Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

1. Jesus Asks for Prophets Like Himself

2. The Greatest of All Is Love
3.  

 

Greeting (See First Reading)

Before you were born, I knew you;
I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.
May the Lord Jesus be your strength
and may he always be with you. R/ And also with you.

 

Introduction

1. Jesus Asks for Prophets Like Himself

            We know we are willing to listen to people as long as they tell us what pleases us, what conforms to our own ways of thinking. But when they remind us of things, even good things, that make demands on us or upset our patterns of thinking and doing things, we close our ears and hearts. Yet it is good that Jesus reminds us of things that shake up our conscience when we neglect to do them: like forgiving, caring for the poor, standing up for what is right and just. Let us listen today to the Lord and to all that speak in his name.

 

2. The Greatest of All Is Love

            Sometimes we hear people voice their disappointment, as “I have given so much time and effort to the parish community and now I am not even elected to the parish council,” or “Look at all I have done for my family and see how my children disappoint me!” Is the undertone frustrated self-love or a real spirit of love and service of others? We are told today in strong words that love does not take offense and is not resentful. It is trusting and endures everything. Let us ask the Lord here with us to make our love genuine and deep.

 

Penitential Act

Do we listen to the Lord
also when his words are demanding?
Let us examine ourselves.
                        (pause)
Lord Jesus, when your word wants to wake us up
from our indifference and complacency,
make us listen:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, when we see injustice and evil,
give us the courage to stand up
and make us speak:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, when we meet the poor,
give us the strength and the means to help them:
make us commit ourselves to them:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

In your kind mercy forgive us, Lord,
and dispose us to make your Good News
available to all in our words and deeds.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

 

Opening Prayer

1. Jesus Asks for Prophets Like Himself

Let us pray to God
that we may listen to his word
and put it into practice
                        (pause)
Lord God, our Father,
you speak to us today
the demanding words of the gospel
of Jesus your Son.
Let these not be words
coming from a distant past.
Let them be words that shock us now
out of the petty peace with ourselves.
Make us see the signs and needs of our times
and help us to speak without fear
with the living words of our lives
the message of truth and justice and love
of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

2. The Greatest of All Is Love

Let us pray that we may keep growing
in a genuine love of God and people
                        (pause)
Lord God, our Father,
You know us and you keep loving us
even when we fail you and one another.
Your love went as deep as giving up your own Son,
that we might live and learn to love.
Fill our hearts with a constant, grateful love
and let it overflow upon our brothers and sisters.
Give us the strength to keep loving people
even when we still bear the scars
of the hurt others have caused us.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.

 

First Reading: Stand Up and Tell Them!

God chooses Jeremiah for the ungrateful, disturbing mission of being a prophet. He has to be the mouthpiece of God. God will give him strength and protection.

Reading 1: Jer 1:4-5, 17-19

 

The word of the LORD came to me, saying:
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I dedicated you,
a prophet to the nations I appointed you.

But do you gird your loins;
stand up and tell them
all that I command you.
Be not crushed on their account,
as though I would leave you crushed before them;
for it is I this day
who have made you a fortified city,
a pillar of iron, a wall of brass,
against the whole land:
against Judah’s kings and princes,
against its priests and people.
They will fight against you but not prevail over you,
for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15-17

(cf. 15ab) I will sing of your salvation.
In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me, and deliver me;
incline your ear to me, and save me.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
For you are my hope, O Lord;
my trust, O God, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
My mouth shall declare your justice,
day by day your salvation.
O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.
R. I will sing of your salvation.

 

Second Reading: The Greatest of All Is Love

 All the gifts of grace serve no purpose unless they are inspired by self-giving love, the heart of all Christian living. God will complete this love and make it perfect in the glory of heaven.

Reading 2: 1 Cor 12:31—13:13

 

Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues,
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy,
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast,
but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
It is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

 

Or:  1 Cor 13:4-13

 

Brothers and sisters:
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

 

Alleluia Lk 4:18

Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel: Who Does He Think He Is?

Jesus explains to the people of his hometown Nazareth that he has a prophetic mission and that it is destined not merely for his privileged compatriots but for all. The opposition of the people cannot stop Jesus.

 

Note. Today’s reading becomes much clearer if we add verses 17b-19 from last Sunday, for it is partly against this statement that the people react.

