11TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
Psalter iii
SAINT GREGORY BARBARIGO
Entrance Antiphon: Cf. Ps 26: 7, 9
O Lord, hear my voice, for I have called to you; be my help. Do not abandon or forsake me, O God, my Saviour!
Collect
O God, strength of those who hope in you, graciously hear our pleas, and, since without you, mortal frailty can do nothing, grant us always the help of your grace, that in following your commands, we may please you by our resolve and our deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading: Exodus 19: 2-6
From Rephidim the sons of Israel set out again; and when they reached the wilderness of Sinai, there in the wilderness they pitched their camp; there facing the mountain Israel pitched camp. Moses then went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own for all the earth is mine. I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.’”
Psalm 99 (100): 2-3, 5
R/ We are his people, the sheep of his flock.
Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing for joy.
Know that he, the Lord, is God. He made us, we belong to him, we are his people, the sheep of his flock.
Indeed, how good is the Lord, eternal his merciful love. He is faithful from age to age.
Second reading: Romans 5: 6-11
We were still helpless when at his appointed moment Christ died for sinful men. It is not easy to die even for a good man – though of course for someone really worthy, a man might be prepared to die – but what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Having died to make us righteous, is it likely that he would now fail to save us from God’s anger? When we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, we were still enemies; now that we have been reconciled, surely we may count on being saved by the life of his Son? Not merely because we have been reconciled but because we are filled with joyful trust in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have already gained our reconciliation.
Gospel Acclamation: Jn 10: 27
Alleluia, alleluia! The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord, I know them and they follow me. Alleluia!
Gospel: Matthew 9: 36- 10: 8
When Jesus saw the crowds, he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.” He summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, the one who was to betray him. These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them as follows: “Do not turn your steps to pagan territory, and do not enter any Samaritan town; go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.”
Prayer over the Offerings
O God, who in the offerings presented here provide for the twofold needs of human nature, nourishing us with food and renewing us with your Sacrament, grant, we pray, that the sustenance they provide may not fail us in body or in spirit. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Ps 26: 4
There is one thing I ask of the Lord, only this do I seek: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
Prayer after Communion
As this reception of your Holy Communion, O Lord, foreshadows the union of the faithful in you, so may it bring about unity in your Church. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
When one no longer knows where one comes from or where one is going, when one has given up in the face of one’s powerlessness to find the answer to these questions by oneself, there is nothing left to do but to stop and wait, paralyzed perhaps by the anguish of having the impression that one has nothing to rely on, the impression of counting for nothing, of being alone in the midst of a crowd of strangers. But in Jesus, the very heart of the Father has looked into the misery of the dispersion of each of his children and in his Son, he has given them the good Shepherd who, in Him, has unified them: a single flock responding to the voice of a single shepherd. This event of salvation, it is true, has already been realized, but it needs to be actualized in each of our lives. So let us not be afraid to call for its actualization. Let us let the cries of our fears, our anxieties, our distresses, spring forth, trusting that God will hear them and respond.