Friday May 28  

 

EIGHTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME

 

LIVING STONES

                                       

Introduction

The first reading praises the forefathers, as good people, known by name or unknown, whose lives were fruitful, and who therefore live on in the memory of people and of God.

The Gospel of today speaks of several things – the Temple as a place of worship and prayer, not of business, the need for faith, prayer, forgiveness. And we must bear fruit. Let us also drive out in our life what does not belong there so that we can serve God better.

 

Opening Prayer

Holy God,
we often turn our hearts
into houses of pride and greed
rather than into homes of love and goodness
where you can feel at home.
Destroy the temple of sin in us,
drive out all evil from our hearts
and make us living stones of a community
in which can live and reign
your Son, Jesus Christ,
our living Lord, for ever and ever.

 

READING 1:  Sir 44:1,9-13

I will now praise the godly,

our ancestors, in their own time,

Of others no memory remains,

for when they perished, they perished,

As if they had never lived,

they and their children after them.

Yet these also were godly;

their virtues have not been forgotten.

Their wealth remains in their families,

their heritage with their descendants.

Through God’s covenant their family endures,

and their offspring for their sake.

And for all time their progeny will endure,

their glory will never be blotted out;

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b

R: The Lord takes delight in his people.

Hallelujah!

Sing to the LORD a new song,

his praise in the assembly of the faithful.

Let Israel be glad in its maker,

the people of Zion rejoice in their king.

R: The Lord takes delight in his people.

Let them praise his name in dance,

make music with tambourine and lyre.

For the LORD takes delight in his people,

honors the poor with victory.

R: The Lord takes delight in his people.

Let the faithful rejoice in their glory,

cry out for joy on their couches,

With the praise of God in their mouths,

and a two-edged sword in their hands,

R: The Lord takes delight in his people.

To execute the judgments decreed for them

such is the glory of all God’s faithful.

Hallelujah!

R: The Lord takes delight in his people.

 

Alleluia: Cf. Jn 15:16

R/ Alleluia, alleluia

I chose you form the world, to go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord.

R/ Alleluia, alleluia

 

Gospel: Mk 11:11-26

He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple area. He looked around at everything and, since it was already late, went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree. The next day as they were leaving Bethany he was hungry. Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went over to see if he could find anything on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves; it was not the time for figs. And he said to it in reply, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again!” And his disciples heard it.

Cleansing of the Temple. They came to Jerusalem, and on entering the temple area he began to drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area. Then he taught them saying, “Is it not written:

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples’?

But you have made it a den of thieves.”

The chief priests and the scribes came to hear of it and were seeking a way to put him to death, yet they feared him because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching. When evening came, they went out of the city.

The Withered Fig Tree. Early in the morning, as they were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered to its roots. Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have faith in God. Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him. Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours. When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance, so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your transgressions.”

 

Intercessions

–   That the Church may examine itself regularly how it could serve better God and the people of God and let God purify it to make it more faithful to the Gospel, we pray:

–   That we may cleanse the temple of our hearts by asking forgiveness from the Lord for our wrongs, we pray:

–   That like good fruit trees, we may bear fruit by not merely avoiding evil but doing deeds of mercy and love, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord God, our Father,
with the bread of life
and the wine of joy of himself,
your Son will renew the covenant with us.
Let Jesus give us the will and the love
to be faithful to its demands
the way he was faithful to it,
even if it meant the cross.
For we wish to give you true worship
with and through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

Our faithful God,

you have given us in this Eucharist

your Son, Jesus Christ,

to show us what loyal obedience means.

Let your Son be alive in us,

so that our Christian community may be

the temple in which he lives

and where he gathers us together
as his brothers and sisters.
Keep us from all formalism,
that we may worship you with our lives
and bear fruit that lasts.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

 

Blessing

We must worship God in spirit and in truth, so that our lives correspond to what we believe in and that we serve God and people. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

Mark presents two stories to express the dryness and barrenness of the religiosity of the people of Israel; these signs express the infidelity of the chosen people to their God. The fig tree that had no fruit when Jesus “felt hungry”; and the expulsion of the business people from the temple – both signs highlight the lack of faith among the chosen ones.

The Prophets of the Old Testament had already denounced such “empty” and barren cult of “people honouring God with their lips but their heart is far from Jesus .” The fig tree with full of leaves is an image of the Jewish religion – It looked so lively and in good shape, but they had no fruits! Mark is trying to present the state of the religion of the time – it appeared full of life and thriving – like the green fig tree, but a closer look tells that it is barren! And Jesus even “curses” the fig tree to express the radical dryness and sterility of this chosen people.

Saint John says: “whoever says that he loves God and does not keep his commandments is a liar”; St. Matthew would remind us: “by their works you will know them; a good tree does not bear bad fruit ”. A religion is useless if it has only prayers, devotions, religious associations and apostolic movements, but they do not contribute to solving the problems of the poor and marginalized.

It is not enough either to give bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty and clothe the naked, but we should also care for the dignity of these people. Jesus’ action of disrupting the regular activities of the temple was deliberately provocative. He took on the priestly establishment right at their seat of power. His actions were not directed particularly against crooked dealings, but at the essential requirements for any worship in the temple

By splitting the comments of Jesus’ on the fig tree and placing them before and after the cleansing the temple, Mark intended his readers to see the fate of the fig tree as throwing light on the meaning of his actions in the temple.

“Should people say to this mountain,‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea, it would happen.’ Mountain to which Jesus was referring to, was about the whole religious, social and cultural system centred on the temple. The previous day Jesus had symbolically stopped the activities of the temple. Now he was referring to overthrow of the whole system. The system had been cursed, and had withered radically – to its roots. For all its outward show, it had failed to produce fruit, the fruit of genuine inclusiveness.