Celebración de la palabra

Sunday July 5

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1. Joy for the Humble of Heart
2. I Will Give You Rest

Greeting (See the Gospel)

It is Our Lord Jesus who invites:
“Come to me, all you who labor
and are overburdened
and I will give you rest.
Learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble of heart.”
May this gentle Lord always stay with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction

1. Joy for The Humble of Heart
Those who are aware of their poverty, of the burdens they have to carry in life, and are at the same time humble enough to acknowledge their need before others are the ones who can find consolation from others too. Today we hear Jesus who makes himself humble for the humble. He helps us carry the crosses of life if we acknowledge that we cannot carry them alone. Let us join him at his table where he will give us the food of strength.

2. I Will Give You Rest
When we are discouraged and troubled, it is good to have a reliable friend to go to and to pour out your heart to. I hope you have such a friend and that you are not too proud to unburden yourself. What kind of friend will that be? Someone who can listen, someone gentle, who has time for you. Jesus offers himself to us today as such an understanding friend, gentle and humble, who can give us peace.

Penitential Act

Let us come before our Lord
with the burden of our sins.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, you lived in the Father’s glory
and you humbled yourself
by becoming human with us:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, Son of the Father in heaven,
you made yourself poor with us:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you are the Master,
and yet you made yourself our servant:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
In your mercy, Lord,
take away from us the burden of our sins
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us praise God
and be open to his gifts
(pause)
Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
we bless you with Jesus your Son
for revealing to us how much you love us.
Make us humble and receptive,
that we may be open to the Good News,
for you show yourself to those
who are aware of their poverty.
Fill that poverty with your tenderness
and with the trust that you care for us.
Let your peace and rest dwell in us
even in the struggles of life,
as we try to be good disciples of Jesus.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

First Reading: The Savior Will Triumph by Humility

Our saving king will bring us peace not with weapons and power but by his humility.

Reading 1: Zec 9:9-10

Thus says the LORD:
Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion,
shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king shall come to you;
a just savior is he,
meek, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass.
He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim,
and the horse from Jerusalem;
the warrior's bow shall be banished,
and he shall proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14

R. (cf. 1) I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Second Reading: Let Christ’s Spirit Live in You

According to St. Paul, the Spirit of Christ must live in our hearts. This Spirit will raise us up to eternal life.

Reading 2: Rom 8:9, 11-13

Brothers and sisters:
You are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Consequently, brothers and sisters,
we are not debtors to the flesh,
to live according to the flesh.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die,
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,
you will live.

Alleluia Cf. Mt 11:25

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: I Am Gentle and Humble of Heart

God gives himself not to the self-sufficient but to the humble, for they are open to God. Christ will free them from burdens invented by people and teach them to carry the easy burden of loving service.

Gospel: Mt 11:25-30

At that time Jesus exclaimed:
"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