 

Gospel: Lk 4:21-30

Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying:
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”
He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb,
‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say,
‘Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'”
And he said, “Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built,
to hurl him down headlong.
But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.

 

Intercessions

            Aware of our mission in the world to be prophets of God’s merciful love, let us pray to our Father in heaven to make us faithful and courageous in our task, and let us say: R/ Lord, speak your mighty word today.

–          For all Christians, that they may be faithful to their prophetic task of pointing out to the people of our time the saving values of the gospel, let us pray: R/ Lord, speak your mighty word today.

–          For all prophets in the Church and in the world, that they may keep hope alive in the final victory of justice and truth, of God’s life and love, let us pray: R/ Lord, speak your mighty word today.

–          For the people without a voice or who are deprived of their rights, that they may find Christians who have the courage to speak out for them, let us pray: R/ Lord, speak your mighty word today.

–          For all those who work for a better world, that contradiction may not make them bitter, but that love may inspire them to unite rather than to polarize and divide, let us pray: R/ Lord, speak your mighty word today.

–          For us gathered here around the word and the bread of the Lord, that we may experience the gospel as a message meant for today, and the eucharist as our bond of unity, let us pray: R/ Lord, speak your mighty word today.

            Lord our God, we do not ask you to satisfy our own expectations. Surpass our own insights and projects and open us to your world and your plans through the challenging word of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
in these signs of bread and wine
we place our willingness
and also our hesitation
to speak the stirring words of your Son
to the groping world of our day.
Give us the vision of your Son,
break for us his bread of strength,
that without compromise
we may accept and share the Good News
of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

            With Jesus, we give thanks to the Father in heaven that he has given us Jesus to speak to us his living word and to strengthen us by his bread of life.

Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer

Let us pray in the words of Jesus
to the Father of all
to give us today the bread of his word
and the food of strength of the eucharist. R/ Our Father…

 

Deliver Us

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
and when we ask you for peace in our time
grant us reconciliation and unity
with you and with one another.
Do not allow us to live in the false peace
of indifference or compromise with evil.
Instill in us the holy unrest
of feeling personally addressed
and challenged by your word,
and of straining in hope and joy
toward the full coming among those you love
of the kingdom of our Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom…

 

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus our Lord,
the living word of the Father,
who lived as he spoke
and whose voice could not be silenced
even in death.
Happy are we to be invited
to hear his word and share his table. R/ Lord, I am not worthy…

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
you have spoken to us today
the powerful word of Jesus your Son.
In him you have given us a sample
of what we and the world could be
if we took the risk of living like him.
Give us his spirit and courage
and do not allow us to be resigned
to evil in the world and in ourselves.
Rouse us up by his word,
give us prophets today to remind us
to do now what we can
and to hope everything from the future
which you have begun with us
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

Blessing

The word of God has been addressed to us
as good news for today.
It is a message of hope and love
that is mightier than all evil
and than all contradiction.
May God’s word keep us sensitive
to the needs of our time,
to the values we tend to forget
and to the rights that are trampled upon.
May God bless you all and give you his courage:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Let us go and speak with our lives
the Good News of our Lord. R/ Thanks be to God.

 

Commentary

Grace as Love

Read:

Through Jeremiah, God reminds us that every human life is willed, called, named, and commissioned by Him. Paul sings the hymn of love, the greatest of theological virtues. Upon declaration of his mission, Jesus meets with hostility from his own people.

Reflect:

We are revisiting this passage and its neighboring events for the third time (see January 6 & 23). Perhaps the Liturgy is trying hard to drive home this central message of the Gospel that is so evident that we often miss it: the message of Mercy and Good News. Of freedom and healing. Of Grace, in short. Jesus “spoke of the Grace of God.” This grace manifests itself as love, of which Paul sings today. It is this love that reaches down to the womb and knows us by name even before we are born. Unfortunately, the world fears this love. It rises up, takes love out of the town, to the edge of the hill, wanting to push it down the cliff. Fortunately for us, this love refuses to leave and sneaks back into us, as Grace again.

Pray:

Pray that you may grow in the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love.

Act:

Examine yourself against each of Paul’s pronouncements about love. Do you pass the test?

Reflection taken from Bible Diary 2022;

written by Fr.Paulson Velyannoor, CMF