Year C
Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
Explore this week's readings and hear what God is saying to us through His Word.
Find out more about how we can mark this special day in our liturgy.
See our music recommendations for the liturgy.
This Sunday’s readings are challenging. If we were to make our own choices for the readings at Mass each Sunday, no doubt most of us would select ones which would bring comfort, emphasising love, peace, joy, and the prospect of the treasure stored up for us in heaven as disciples of Christ. We would be much less inclined to pick ones which offer a picture of discord, disharmony, in-fighting, and division, such as those which we read this weekend.
“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!!” “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” These are uncomfortable words. No-one can remain neutral, inactive or uncommitted, only for or against Jesus. Like a blazing wildfire which cannot be ignored, so it is with Jesus’ words in the Gospel today. His message of the coming judgement is already meeting with opposition, opposition that will only grow stronger as his ministry continues; opposition which will lead inevitably to his death on the cross at Calvary. While Jesus is not seeking such division, it is the last thing which he desires, but he foresees the far-reaching consequences of his teaching.
Jesus came to enkindle a discriminating fire, one of Krisis, judgement, accusation, condemnation. He follows the road to Jerusalem, towards the goal of his life; a mission to engulf the whole world with the fire of the Spirit, after passing through the baptism, not that of John in the River Jordan, but of his passion and death on the cross at Calvary. He longs for this to be accomplished; he who will baptise with fire must himself face the testing and krisis that this figure implies.
Jesus asserts that he has come to bring purifying fire and divisions, which are going to make us face hard decisions. We will need to fight against the opposition of the secular world, making choices to follow the crowd or to stand out, to stand up and fight against the things we see to be wrong, to be like Ebed-Melech in our first reading and to point out injustice, however much it makes us unpopular. This is what it means to be a follower of Christ.
There is a prayer in the Roman Missal for each Mass which we tend to pay little attention to – the Prayer over the Offering, which occurs right after the Preparation of the Gifts and before the Eucharistic Prayer. Once the offerings of bread and wine have been placed on the altar, we are invited to pray with the presider by means of the Prayer over the Offerings. These prayers simply ask God to sanctify the gifts of bread and wine to make them holy and so transform us in our sharing in the gifts. Today’s Prayer over the Offering perfectly summarizes this reality – “Receive our oblation, O Lord, by which is brought about a glorious exchange, that, by offering what you have given, we may merit to receive your very self” This holy exchange is something to reflect upon. St Augustine once wrote that with incarnation of Jesus, “he effected a wonderful exchange with us, through mutual sharing: we gave him the power to die, he will give us the power to live.” During the Preparation of the Gifts we offer ourselves, through the symbols of bread and wine, and through the celebration of the Eucharist, the bread and wine is transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, and we are transformed to be the living presence of Christ, through our words and actions, to the world around us. Through this holy exchange, which occurs within the context of the celebration of the liturgy, we always receive more than what we offer ourselves. We are invited to go out the walls of the Church after this holy exchange and to live out our faith in action.
Bidding Prayers
For the leaders of the Church – that they may grow strong in faith, which is bult on Christ, as on a rock, so that nothing will shake their trust in God.
For those who defend and work for human rights – that they may continue to bring to the world’s attention and action the distress of those who are oppressed because they stand up for unjust systems and governments.
For a deeper faith – that we may keep our eyes fixed always on Christ, in the midst of our storms of life, so that we might share with him in his Father’s glory.
The hymn choices have been taken from the Laudate Hymnbook:
Be still for the presence of the Lord 720
The church's one foundation 830
One bread, one body 832
Father, hear the prayer we offer 933
Do not be afraid 972
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