Commentary

Wise Foolishness
One of Grimm's stories is about a man who had three sons. The youngest was called Simpleton and was mocked and despised by everyone. When the father wanted wood from the forest he asked his eldest son, the brightest one, to go to get it. Before he went his mother gave him a sweet cake and a bottle of wine. In the forest he met a little gray haired old man who greeted him and asked him for something to eat. The eldest son said: "if I give you my food and drink I'll have little for myself. Go Away!" He left the little man standing and went on his way. But when he started to knock down a tree he cut himself and had to return home to have his arm looked after.
After this the second son went into the forest. His mother also gave him a cake and a bottle of wine. The little old man asked him for a little cake and a drink of wine but the second son said: "what I give you will be taken from myself. Go away." He left the little man standing there. But when he started to swing his axe against the tree he struck himself in the leg and he had to be carried home.
Then Simpleton asked if he could go to get the wood. His father laughed at him in scorn and said he was too stupid to do anything right. But Simpleton insisted and his mother gave him a stale cake and a bottle of sour beer. In the forest he met the little old man who told him that he was hungry and thirsty. Simpleton answered: "I have only a stale cake and sour beer; if that pleases you we will sit down and share it." And so they did. Afterwards the little man said: "since you have a good heart and are willing to divide what you have, I will bring you good fortune." And the tale ends with Simpleton inheriting a Kingdom.
There are two issues, separate but related, in today's Gospel reading. The first is that the Simpletons, the children, the unwise of this world sometimes seem to grasp the core of what life is all about better than the so-called wise and wealthy. Recently, I was celebrating Mass in a barrio and I divided the people up into small groups to discuss the Gospel which was about the man who was born blind. While the adults were discussing I sat down with the children to listen to what they thought. Cheryl, an eight year old, said, "when people hate one another they are blind because they see only the bad part in the other person. When people forgive they see the whole person and they see that the bad part is only a tiny part of the whole person." The adults had nothing so profound to report from their discussion!
The second issue is that of dealing with sufferings and burdens. Again the Simpletons seem to do better. The message of the Gospel, through the words and deeds and life of Jesus, is very clear. Suffering is a part of life. What makes us great is not the avoidance of suffering but how we cope with it. Jesus does not assure us that he will take away our sufferings - his own were not taken away - but he says that he will make our burdens light, but they will still be burdens! People of power, economically or even spiritually, are ever trying to avoid suffering, to be an exempt elite, and they are being frustrated on that account.
In many years of dealing with the dying, both in the Philippines and abroad, I have never met a poor person who had a great struggle with facing death. Denial and anger are much higher amongst those in the higher income bracket. Probably, if in the course of life a person has been "very successful" in amassing wealth and in overcoming all sorts of frustrations and obstacles in doing so, they are going to feel much more the total frustration of losing control of and losing the very possession of their own lives. The poor, on the other hand, have been used to not having and "letting go," so letting go of life itself is not difficult for them.
There are, of course, two kinds of poverty: forced poverty and voluntary poverty. Forced poverty is an evil and we must not romanticize it. It is the poverty of those who do not have enough to eat, lack proper clothing, who cannot buy medicine. Voluntary poverty on the other hand is something good. It is when someone decides to "let go" or "to give away." This person can let go of or give away physical possessions, or honors or the desire for power. When this happens there is an experience of freedom and joy. Prayer should be helping us to let go, to be open to God, to God's will, to become voluntarily poor. Unfortunately, we are often using prayer to try to get God to help us in our grasping and controlling and in our efforts to gain prestige. St. James tells us that our prayers are not answered because we are asking for the wrong things, we are only asking for the things that fulfill our selfish desires. In meditation we let go of all ideas and images, of all attachments and desires, and become free for true joy as our yoke becomes sweet and our burden becomes light. In meditation we follow the Gospel call to leave self behind. For twenty to thirty minutes twice a day we just try to say the mantra, the prayer word. Usually we find that we cannot do this simple task and, as we seem to be getting nowhere, we are inclined to give it up. For the worldly wise it seems to be a ridiculous waste of time. John Main advises anyone who starts meditation to give it about three months before making a decision to abandon it. These will be months of perseverance in a futile effort to do something that seems foolishly simple - repeating one word sub vocally during the whole time of meditation. The general experience is that after a few months, while the simple practice of meditation is still frustrating and apparently idiotic, the rich effects found in one's life are enough to convince one from within that there is wisdom in this foolishness.

Intercessions

Let us pray to Jesus our Lord, who teaches people the true wisdom of compassion and love. Let us say:
R/ Lord, hear our prayer.

– Lord Jesus, teach the wise and the learned to become little and humble, that you may reveal to them the Father’s love, we pray:
R/ Lord, hear our prayer.
– For those who have to carry heavy burdens, let them know the gentle yoke of the Gospel, that they may understand the love of the Father, we pray:
R/ Lord, hear our prayer.
– For those responsible for the welfare of nations, teach them to forsake wars and seek peace in justice, that they may come to know the love of the Father, we pray:
R/ Lord, hear our prayer.
– For those who choose to serve the poorest, let them not get discouraged, that they may experience the love of the Father, we pray:
R/ Lord, hear our prayer.
– For all of us in our Christian communities, let us find in the prayers and the bread we share the peace you have promised, we pray:
R/ Lord, hear our prayer.

Lord Jesus, it is good to be with you here. Listen to us, for you know us and you want us to be happy. You are our Lord for ever. R/ Amen.

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
in these simple signs of bread and wine
your Son comes among us today
to be our companion on the road
and to help us carry our burdens.
May we learn from him
to go all the way with one another
on the humble road of serving love.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

Let us bless and thank God our Father, for he showed his mercy to us in letting his Son Jesus share in the humble condition of our human life.

Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer

With the humility of God’s children
we pray to our Father in heaven
the prayer given us by Jesus. R/ Our Father...

Deliver Us

Deliver us Lord, from every evil
and grant us peace in our day
not by the force of weapons
but by the humble service of person to person
and the gentleness of the nonviolent.
Keep us free from sin
as we prepare with hope and joy
the full coming among us
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus the Lord,
who speaks to us now:
come to me, all you that labor
and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Happy are we
to receive that peace and rest from him. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

Lord of heaven and earth,
we praise you for showing yourself to us
in the gentle and humble heart of Jesus.
Uplifted by his word and his bread of life
may we admit how poor and little we are
and learn to give time and attention to the weary.
May we speak your encouraging word to them,
that all who seek you may find among us
your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Blessing

We are about to return to a world
often manipulated by the mighty and the violent.
Let us not be among the violent,
because we have a Lord
who is gentle and humble of heart
and who asks us to follow him.
May almighty God bless you all,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace and follow the Lord along the way with one another. R/ Thanks be to God.