Psalter: Week 1
Blessed Junipero Serra
(1713 – 1784)
Green
He was born on the Spanish island of Mallorca, and became a Franciscan. Over a period of fifteen years he founded nine missions with about six thousand converts. He frequently came into conflict with the authorities over their treatment of the native population, but nevertheless, when he died, he was buried with full military honours. He was beatified in 1988.
Entrance Antiphon : Ps 46: 2
All peoples, clap your hands. Cry to God with shouts of joy!
Collect
O God, who through the grace of adoption, chose us to be children of light; grant, we pray, that we may not be wrapped in the darkness of error but always be seen to stand in the bright light of truth. 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 : Amos 2:6-10,13-16
The Lord says this: For the three crimes, the four crimes, of Israel I have made my decree and will not relent: because they have sold the virtuous man for silver and the poor man for a pair of sandals, because they trample on the heads of ordinary people and push the poor out of their path, because father and son have both resorted to the same girl, profaning my holy name, because they stretch themselves out by the side of every altar on clothes acquired as pledges, and drink the wine of the people they have fined in the house of their god… Yet it was I who overthrew the Amorites when they attacked, men tall as cedars and strong as oaks, I who destroyed them, both fruit above ground and root below. It was I who brought you out of the land of Egypt and for forty years led you through the wilderness to take possession of the Amorite’s country. See then how I am going to crush you into the ground as the threshing-sledge crushes when clogged by straw; flight will not save even the swift, the strong man will find his strength useless, the mighty man will be powerless to save himself. The bowman will not stand his ground, the fast runner will not escape, the horseman will not save himself, the bravest warriors will run away naked that day. It is the Lord who speaks.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 49:16-23
R/ Mark this, you who never think of God.
‘How can you recite my commandments and take my covenant on your lips, you who despise my law and throw my words to the winds?
‘You who see a thief and go with him; who throw in your lot with adulterers, who unbridle your mouth for evil and whose tongue is plotting crime.
‘You who sit and malign your brother and slander your own mother’s son. You do this, and should I keep silence? Do you think that I am like you?
‘Mark this, you who never think of God, lest I seize you and you cannot escape; a sacrifice of thanksgiving honours me and I will show God’s salvation to the upright.’
Gospel Acclamation : Jn8:12
Alleluia, alleluia! I am the light of the world, says the Lord; anyone who follows me will have the light of life.Alleluia!
Gospel : Matthew 8:18-22
When Jesus saw the great crowds all about him he gave orders to leave for the other side. One of the Scribes then came up and said to him, ‘Master, I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ Another man, one of his disciples, said to him, ‘Sir, let me go and bury my father first.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead.’
Prayer over the Offerings
O God, who graciously accomplish the effects of your mysteries, grant, we pray, that the deeds by which we serve you may be worthy of these sacred gifts. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Ps 102: 1
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all within me, his holy name.
Prayer after Communion
May this divine sacrifice we have offered and received fill us with life, O Lord, we pray, so that, bound to you in lasting charity, we may bear fruit that lasts for ever. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Jesus is about to cross to a Gentile territory where many of his followers may not be willing to go. Only true followers of Jesus may accompany him to such places. Two men, a scribe and a disciple show willingness to follow him to his foreign mission. Jesus seem to discourage the scribe saying that he has nowhere to rest his head. Jesus was an itinerant preacher and anyone who wants to follow him must be ready for a radical change in lifestyle. The scribes are scholars of the Mosaic Law and its interpretation and they do it in an institutional set up and so may not fit into the lifestyle of Jesus. The second one is already a disciple of Jesus but he exhibits an attitude of procrastination. A follower of Jesus must give priority to Jesus and to his plans. Are you a follower of Jesus? Do you give priority to Jesus and to his plans?