Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary time
Exodus 19: 2-6;
Romans 5: 6-11;
Matthew 9: 36 - 10, 8
Writing up a family history will always present problems. While preparing to do so, the biographer discovered that there was a real "black sheep" in the middle of it - an Uncle George who died in the electric chair after being found guilty of murder. Accordingly what the biographer wrote was, "Uncle George occupied a chair in applied electronics at a famous government institution. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties, and his death came as a real shock" Creative, or what!
The evangelist Matthew displays a similar lack of interest in the biographical details of the apostles, who appear as little more than twelve names in all four Gospels, and we know next to nothing shout them as individuals. The apostles were simply chosen to be witnesses to the Master, and to point others to the person of Jesus.
We are called to holiness, we are called to follow Jesus, we are called to make Him known to others. Like the apostles, we can't afford to spend our time in nostalgia, looking back to "the good old days" when Jesus walked the roads of Palestine with the twelve. Now we have to take responsibility for our own mission, to minister to our own time.
And this call takes us on and on, rather than back and back. Of course it doesn't mean that we can't look back on our own Christian family history, on the unsavoury times for popes, priests, kings and people and people alike. It's a time when we'll see a great number of
"Uncle Georges" but it means that we refuse to be fixated by what has been. Our responsibility is today and tomorrow!
Intercessions
Once more, we open our hearts to God's redeeming grace as we ask Him to hear and answer our prayers:-
1. For the Church. May She always be seen as an instrument of Your mercy, and a channel of Your peace, offering and receiving understanding, compassion, love and forgiveness to or from those who need it - Lord, hear us.
2. Let us remember those who make our laws, and those who apply them. Give them the wisdom and discernment to do so - Lord, hear us.
3. For the lonely, the unloved and the brokenhearted, especially those who feel they cannot forgive or be forgiven. Heal them with the gentle touch of Your love - Lord, hear us.
4. Be with those who are persecuted for their faith, and those cut off from the support of the church. May they know Your care in their pain and isolation - Lord, hear us.
5. We pray for those who have died about this time in past years: John Connolly, Thomas McPhail, John Reilly, Margaret Barrie, Margaret & Thomas Rodgers. May they now share eternal peace in their Father's house - Lord, hear us.
Almighty God, You love us with an everlasting love. Hear our prayers today, and fill us with Your grace so that we may share that love with those around us.