Sunday 9 June 2013
10th
Sunday in Ordinary Time C
1Kings 17:17-24, Psalm 29:2. 4-6. 11-13. Rv.2,
Galatians 1:11-19, Luke 7:11-17.
Now I know you are a man of God and the word
of the Lord is in your mouth.
The Lord listened and had pity. He came to
my help.
Then God called me through His grace and
chose to reveal his Son to me
A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.
First reading
1
Kings 17:17-24
The son of the mistress of the house fell sick;
his illness was so severe that in the end he had no breath left in him. And the
woman said to Elijah, ‘What quarrel have you with me, man of God? Have you come
here to bring my sins home to me and to kill my son?’ ‘Give me your son’ he
said, and taking him from her lap, carried him to the upper room where he was
staying and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God,
do you mean to bring grief to the widow who is looking after me by killing her
son?’ He stretched himself on the child three times and cried out to the Lord,
‘O Lord my God, may the soul of this child, I beg you, come into him again!’ The
Lord heard the prayer of Elijah and the soul of the child returned to him again
and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room
into the house, and gave him to his mother. ‘Look,’ Elijah said ‘your son is
alive.’ And the woman replied, ‘Now I know you are a man of God and the word of
the Lord in your mouth is truth itself.’
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Psalm
Psalm
29:2,4-6,11-13
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me
and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead,
restored me to life from those who sink into
the grave.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
Sing psalms to the Lord, you who love him,
give thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts a moment; his favour all
through life.
At night there are tears, but joy comes with
dawn.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
The Lord listened and had pity.
The Lord came to my help.
For me you have changed my mourning into
dancing:
O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
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Second reading
Galatians
1:11-19
The Good News I preached is not a human message
that I was given by men, it is something I learnt only through a revelation of
Jesus Christ. You must have heard of my career as a practising Jew, how
merciless I was in persecuting the Church of God, how much damage I did to it,
how I stood out among other Jews of my generation, and how enthusiastic I was
for the traditions of my ancestors.
Then God, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my
mother’s womb, called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in
me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the pagans. I did not
stop to discuss this with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see
those who were already apostles before me, but I went off to Arabia at once and
later went straight back from there to Damascus. Even when after three years I
went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days, I
did not see any of the other apostles; I only saw James, the brother of the
Lord.
____________________
Gospel Acclamation
cf.Ep1:17,18
Alleluia, alleluia!
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call holds for
us.
Alleluia!
Or
Lk7:16
Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
Luke
7:11-17
Jesus went to a town called Nain, accompanied
by his disciples and a great number of people. When he was near the gate of the
town it happened that a dead man was being carried out for burial, the only son
of his mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable number of the
townspeople were with her. When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her. ‘Do not
cry’ he said. Then he went up and put his hand on the bier and the bearers
stood still, and he said, ‘Young man, I tell you to get up.’ And the dead man
sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Everyone was filled
with awe and praised God saying, ‘A great prophet has appeared among us; God
has visited his people.’ And this opinion of him spread throughout Judaea and
all over the countryside.
Do you make Jesus present where you are?
We have listened to the story of Elijah today. The
child of the woman in whose house he is staying has died. Elijah takes the dead
boy and pleads with God to give him life again. God hears Elijah’s prayer.
Notice what the woman says: Now I know you are a man of God.
Jesus meets the funeral
procession of the young man of Nain. Unlike Elijah, he does not pray but speaks
directly to the dead man. ‘Young man get up’ he says. The young man does so and
then Jesus, like Elijah, gives him back to his mother. Notice what the people
say: a great prophet has appeared among us. God has visited his people.
When she saw what Elijah
had done and when the people saw what Jesus did, they praised God for visiting them through his prophets. Neither the
woman of Elijah’s time nor the people of Nain would ever forget what they saw.
It was an experience, which made a deep impression on them and they praised God.
Jesus is here today.
Wherever you are, Jesus is there too. You are called to be the manifestation of
Jesus. You have clothed yourself with Jesus Christ. You live by his life. He is
in you and you in Him as a branch in the vine. He bears fruit through you. When
people see what you do, do they say: God has visited his people? Now I know you
are a man of God.
You may say, I cannot raise
the dead either by prayer like Elijah or by command like Jesus. True! However, just think, Jesus saw many funerals
and dead bodies. He did not bring them all back to life. All the same, by what you do, by your
very being,
you are to attract others to Jesus. “We catch flies with honey and not with
vinegar” St. Francis de Sales tells us. By your kindness, by your cheerful
generosity by which you put yourself out for others, always at their service:
these are the ways of attracting people. When people realize by your life that
Jesus lives in you and you in him, the sweet perfume of your life, your words
and your actions will bring them to Him.
Make it your aim as Elijah
and then as Jesus to have a love for others, which shares their joys and
sorrows and leads to actions of love for them. This is to preach the Gospel
twenty-four hours a day. If you are on fire with love, the others will feel the
heat and in this cold world be attracted to the warmth of Jesus in you. What
are your attitudes and actions saying to people?
Father, it was Jesus human love
that attracted people. May we manifest your love for others through our human
warmth.
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