Celebración de la palabra

Sunday September 27

TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1. Let Our Yes Be Yes
2. We Say at Times a Reluctant Yes

Greeting (See 2 Cor 1:18-20)

The Son of God, Jesus Christ,
was never Yes-and-No.
His nature is all Yes.
Therefore it is through him
that we say our Yes to God.
May the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction
1. Let Our Yes Be Yes
We admire parents and educators who are so patient with the young that when they make mistakes or refuse to take up their responsibilities, they give them the time to change their mind. That is what God is doing all the time with us. He patiently waits for us. He gives us new chances. Could we do the same with one another? Let us ask Jesus in this Eucharist that with him we may always say Yes.

2. Our Yes Is at Times Reluctant
Quite often we feel within us the tension between what we know to be right and our own interests and inclinations. We usually know what our faith demands and yet we act against it or give only a reluctant Yes. Let us ask Jesus in this Eucharist that we may always say Yes with him.

Penitential Act

Too often we have gone our own ways
and done our will rather than God’s.
Let us ask forgiveness from the Lord.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, your Yes was a firm Yes
to the will of the Father,
even when it led you to suffering and the cross.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, your word was reliable,
for you lived as you believed:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, we owe forgiveness and life
to your Yes to the Father:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Lord, forgive us our hesitations
and cowardice in living up to the Gospel.
Help us to serve you with generous love
and lead us to everlasting live. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray
that we may answer God’s call
with love and faithfulness
(pause)
Loving Father,
you do not want sinners to die,
but to turn away from sin
and to do what is right,
so that they may live.
You know that we are weak and fragile.
Keep forgiving us,
give us the mentality of Jesus,
that with him we may say Yes to you
with the deep love of those who have been forgiven.
Make us merciful to others too.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

First Reading: We Are Responsible for What We Do

The prophet Ezekiel insists in the name of God on personal responsibility for the good or evil we do. God seeks to forgive us and wants us to live in his love.

Reading 1 EZ 18:25-28

Thus says the LORD:
You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!"
Hear now, house of Israel:
Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?
When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies,
it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die.
But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed,
he does what is right and just,
he shall preserve his life;
since he has turned away from all the sins that he has committed,
he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Responsorial Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14

R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
The sins of my youth and my frailties remember not;
in your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and teaches the humble his way.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.

Second Reading: Be Self-effacing with Christ

We must have the same fundamental disposition as Christ our Lord, namely, to be humble and self-effacing before God and people.

Reading 2 PHIL 2:1-11

Brothers and sisters:
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also for those of others.
Have in you the same attitude
that is also in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Alleluia JN 10:27

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Which of These Sons Am I?

The self-righteous leaders of the people reject Jesus and condemn sinners. The sinners welcome Jesus and are converted. Who does the will of God? With whom do we identify?

Gospel MT 21:28-32

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people:
"What is your opinion?
A man had two sons.
He came to the first and said,
'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.'
He said in reply, 'I will not, '
but afterwards changed his mind and went.
The man came to the other son and gave the same order.
He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, 'but did not go.
Which of the two did his father's will?"
They answered, "The first."
Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you,
tax collectors and prostitutes
are entering the kingdom of God before you.
When John came to you in the way of righteousness,
you did not believe him;
but tax collectors and prostitutes did.
Yet even when you saw that,
you did not later change your minds and believe him."

