Daily Liturgy
Sunday September 5
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
- Lord, Open Our Ears and Lips
- Ephphatha! Be Opened!
Greeting (see the Gospel)
Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ,
who did all things well.
He makes the deaf hear
and the mute speak.
May he open our ears to his Word
and may he always be with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
- Lord, Open Our Ears and Lips!
We live in era of communication explosion: fax, E-mail, internet or web, and so on. And at the same time, it is an age of isolation and loneliness of people. What people have is information, and what they have lost is personal relations. In this Eucharist we pray to the Lord, to open our ears. that we may again listen to one another and to God speaking to us. May we also learn again to speak to one another, person to person.
- Ephphatha! Be Opened!
The sign that Jesus is the promised Savior is that he first goes to the poor, the sick, the marginalized people, for they need him most. Not only material poverty is meant. The deaf and the mute, the hard of hearing and the stammers are we who are shut up within ourselves, often closed to God and one another. Jesus comes to open our ears and mouths to the words and deeds of God, that we may listen to his message and respond to his love, and that we may also hear the poor and speak to them with our help. Let Jesus in the Eucharist heal us and commit us to God and people.
Penitential Act
We ask the Lord and one another
to forgive us that we have been deaf
to the Lord speaking in his Word
and in the cries of the poor.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, touch our ears
and open them to your message
and to the appeals of those in need:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, touch our tongues,
that we may speak words of endearment
to those we love.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, touch our eyes,
that we may see and feel the needs
of those lonely and abandoned:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Lord, touch us with your forgiving hand
and open us to your love
and to the needs of those around us.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
- Lord, Open Our Hearts and Ears
Let us pray that God’s Spirit
may open us to all that is good
(pause)
God our Father,
you wait for us to be open to you, to people,
and to all that is true, beautiful and good.
Let your Spirit open our ears
to the liberating word of your Son.
Let him open our hearts and hands
to everyone who needs us.
Let him open our lips,
that we may proclaim everywhere
the marvels you do for us.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
- Ephphatha! Be Opened!
Let us pray to God with receptive hearts
(pause)
Our saving God,
Jesus, your Son, made the deaf hear
and the dumb speak.
Make us see that often we are stutterers
and hard of hearing.
Open our ears to the message of your Son,
that it may stir our hearts and change our lives.
Loosen our tongues to proclaim
the great things you do for us
through your Son Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior for ever. R/ Amen.
First Reading: The Ears of the Deaf Shall Be Opened
To a people deaf and blind to God, the prophet announces the joy of salvation: they will see and hear and become new.
Reading 1: IS 35:4-7A
Thus says the LORD:
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10
(1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The God of Jacob keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R.Alleluia.
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Second Reading: No Double Standard! God Loves the Poor
It is a betrayal of the Christian sense of community to honor the rich and humiliate the poor, says James. God loves the poor and makes them rich in faith.
Reading 2: JAS 2:1-5
My brothers and sisters, show no partiality
as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes
comes into your assembly,
and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in,
and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes
and say, “Sit here, please, ”
while you say to the poor one, “Stand there, ” or “Sit at my feet, ”
have you not made distinctions among yourselves
and become judges with evil designs?
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.
Did not God choose those who are poor in the world
to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom
that he promised to those who love him?
Alleluia: MT 4:23
Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Be Opened!
The deaf-mute stands for those closed to God. Jesus came to open people to God, so that they can praise his great deeds. His attention to the poor is the sign that the kingdom has come.
Gospel: MK 7:31-37
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Intercessions
Let us pray with fullest trust to the Father in heaven who always listens to what we ask him in Jesus’ name, and let us say:
R/ Listen to your people Lord.
– For the Church, that we may not only love the poor and care for them, but speak out with courage when they are trampled upon, let us pray:
R/ Listen to your people Lord.
– For educators in the faith – priests, sisters, catechists, teachers – that they themselves may listen to God’s word and then pass it on with conviction and love, let us pray :
R/ Listen to your people Lord.
– For the poor, the sick and the handicapped, that in them we may recognize and welcome the suffering Lord himself, let us pray:
R/ Listen to your people Lord.
– For those who are deaf and blind to other people and to their love and needs, that their eyes and ears may be opened to the treasures of love and sharing, let us pray:
R/ Listen to your people Lord.
– For all of us, that our empty hearts may become spacious and generous, like doors open to all people and to all needs, let us pray:
R/ Listen to your people Lord.
God our Father, listen to us as we pray to you in the name of Jesus our Lord. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God, merciful Father,
you set the table of your Son
for rich and poor alike.
By the strength of this bread of life
do not allow us to remain deaf
to your voice crying out
in the needs of the poor and oppressed.
Teach and help us to speak to them
not just words of pity
but deeds of justice, dignity and love.
May this be the sign
that your Son is alive among us,
he who is our Lord and Savior for ever. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
Let us with one heart and voice give praise and thanks to our saving God. He showed the power of his love in Jesus, his Son, who did all things well. He has opened our ears to his Good News and made us capable of praising God in the name of all that lives.
Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer
Thankful for God’s great deeds of love,
we cannot remain deaf or silent,
and so we let our tongues pray to our Father
in the words of Jesus, our Savior: R/ Our Father…
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from all our infirmities,
from being deaf to your word
and blind to the needs of our brothers and sisters.
Make us responsive to your love
and help us to bring your joy
to all those around us,
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming in glory among us
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom…
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus the Lord
who came to heal us from sin’s blindness
and to open our ears and hearts
to his Good News of God’s love.
Happy are we to hear his voice
as we eat from his table. R/ Lord, I am not worthy…
Prayer after Communion
Saving God,
in your Son Jesus Christ you have chosen
what is poor and weak in this world
to be rich in faith and love
and to be heirs to your kingdom.
He has done all things well.
Speak through us who were once
faint-hearted and tongue-tied,
deeds of mercy and hope,
for you have healed and freed us all
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
Jesus has been with us
in this Eucharistic celebration
to bring us out of our isolation
and to open us, in respect and love,
to God and to our neighbor, that is, to all.
Like Jesus, may we become available,
particularly to the poorest among us,
and let them feel
that, with God, we too care.
May almighty God give you this openness and bless you,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go in peace and proclaim with our lives
the wonderful things God has done to us. R/ Thanks be to God.
Commentary
The following story relates to the second reading. A young man was searching for the meaning of life and he framed a question for the wise man he was visiting. “How can I tell when it is day? Is it when I see an animal in the distance and I can tell that it is a cow or a horse?” The wise man replied, “No!” “Is it when I see a tree and I can tell that it is an ash or an oak?” “No, not at all!” “Then I cannot guess,” said the young man, “you will have to tell me.” “It is when you look into the face of any man and know that he is your brother, and any woman and know that she is your sister. If you cannot do this, then it is still night, no matter what the clock says!”