Daily Liturgy
Wednesday October 6
TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
GOD WANTS ALL TO BE SAVED
Introduction
God is a saving God. He calls all people to salvation in Jesus Christ, and he does not discriminate or segregate. His kingdom is open to all people, all races, all cultures, all languages, and all walks of life. And those who are most in need are given preference. For he is the Father of all and cares for those for whom people do not care. Do we do enough to bring his Son to all? Do we open the Christian community to all, without any discrimination? Or is there a bit of Jonah alive in us?
The disciples must have admired Jesus when he prayed, for when he had finished, they asked him to teach them to pray. This is indeed what we too should ask him in this eucharist, that our prayer may be wide and deep like his, giving honor to the Father and bringing to him the stream of the needs and concerns of all. And like him too, in our prayers we try not to bend God’s will to ours, but ours to God’s will and Intercessions.
Opening Prayer
God, you are tender and compassionate,
slow to anger, rich in graciousness,
and reluctant to punish.
You want all people to share in your love.
God, make our love as worldwide as yours.
Make us grateful for all you have given us
through your Son Jesus Christ,
that the zeal of a missionary Church
may gather everyone into your kingdom,
and that all may call you Father,
for ever and ever.
Reading 1: Jon 4:1-11
Jonah was greatly displeased
and became angry that God did not carry out the evil
he threatened against Nineveh.
He prayed, “I beseech you, LORD,
is not this what I said while I was still in my own country?
This is why I fled at first to Tarshish.
I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God,
slow to anger, rich in clemency, loath to punish.
And now, LORD, please take my life from me;
for it is better for me to die than to live.”
But the LORD asked, “Have you reason to be angry?”
Jonah then left the city for a place to the east of it,
where he built himself a hut and waited under it in the shade,
to see what would happen to the city.
And when the LORD God provided a gourd plant
that grew up over Jonah’s head,
giving shade that relieved him of any discomfort,
Jonah was very happy over the plant.
But the next morning at dawn
God sent a worm that attacked the plant,
so that it withered.
And when the sun arose, God sent a burning east wind;
and the sun beat upon Jonah’s head till he became faint.
Then Jonah asked for death, saying,
“I would be better off dead than alive.”
But God said to Jonah,
“Have you reason to be angry over the plant?”
“I have reason to be angry,” Jonah answered, “angry enough to die.”
Then the LORD said,
“You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor
and which you did not raise;
it came up in one night and in one night it perished.
And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city,
in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons
who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left,
not to mention the many cattle?”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 86:3-4, 5-6, 9-10
(15) Lord, you are merciful and gracious.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
R. Lord, you are merciful and gracious.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Lord, you are merciful and gracious.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O Lord,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.
R. Lord, you are merciful and gracious.
Alleluia: Rom 8:15bc
Alleluia, alleluia.
You have received a spirit of adoption as sons
through which we cry: Abba! Father!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Lk 11:1-4
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”
Intercessions
– That the Church itself may be the first to practice God’s example of forgiving her difficult and erring children, we pray:
– That missionaries may discover first what is good in the people to whom they are sent and their culture rather than condemning and faultfinding, we pray:
– That we may pray for people who do not yet know God and the One he has sent, Jesus Christ, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father,
accept this bread and this wine,
that your Son may renew among us
his saving death and resurrection for all.
And may the time come, we pray you,
that he may break his bread of life
and pour his wine of joy
for every person on earth,
that your name may be praised everywhere
for ever and ever.
Prayer after Communion
God our Father,
do not allow us to lie self-contented
in a patch of shade under her own little tree
to seek relief from disappointments.
Give us the courage to go out
on the roads where there are people
who seek you, even if they don’t know it,
and be to them in our limited way
signs of your unifying love
and of the freedom and happiness
you have prepared for all
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
We call ourselves “Catholics,” don’t we? That is, people universal by definition. How concerned are we about other people and their lasting happiness? People, near or far, should be our concern. Keep them in mind, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Commentary
Today’s readings join the end of the Jonah story and the Lucan version of the Lord’s Prayer. Jonah is a very hapless fellow. He is angry at Yahweh for saving the Ninevites. And he is upset about every subsequent turn of events in his life. He has preached repentance to the Ninevites, and they have turned to the Lord. Then he complains when a plant God causes to grow to shelter him from the sun withers and fades after only a day. Yahweh’s rejoinder is a classic. He observes that Jonah is upset by the loss of a gourd plant. But how much more strongly should God feel about the loss of 120,000 Ninevites?
The Lucan version of the Lord’s Prayer has two petitions that look to God and three that look to us here on the human scene. In praying for God’s name to be hallowed, we pray that it be reverenced and sanctified. We then pray that his kingdom, that era of justice and especially concern for the poor, be inaugurated. The final three petitions ask for our daily sustenance, a deep spirit of forgiveness akin to that by which God forgives, and a deliverance from the end-time batde between good and evil that was part of Israelite eschatology.
Jonah ends with a clear sign of God’s forgiveness. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. When it comes to our enemies in our time, for whatever reason, our only petition should be forgiveness. Forgive our enemies who have turned on us; forgive us who have turned on them. Jonah failed to grasp the lesson.
May the same not be said of us.
Points to Ponder
Yahweh and the Ninevites
Forgiveness and the Lord’s Prayer
God’s concern for all people.