First Reading – Genesis
18:20-32 ©
Responsorial Psalm –
Psalm 137(138):1-3,6-8 ©
Second Reading –
Colossians 2:12-14 ©
Gospel Acclamation – John
1:14, 12
Alternative Acclamation –
Romans 8:15
The Gospel According to Luke
- 11:1 - 13 ©
(NJB)
This
is the way of God.
Speak truth to power, love justice and seek mercy
all the days of your life. If you do this you will show your love for God.
Consider the Shema: Hear O’ people of the world, God is one. Love God with all
your strength and all your heart and all your mind.
Love your neighbor as yourself, as Jesus taught,
this is the whole of the law.
Be
mindful!
It is right to praise God; the creator of the
universe.
Praise mercy wherever you see it, because mercy
is what God desire, more than anything, or any spoken words, more than any
creed, or any ritual.
Trust in God, who does not desire glory. Have
faith, the way of God is one of humility.
God has made us free, do not expect God to
take sides in our struggles with one another, or to intervene in our affairs.
God
will not, do not pray for it.
Be mindful!
Baptism is a right of initiation, it signifies
the intention of the individual to follow in the way that Jesus instructed us. It does not confer a special
status on us or give us any special powers.
It does not alter in any way God’s love for us
or God’s desire to see us well and whole.
God has forgiven us our sins, and forgave them
at the beginning, at the first moment of creation, God accepted us for who we
are, for who God knew we would be.
With God, there never was a debt, there were
no accounts to settle.
Listen, and do not repeat the errors of John.
Know this we are all born the children of God,
every single one of us, the whole of the humanity. We are not made the children
of God by any power, not by a power that comes from within us, neither by a
power that is external to us. We come into being as children of God, in the Word,
by the Word and through the Word.
Our status as children of God is as
unconditional as God’s love for us, we are because we are..
Remember this!
God is the cosmic parent; father, mother.
We are the children of God; without exception,
everyone of us, not by adoption, but by birth.
God’s spirit dwells within all us, animating
us, speaking to us from the recesses of our heart. When you look on your mother
and father, your brother and sister, your friends and family, and when you see
the stranger in your midst, you are looking on a child of God who carries the
fullness of God within them. Treat them as you would treat God, love them, be
just to them, honor them, show them mercy.
Consider
the reading for today from the Gospel of Luke:
Christians
pray a version of this prayer every day, every week, every time they are at
mass. At every hour of every day this prayer is said in churches all around the
world. It is quite possible that not a minute goes by without it being said
somewhere.
God,
creator of the universe; God you are the creator of all that is, of everyone
who is, who ever was, and who ever will be.
God,
you are not a king, you are not a lord or a prince but we pray for your will to
be the measure of our lives.
We
thank you for this life and the foods that sustain us, as it is your will, we
work toward a time when no person will be hungry.
It
is our desire to repent; God, in turn we will forgive those by whom we have
been hurt, love them and work toward a reconciliation with them.
This
is the way Jesus taught us.
God,
we ask of you that you make this task easy on us, and be forgiving toward us as
we fail in it (knowing that we will).
This
is the path of holiness and the way
of Jesus.
We
will endeavor to treat all people as if they were our own beloved children, our
own dear family, our greatest friend. We will try to treat them as we would
like to be treated; whether our days are lean or full of plenty.
That
is the prayer Jesus taught.
First Reading – Genesis 18:20-32
©
Abraham Negotiates with
the Lord
The
Lord said, ‘How great an outcry there is against Sodom and Gomorrah! How
grievous is their sin! I propose to go down and see whether or not they have
done all that is alleged in the outcry against them that has come up to me. I
am determined to know.’
The
men left there and went to Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the
Lord. Approaching him he said, ‘Are you really going to destroy the just man
with the sinner? Perhaps there are fifty just men in the town. Will you really
overwhelm them, will you not spare the place for the fifty just men in it? Do
not think of doing such a thing: to kill the just man with the sinner, treating
just and sinner alike! Do not think of it! Will the judge of the whole earth
not administer justice?’ the Lord replied, ‘If at Sodom I find fifty just men
in the town, I will spare the whole place because of them.’
Abraham replied, ‘I am bold indeed to speak
like this to my Lord, I who am dust and ashes. But perhaps the fifty just men
lack five: will you destroy the whole city for five?’ ‘No,’ he replied ‘I will
not destroy it if I find forty-five just men there.’ Again Abraham said to him,
‘Perhaps there will only be forty there.’ ‘I will not do it’ he replied ‘for
the sake of the forty.’
Abraham said, ‘I trust my Lord will not be
angry, but give me leave to speak: perhaps there will only be thirty there.’ ‘I
will not do it’ he replied ‘if I find thirty there.’ He said, ‘I am bold indeed
to speak like this, but perhaps there will only be twenty there.’ ‘I will not
destroy it’ he replied ‘for the sake of the twenty.’ He said, ‘I trust my Lord
will not be angry if I speak once more: perhaps there will only be ten.’ ‘I
will not destroy it’ he replied ‘for the sake of the ten.’
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm
137(138):1-3,6-8 ©
On the day I called, you
answered me, O Lord.
I
thank you, Lord, with all my heart:
you have heard the words of my mouth.
In
the presence of the angels I will bless you.
I will adore before your holy temple.
On the day I called, you
answered me, O Lord.
I
thank you for your faithfulness and love,
which excel all we ever knew of you.
On
the day I called, you answered;
you increased the strength of my soul.
On the day I called, you
answered me, O Lord.
The
Lord is high yet he looks on the lowly
and the haughty he knows from afar.
Though
I walk in the midst of affliction
you give me life and frustrate my foes.
On the day I called, you
answered me, O Lord.
You
stretch out your hand and save me,
your hand will do all things for me.
Your
love, O Lord, is eternal,
discard not the work of your hands.
On the day I called, you
answered me, O Lord.
Second Reading – Colossians
2:12-14 ©
Christ Has Brought You to
Life with Him and Forgiven Us All Our Sins
You
have been buried with Christ, when you were baptised; and by baptism, too, you
have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised
him from the dead. You were dead, because you were sinners and had not been
circumcised: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us all our
sins.
He has overridden the Law, and cancelled
every record of the debt that we had to pay; he has done away with it by
nailing it to the cross.
Gospel Acclamation – John
1:14, 12
Alleluia, alleluia!
The
Word was made flesh and lived among us:
to
all who did accept him
he
gave power to become children of God.
Alleluia!
Alternative Acclamation –
Romans 8:15
Alleluia, alleluia!
The
spirit you received is the spirit of sons,
and
it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Luke
- 11:1 - 13 ©
How to Pray
Once
Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished one of his
disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ He
said to them, ‘Say this when you pray:
“Father,
may your name be held holy,
your
kingdom come;
give
us each day our daily bread,
and
forgive us our sins,
for
we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.
And
do not put us to the test.”’
He
also said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the
middle of the night to say, “My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend
of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer
him”; and the man answers from inside the house, “Do not bother me. The door is
bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it you.”
I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it him for friendship’s sake,
persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants.
‘So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given
to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the
one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. What father among you
would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead
of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you then, who are
evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’
17th Sunday in
Ordinary Time (Year C)
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