26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Entrance Antiphon:

God’s Kindness

Daniel 3 ^{31, 29, 30, 43, 42}

O Lord, you had just cause to judge men as you did: because we have sinned against you and disobeyed your will. But now show us your greatness of heart, and treat us with your unbounded kindness.

Opening Prayer:

God’s Forgiveness

Father, you show your almigty power in your mercy and forgiveness.

Continue to fill us with your gifts of love.

Help us to hurry toward the eternal life you promise and come to share in the joys of your kingdom.

Grant this through Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Alternative Opening Prayer:

Radiating Christ

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in your unbounded mercy you have revealed the beauty of your power through your constant forgiveness of our sins. May the power of this love be in our hearts to bring your pardon and your kingdom to all we meet. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

First Reading:

Prophets Chosen by God

Numbers 11^25-29

The Lord empowered seventy elders with the gift of prophecy. Eldad an Medad were absent but they also received the gift. Some elders complained but Moses replied that it would be even more wonderful if all the people were prophets.

The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses.
Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses,
the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders;
and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.

Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad,
were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp.
They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent;
yet the spirit came to rest on them also,
and they prophesied in the camp.
So, when a young man quickly told Moses,
"Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp, "
Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’aide, said,
"Moses, my lord, stop them."
But Moses answered him,
"Are you jealous for my sake?
Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!
Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!"

Responsorial Psalm:

God’s Law

Psalm 19

R: The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

refreshing to the soul;

the decree of the Lord is trustworthy,

giving wisdom to the simple.

R:

The respect of the Lord is pure,

enduring forever;

the ordinances of the Lord are true,

all of them just.

R

Though your servant is mindful of them,

very diligent in keeping them,

yet who can detect failings?

Cleanse me from my unknown faults!

R

From wanton sin especially, restrain your servant;

let it not rule over me.

Then shall I be blameless and innocent

of serious sin.

R

Second Reading:

Injustice of the Rich

James 5: ^1-6

James deplores the injustice committend by the rich. He speaks of their pending miseries, their wanton luxury, wages withheld from workers. All these will stand as witnesses for greed.

Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.
Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,
your gold and silver have corroded,
and that corrosion will be a testimony against you;
it will devour your flesh like a fire.
You have stored up treasure for the last days.
Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers
who harvested your fields are crying aloud;
and the cries of the harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure;
you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.
You have condemned;
you have murdered the righteous one;
he offers you no resistance.

Alleluia:

Holy in the Truth

John 17: ^{17b, 17a}

R: Alleluia, alleluia.

Your word, O Lord, is truth;

Consecrate us in the truth.

R

Gospel:

Everyone Can Proclaim Christ

Mark 9: 38-43, 45, 47f

Jesus remind his followers that nothing done in his name will go unrewarded. But anyone who decieves a simple believer will be severely punished.

At that time, John said to Jesus,
"Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us."
Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'"

Prayer over the Gifts:

Offering as a Blessing

God of mercy,

accept our offering and make it a source of blessing for us.

We ask this in the name of the Jesus our Lord.

Amen.

Communion Antiphon:

Words of Hope

Psalm 119: ^49-50

O Lord,

remember the words you spoke to me,

your servant, which made me live in hope

and consoled me when I was downcast.

(or)

This is how we know what love is:

Christ gave up his life for us;

and we too must give up our lives for our brothers.

Prayer After Communion:

Union with Christ

Lord,

may this Eucharist in which

we proclaim the death of Christ

bring us salvation

and make us one with him in glory,

for he is Our Lord for ever and ever.

Amen.

+ + +

Commentary:

This week’s first reading, which is from the book of Numbers, talks about the prophecy and gifts of the Lord. Eldad and Medad were not in the camp when the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, however the Spirit of the Lord still allowed them to prophesy just as if they had been in the tent like the other elders and leaders. The primary purpose of this story is to illustrate that the Spirit of the Lord, whether it is spoken of in the New Testament or the Old, can go everywhere and come upon anyone because the Lord is all powerful.

To understand deeper meanings and implications of the text requires that we look at the surrounding verses to gain some context. Chapter 10 begins with the people who are following Moses out of Egypt to the Promised Land grumbling and complaining. This is understandable in some ways because these people were very tired; they were carrying everything they owned across an inhospitable desert. Think of how some of us get during Lent, when we are called to fasting and abstinence – even some very faithful and religious people begin to grumble and complain because they do not get to eat what they please or do what they wish. Now think about how grumpy and critical you would be if you were hiking across a desert with 60,000 other people and no reserves of food and water. Imagine that all you or anyone else has had to eat or drink since your nice Passover meal back in Egypt is manna and dew. Really think about that please. Now honestly answer this: would you be grumbling and complaining? I know that I probably would. I would likely be criticising Moses’ map reading skills, Aaron’s lack of storing up food and water, and other elements of the Exodus Road Trip.

Complaining is not the problem in these verses however. Complaining about leaders is fine. Complaining that the Lord is “doing nothing” about a situation is NOT. The reason that the Lord got angry with the people is not that they were kvetching, but instead that they were thinking that they knew better than God. Complaints are constructive as long as they contribute to the common good; when complaints merely serve to divide the people, then they are bad. When complaints turn into blasphemy, they become evil.

The people of Israel were called to follow Moses and Aaron. This is what God asked of them. The people had a very simple job: listen to God through his spokesmen, Moses and Aaron. When they failed to do so, God got angry at them. In verses one and two, we see that the “fire of the Lord” was sent among the people in the camp and burned the outskirts of the camp. The people cried out to Moses, who prayed to God to let the “fire of the Lord” die out. It did. This tells us that the people were forgetting something. They were crying out to Moses when they should have been looking to him for leadership and praying to God themselves. Instead of doing what they had been told, the people were instead doing the exact opposite because of a lack of faith.

You would think that the “fire of the Lord” would get people to begin to do God’s instructions.

But it didn’t. Instead of getting the people to listen to Moses and to pray to God and do his will, this event only resulted in the people grumbling even more. Now they began to grumble about specifics. “We want meat! If only we had fish for food! We remember the food we had in Egypt: the free fish, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic, “ they cry out in verses four and five. Making bread or porridge out of the manna had ceased to be satiating. Moses had been saddened by the peoples’ complaints and the Lord’s initial response of sending “the fire of the Lord” into the camp. When their complaining continued and the Lord became very angry, Moses was driven to tears and deep mental, emotional, and spiritual anguish. Like any spiritual leader or clergy person, he asked God “why have you put me here” and “why do these people treat you so badly”. Moses was driven to such grief he said “… I cannot carry this people all by myself, for they are too heavy for me; if this is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favour of killing me at once, so that I need no longer face this distress.” Moses, because of the complaints of the people who were in his pastoral care, was wishing and praying for death at the hands of God.

God hears Moses’ cries of desperation, and instead of killing him, God sends a solution. (No surprise there!) God tells Moses to convene a council of seventy of the elders and leaders of the people in the tent of meeting. “I will come down and speak with you there. I will also take some of the Spirit that is on you and will bestow it on them, that they may share the burden of the people with you; you will not then have to bear it by yourself.” Then God also explains that since the people have nagged and nagged for meat, they will get it. “…the Lord will give you meat for food, and you will eat it, not for one day, or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days, but for a whole month – until it comes out of your very nostrils and becomes very loathsome for you! For you have spurned the Lord who is in your midst, and in his presence you have wailed, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’ ” Moses wasn’t too sure about this. It sounded impossible – where would all of the sheep and goats come from to have such a feast? He asked God about how such a feat of supply-chain management would be carried out. It seems that even Moses tended to underestimate the power of God. God simply replied, “Is this beyond the Lord’s reach?”

The verses that constitute this Sunday’s reading then occur. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon the seventy elders, just as the Lord promised. Even those individuals who were not present for the meeting had the Spirit descend upon them. Some of the people became jealous that Eldad and Medad had the Spirit come upon them even though they were not in the tent. These individuals wanted to define how God should work. They wanted to limit the abilities and works of the God that they served – so they once again complained to Moses. Moses simply yells at them, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit upon them all!” With that, Moses and the seventy left the camp.

Suddenly, a violent, strong wind began to blow. A large cloud of quail then descended upon the camp. Everywhere someone tried to walk or sit or lie down was occupied by quail. There was so many quail that they could not all be harvested and consumed, despite the fact that each person gathered 10 homers or donkey loads of quail. Like all fresh meat, when the left-overs were not gathered up, put in nice Tupperware containers and stored in the fridge, they began to rot. There was so much rotting meat about that the people became violently ill from it. Those who had been greedy in gathering quail were struck with “a very great plague” which killed them.

These verses are chosen as part of the Church liturgy because they illustrate how we as a people of faith and as a Church are to conduct ourselves. We are called to be faithful servants of God:

• by not burdening our Priests and Bishops with insignificant complaints, petty bickering and useless kvetching.
• by following their teachings and examples while maintaining faith in both God and our neighbours.
• by working together to bring the Kingdom of God to Earth.
• By not questioning or doubting the strength and ability of the Lord, our God.

This week’s second reading is from the Letter of St. James and speaks of how the rich can perpetrate injustice and what the effects those greedy actions will have on society; it forms the conclusion of a letter that is especially relevant for Catholic Socialists, Personalists and Anarchists.

As the introduction to the book in the St. Joseph edition of the New American Bible states, it is unlikely that the St. James referred to in the opening verse is one of the two James listed as being Jesus’ disciples in the Gospels. It is most likely that the author of the book wrote pseudonymously in the name of James, the “brother of the Lord” during the period of A.D. 90-100. The author, who from the style and grammar of the Greek text is assumed to be a Hellenistic writer, likely had original source material and oral histories from the earliest Jewish Christian community. The form that this writer chose for his work is different from the other “letters” or epistles of the New Testament; the author/editor of James chose to use the genre of parenesis or “exhortation literature” to convey his message to the Jewish Christian community of Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Phoenicia. The author/editor chose to use the imagery of “the twelve tribes in the dispersion” to illustrate how the Church, even during this early period, was spread throughout the Roman world. It also served to communicate the spiritual meaning that believers were not citizens of the Roman Empire, but instead exiles on Earth from the Kingdom of Heaven. This epistle later heavily influenced the content, style, syntax and grammar of the Patristic writers Clement of Rome, the Pastor Hermas, St. Justin, and St. Irenæus.

This week’s reading from James is also connected with the second reading of the 23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. That reading stressed the “sin of partiality” – or showing favoritism towards those with higher economic, social or political status. As Christians we in the Church are called to view all of our brothers and sisters in Christ equally. The clothes that one wears, the wealth one has, or the material goods that one owns should not factor in how we treat those around us according to the author/editor. This reflects other teachings that we find in the gospel (Matt 5:^3-12; 6:^{19-21, 24}; Mk 6:^20-36; etc.) about how Christians should view wealth and the status quo.

The Gospel reading for this week, which is from the Gospel according to St. Mark, speaks of how we can all participate in actions that help to bring the Kingdom of God to Earth. It also teaches Jesus’ feelings about people who take advantage of or exploit individuals.

The book we have in our New Testament as the Gospel According to St. Mark was written in Rome sometime during the period A.D. 50-67. We know this because it was obviously written before the destruction of the Second Temple (9 Av, A.D. 70) as this cataclysmic event is not mentioned in this Gospel. Mark was written specifically for gentiles in Rome and contains religious and cultural explanations; Gentile Christians in Rome knew very little about Jewish beliefs and customs. The author/editor of Mark allowed the meaning, message, and life of Jesus to be shared with a group of people that previously would not have understood it due to their lack of cultural understanding.

Immediately preceding this week’s reading are the following events:

• Mention of an immanent parousia
• The Transfiguration
• The “Coming of Elijah” (John the Baptist’s Preaching)
• The healing of a boy
• The second prediction of the Passion
• Teaching about true servant hood in the Kingdom of God

The author/editor of this gospel chose to present these particular events in this precise sequence in order to emphasize his statement of immanent parousia, or that “the Kingdom of God is coming soon”. Mark also wanted to use this sequence of events to show that his followers are to serve the anawim, or “the poor in spirit” by including the lowliest members of society in the Christian community. The Kingdom of God includes all people; we as followers of Christ are to have neither jealousy nor intolerance towards others. We should treat other persons with the same kindness, respect, love and lack of fear that we want for ourselves. In daily life we sometimes will encounter individuals who are intolerant, bigoted or hateful towards us or our faith. At times such as this, it is often all too easy to also fall into a pattern of intolerant, bigoted and hateful speech and behaviour ourselves. This is when we must realise that we need to be like Christ at all times and in all places.

We must pray at times such as this to have strength, moral courage and peace. If we try to be strong, we are weak; admitting one’s weakness in the face of persecution and asking for help from Jesus and Mary is strength.

Jesus’ teaching in verse forty establishes a “broad principle of the divine tolerance” which is especially relevant in an era when extremism is expanding influence throughout the world, wars fueled by religious tensions are commonplace, and individuals commit terrorist acts against entire populations simply because of their religious beliefs. A good guideline for how each of us – laity, clergy, vowed and secular – in the Mystical Body of Christ can live out this tolerance can be found in Pope John Paul II’s Dialogue With the Great World Religions.

DIALOGUE WITH THE GREAT WORLD RELIGIONS
It is possible for Christians to share the spiritual riches of other religions, as long as they bear witness to God's definitive revelation in Jesus Christ

-- Pope John Paul II

Dialogue with the great world religions was the subject of the Holy Father's catechesis at the General Audience of Wednesday, 19 May. The Pope spoke of the Church's esteem for "whatever is true and holy" in these religions, while stating that inter-religious dialogue "cannot be limited to the search for a least common denominator". Here is a translation of his catechesis, which was the 13th in the series on God the Father and was given in Italian.

1. The Acts of the Apostles relate St Paul's discourse to the Athenians, which seems very timely for the areopagus of religious pluralism in our times. To present the God of Jesus Christ, Paul starts with the religious practices of his audience, expressing his appreciation: "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god'. What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you" (Acts 17:22-23).

On my spiritual and pastoral pilgrimage around today's world, I have repeatedly expressed the Church's esteem for "whatever is true and holy" in the religions of the various peoples. I have added, following the Council, that Christian truth serves to "encourage the spiritual and moral good found among them, as well as their social and cultural values" (Nostra aetate, n. 2). The universal fatherhood of God, revealed in Jesus Christ, spurs us also to dialogue with religions outside Abraham's stock. This dialogue offers a wealth of themes and challenges, when we think, for example, of Asian cultures deeply imbued with the religious spirit, or of African traditional religions, which are a source of wisdom and life for so many peoples.

Christian dialogue with other religions takes various forms

2. At the root of the Church's encounter with world religions there is a discernment of their specific features, that is, of the way they approach the mystery of God the Savior, the ultimate Reality of human life. Every religion, in fact, presents itself as a search for salvation and offers ways to attain it (cf. CCC, n. 843). Dialogue presupposes the certitude that man, created in God's image, is also the privileged "place" of his saving presence.

Prayer, as an adoring recognition of God, as gratitude for his gifts, as an invocation of his help, is a special form of encounter, especially with those religions which, although not having discovered the mystery of God's Fatherhood, nevertheless "have, as it were, their arms stretched out towards heaven" (Paul VI, Evangelii nuntiandi, n. 53). However, dialogue is more difficult with certain contemporary forms of religious belief in which prayer often ends up as an enhancement of one's vital potential in exchange for salvation.

3. Christianity's dialogue with other religions takes various forms and operates at different levels, beginning with the dialogue of life, in which "people strive to live in an open and neighborly spirit, sharing their joys and sorrows, their human problems and preoccupations" (Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Instruction Dialogue and Proclamation: Reflections and Orientations, 19 May 1991, n. 42).

The dialogue of action has particular importance. Among these works we should mention education in peace and respect for the environment, solidarity with the world of suffering, the promotion of social justice and the integral development of peoples. Christian charity, which knows no borders, gladly joins forces with the shared witness given by the members of other religions, rejoicing over the good they accomplish.

Then there is the theological dialogue, in which experts try to deepen their understanding of their respective religious heritages and to appreciate their spiritual values. Meetings between the specialists of different religions, however, cannot be limited to the search for a least common denominator. Their purpose is to lend courageous service to the truth by highlighting areas of convergence as well as fundamental differences, in a sincere effort to overcome prejudice and misunderstanding.

4. The dialogue of religious experience is also becoming more and more important. The practice of contemplation answers the great thirst for inner life of those who are spiritually searching, and helps all believers to enter more deeply into the mystery of God. Some practices derived from the great Eastern religions hold a certain attraction for people today. Christians must exercise spiritual discernment in their regard so as not to lose sight of the conception of prayer as it has been explained by the Bible throughout salvation history (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter Orationis formas, on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation, 15 October 1989: AAS 82 [1990], 11, pp. 362-379).

Church is on pilgrimage with all genuinely religious people

This necessary discernment does not hinder inter-religious dialogue. In fact, for many years meetings with the various monastic communities of other religions, marked by cordial friendship, are opening ways for the mutual sharing of other spiritual riches "with regard to prayer and contemplation, faith and ways of searching for God or the Absolute" (Dialogue and Proclamation, n. 42). