Saint Oswald
(-992)
Purple
In 972 he became Archbishop of York. He had a special love of the poor; in Lent he would wash the feet of twelve poor men every day. He died at Worcester on 28 February 992.
Entrance Antiphon : Cf. Ps 37: 22-23
Forsake me not, O Lord! My God, be not far from me! Make haste and come to my help, O Lord, my strong salvation!
Collect
Keep your family, O Lord, schooled always in good works, and so comfort them with your protection here as to lead them graciously to gifts on high. 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 : Jeremiah 18:18-20
‘Come on,’ they said, ‘let us concoct a plot against Jeremiah; the priest will not run short of instruction without him, nor the sage of advice, nor the prophet of the word. Come on, let us hit at him with his own tongue; let us listen carefully to every word he says.’Listen to me, O Lord, Hear what my adversaries are saying. Should evil be returned for good? For they are digging a pit for me. Remember how I stood in your presence to plead on their behalf, to turn your wrath away from them.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 30:5-6,14-16
R/ Save me in your love, O Lord.
Release me from the snares they have hidden for you are my refuge, Lord. Into your hands I commend my spirit. It is you who will redeem me, Lord.
I have heard the slander of the crowd, Fear is all around me, As they plot together against me, As they plan to take my life.
But as for me, I trust in you, Lord; I say: ‘You are my God. My life is in your hands, deliver me from the hands of those who hate me.
Gospel Acclamation : cf.Jn6:63,68
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God! Your words are spirit, Lord, and They are life; You have the message of eternal life. Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
Gospel : Matthew 20:17-28
Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and on the way he took the Twelve to one side and said to them, ‘Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will rise again.’ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came with her sons to make a request of him, and bowed low; and he said to her, ‘What is it you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ ‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus answered. ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ ‘Very well,’ he said ‘you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.’ When the other ten heard this they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’
Prayer over the Offerings
Look with favour, Lord, on the sacrificial gifts we offer you, And by this holy exchange, undo the bonds of our sins. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Mt 20: 28
The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, And to give his life as a ransom for many.
Prayer after Communion
Grant, we pray, O Lord our God, that what you have given us as the pledge of immortality may work for our eternal salvation. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Today, we meet a fascinating story of human interaction that could offer days of reflection. Mark reports this story with the two disciples asking on their behalf to hold special places of honour in Jesus’ kingdom. Matthew tells the story with a twist that the siblings’ mother asked. Jesus responds to the young men with an exciting challenge that many Catholics should listen to today: “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” The invitation to drink Jesus’ cup (not our own, by the way) is to participate in a particularly intimate and absolute way in his work of repairing the consequences of sin on others. It is a tangible way of taking the suffering of the human community into our bodies through the power of the Spirit and, through that same Spirit, alleviating that suffering, becoming a ‘for-others’ person. We are not particularly eager to deal with suffering caused for others by our sins, much less take on the work of healing the suffering caused by others’ sins; and yet, that, above all, is the mission of Jesus, and therefore the mission of his disciples.