Mother Teresa of Calcutta
(1910 – 1997)
Psalter: Week II
Green
Born in Macedonia, she became a missionary in India. Teresa had an encounter, which she heard Christ tell her, “Come be my light.” She formed the Missionaries of Charity, who set up hospitals and homes for the dying. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work. Mother Teresa died in 1997 and was beatified in 2002.
Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 85: 3, 5
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I cry to you all the day long.O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of mercy to all who call to you.
Collect
God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, you may nurture in us what is good and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured. 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: Colossians 1:15-20
Christ Jesus is the image of the unseen God and the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers – all things were created through him and for him. Before anything was created, he existed, and he holds all things in unity. Now the Church is his body, he is its head. As he is the Beginning, he was first to be born from the dead, so that he should be first in every way; because God wanted all perfection
to be found in him and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross.
Psalm 99(100):2-5
R/ Come before the Lord, singing for joy.
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.
Go within his gates, giving thanks. Enter his courts with songs of praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.
Indeed, how good is the Lord, eternal his merciful love. He is faithful from age to age.
Gospel Acclamation: cf.Ps18:9
Alleluia, alleluia! Your words gladden the heart, O Lord, they give light to the eyes. Alleluia!
Gospel: Luke 5:33-39
The Pharisees and the scribes said to Jesus, ‘John’s disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too, but yours go on eating and drinking.’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely you cannot make the bridegroom’s attendants fast while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come, the time for the bridegroom to be taken away from them; that will be the time when they will fast.’ He also told them this parable, ‘No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; if he does, not only will he have torn the new one, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old. ‘And nobody puts new wine into old skins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and then run out, and the skins will be lost. No; new wine must be put into fresh skins. And nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new. “The old is good” he says.’
Prayer over the Offerings
May this sacred offering, O Lord, confer on us always the blessing of salvation, that what it celebrates in mystery it may accomplish in power. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Ps 30: 20
How great is the goodness, Lord, that you keep for those who fear you.
Prayer after Communion
Renewed by this bread from the heavenly table, we beseech you, Lord, that, being the food of charity, it may confirm our hearts and stir us to serve you in our neighbour. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
The claim of the scribes and Pharisees in today’s Gospel prompts me to recognise that in numerous situations, my ego has the potential to shape my perspective, allowing me to see only what I prefer or choose to see. I acknowledge how my selfishness, fueled by negative thinking, can distort my perception of sacred events, leading me to perceive the proverbial “glass of water as half empty” or deem ‘this student’s progress from 7% to 20% as hopeless.’ Good Jesus, I implore you to give me a positive mindset at all times. Remind me that with You by my side, every situation can be transformed for the better, and help me to overcome the tendency to focus on negativity.