Commentary

The God Who Will Not Be Boxed In
In recent weeks, our newspapers have carried the usual stories of scams, corruption and ineptness. However, in my own life experience I have encountered repeated islands of extraordinary goodness. I have experienced the helpers, nurses and doctors at the provincial hospital, by and large, as a most dedicated group of people serving the poorest of the poor in spite of the additional curtailment of resources that has resulted from the devolution of powers to the local government. I have encountered groups of government and non-government people working to help mendicants, the mentally disturbed, the hearing impaired and the malnourished. In the nearby jail there is a sincere effort to make the detention process as humane as possible.
As a church person, these experiences make me ask the question who is serving God most. We priests, sisters and brothers committed to give service in the "Church of the Poor"; yet, often, those who made no such commitment seem to be more committed than us. It becomes very clear that no group has a monopoly of goodness. I think this is what Jesus is getting at in today's parable about the man who had two sons. He went and said to the first, "My boy, you go and work in the vineyard today." He answered, "I will not go." but afterwards he thought better of it and went. The man went and said the same thing to the second who answered, "Certainly, sir." but did not go. Sometimes those professionally and religiously committed to community service do less than those who are only voluntary in that service.
This reflection was further enforced by M. Scott Peck in his book A World Waiting to Be Born, (p. 351). Much of the book is about recovering civility in society through better community processes. "When we began we assumed that the church would be a natural market for our services. Christians generally knew that the early church seemed to have had an extraordinary amount of community and that the notion of 'Christian community' although largely lost, remained an ideal. Many clergy and lay people bemoaned the lack of community within their churches. As an individual, Jesus had clearly transcended local culture, and the first major decision of his church was to go peacefully international. In recent years, the church in the United States has increasingly become involved in the peace movement. And what organization could possibly be more interested in welcoming the presence of God into its midst?
"Conversely, we assumed that, with its competitive secular orientation and hierarchical structure, business would be the last place we would ever penetrate with our intimacy-demanding culture. What has emerged over the past six years, however, has been an astonishing lack of interest on the part of the church in our community building services and an equally astonishing and bludgeoning interest on the part of business.
"The resistance on the part of the church has been so dramatic that a large and active volunteer 'Task force on Community and the Christian Church' sprang up to analyze the reasons for that resistance and, it is hoped, to develop effective strategies for overcoming it. The outcome is still unknown, but as I have thought about it, the emerging trend actually makes a lot of sense. Community actually demands a good deal of time and work. The work place is the center of most people's lives. Next comes the family. Church, if it comes in at all, is usually a poor third or fourth. Most churchgoers simply do not have the time to 'do' community at church. Nor do they want to do the often painful work of emotionally stretching at church that community requires. They want the worship service to be pleasantly uplifting, and if they do not like the pretentiousness of the social hour they are at least willing to put up with it in order to keep everything nice. Most want church to be pseudo-community, and despite any protestations to the contrary, they have no real desire to see the boat, and their lives, rocked in the least. The minority who do invest their volunteer time more extensively in the church often do so out of their own leadership needs - that is, they use the church as a sphere of influence in which they can, at times, play very personal power games. The few who make attempts to actualize the church as a place of the Kingdom of God on earth may find themselves silenced by the congregation with an enormously powerful, subtle effectiveness.
"Business is another matter. It is no one-or-two-hour-a-week affair. Church is not where people's lives are on the line, but their workplace is. Here is where a single decision can cost them their employment, their livelihood. Here is where missions of dollars may be in play every day - sums of money a thousand times greater than their entire annual church budget. These decisions count. Here, therefore of necessity, people may be willing to spend the time and effort to ensure that their decisions are the right ones. It is in business that they will be willing to pay the price of community...
"At first, the dramatic, relative lack of interest on the part of the church and relative interest on the part of business distressed me. I had hoped the church would serve as a place where the Kingdom would be practiced and people would learn the skills of forging a planetary civility. But then, as it occurred to me that God had possibly largely left the church and gone into business, I was struck with its appropriateness. What better place for God to work than in the marketplace."
Jesus tells us in the Gospel today, "I tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God before you. John came to you, a pattern of righteousness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and prostitutes did. Even after seeing that, you refused to think better of it and believe him."
We can never predict or confine where the seed of God's work will take root. We often find true altruistic self-sacrifice in the much criticized government services. We find more serious concern for community and democratic process in the business world than in the churches. So, too, one of the characteristics of the movement toward interiority, the contemplative renewal in the church today, is that it is coming from the laity rather than from religious and the clergy. Most of the 500 meditation groups around the world, meditating in the tradition of John Main, are composed of and run by lay people. In giving retreats to groups in different parts of the world the laity are the ones that I have found most enthusiastic and committed. And this is how it should be. It is one of the clearest biblical truths that God has never allowed himself to be boxed in by any nation or group. God's Spirit blows where it wills.

Intercessions

Let us not think of our interests first but pray for the needs of our sisters and brothers here and everywhere in the world. Let us say:
R/ Lord, let your word guide us:

– With the people of God, the Church in our day, that members and leaders may be guided by the mentality of Jesus Christ in serving God and people faithfully, we pray to the Lord:
R/ Lord, let your word guide us.
– With those who refuse to live according to their faith and conscience, that they may find the way back to God we pray:
R/ Lord, let your word guide us.
– With those who seek God’s will in everyday life, that we may do so in all humility and with great love, aware of how fragile we all are, we pray:
R/ Lord, let your word guide us.
– With those working in the mass media, that they may respect people and the truth and contribute to peace and understanding everywhere, we pray:
R/ Lord, let your word guide us.
– With all those who have spoken their “I do” to God or to one another in marriage, that they may draw strength from the fidelity of Jesus and of the faithful love of good Christian families, we pray:
R/ Lord, let your word guide us.

Lord our God, do not let us grow self-satisfied. Make each of us and our communities question whether we really seek your will or follow our own whims. Be our faithful and loving God now and for ever. R/ Amen.

Prayer over the Gifts

God our Father,
we bring before you
the sacrifice of Jesus your Son.
Let our offering express that we are willing
to enter into his dispositions
of total loyalty to your will.
Help us to say with him
an unconditional Yes to your life and love
and to forget ourselves
in the service of our brothers and sisters.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

Jesus was the obedient servant who committed himself totally to the will of the Father to bring us the Father’s life and love, whatever the cost. With him we now offer ourselves.

Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer

With his obedient servant Jesus Christ
we seek God’s will and with him we pray
that we may not refuse to serve our Father well. R/ Our Father...

Deliver Us

Deliver us Lord, from the stranglehold
of sin and all evil.
Let your forgiveness come to us
as a liberation from our doubts and fears
and from our self-contented pride
at the expense of others.
Help us to seek your will in all we do
and to prepare for the full coming among us
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus Christ our Lord
who accepted death on the cross
while saying his Yes to the Father
to make us a free people.
Happy are we to receive him
as our glorious Lord. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,
as a friend at table,
your Son Jesus has broken for us
his bread of peace
and spoken to us your word of forgiveness.
Let him be our strength
as we go to you and one another
our plodding way of good mixed with evil.
Help us to encourage each other
and to grow together nearer to you,
our living God, who have lifted us up
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Blessing

We have heard Jesus’ disturbing statement
that notorious sinners may be ahead of us
in entering the Kingdom of God.
Let these hard words wake us up
from our smug self-contentment
and make us aware that our life too
is a mixture of Yes and No,
of an honest seeking to do what is right
together with moments of cowardice.
May God give you this insight and bless you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go in the peace and the love of Christ. R/ Thanks be to God.