that they may learn to appreciate the attempts of God’s people to understand and live our faith in a contemporary way that remains true to the gospel, let us pray:

     R/ Father, your will be done.

–   For us who share in the Lord’s table, that we may learn from Jesus our Lord that love is the heart of the law and that true love knows how to serve, let us pray:

     R/ Father, your will be done.

Lord our God, may we not only hear your word but live by it day after day by the strength of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior for ever. R/ Amen.

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
we bring before you our readiness
to respond to your love.
Strengthen us with the body and blood
of your Son Jesus Christ,
that with him we may be dedicated to you
with our whole mind and heart,
and that we may be capable
of communicating your love and justice
to all those around us.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

With Jesus we now give thanks to the Father that he has given us the example of Jesus himself to make us understand that love is the basis and the spirit of all commandments.

Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer

Our lips will now speak Jesus’ own prayer.
May his Spirit speak in our hearts
that we may really mean those words: R/ Our Father...

Deliver Us

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
and grant us peace in our day.
Keep us from formalism and lip-service
in obeying your commandments.
Help us to serve you and people
in freedom and responsibility
and let love inspire all we do,
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus, the Lamb of God who said:
My food is to do the will
of him who sent me
and to complete his work.
Father, let your will be done, not mine.
Happy are we to be invited
to the table of the Lord
and to receive from him the strength
to do the will of God. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
your Son has shared himself with us
in this Eucharistic celebration.
Give us his Spirit of strength,
we pray you,
that we may also share in his attitude
of openness to your will
and to the needs of people.
May we thus fulfill more than the law
and serve you as your sons and daughters,
in whom you recognize Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever. R/ Amen.

Blessing

In a spirit of gratitude
for all God has given us,
let us put our hearts
into seeking in the commandments
not our will but the will of God.
God’s word in the gospel
and Jesus’ own attitude tell us
what is meant by God’s will.
May almighty God give you the strength
to do his liberating will:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Let us go and seek God’s will in all we do. R/ Thanks be to God.

Commentary

Is Sunday Mass an ‘Obligation?

The evangelist Mark, who writes for an audience in Rome that did not know the customs of the Jews, now feels the need to explain to his readers this obsession of the Jews with the ritual purifications.

The Jews paid great attention to the meticulous execution of the ritual washings, and insisted on its scrupulous execution, but they forgot the meaning of the rite itself and lost its value. We must be careful also about these scrupulously executed rites in our liturgical celebrations because if their meaning is forgotten, they can be dangerous.

The Jews felt satisfied when they went through the rite of purification, although the value of this rite, the rite's memory was lost. Their original intention was to remind the people of God to be thankful to God for his providential care. A rite of purification ended with a beautiful prayer of thanksgiving. But as the ages passed, the scribes and the pharisees interpreted the laws to benefit their interests. Instead of making it as an opportunity to thank God, it was presented as an obligation, failure of which amounted to breaking the law.

Similar misinterpretations and obligatory rituals also happen to us. Where there is true faith that comes from genuine love, nothing needs to be imposed as obligatory. When we try to fulfil what is obligatory in the Church, our actions are based on the rules and regulations and not based on love. Our “days of obligation” in the Church is an example. Are we participating in the Sunday liturgy to fulfil an obligation or because of our love for the Lord and love for the community? When our objective is only to meet the obligations, we are guided by fear and not by love. When the tradition is stripped of meaning, it becomes a meaningless gesture.

The Pharisees became slaves of their religious traditions, and not even Jesus was able to set them free. And Jesus calls them hypocrites. For the Pharisee, the pure hands were those that performed the ritual to its perfection; but for Jesus the pure hands are those that did works of love. It is the works of charity that would purify our hands. We should pay attention not to becomes slaves to the traditions while living our liturgical life in faith.

There are people who are afraid to take communion in the hand because they think that their hands are impure. What makes us believe that our tongues that speak all the wrongs about our brethren are purer and better than our hands?

What does it mean for you to participate in the liturgical life of the community? Are you participating on the Sunday Mass as an obligation, out of fear of punishment?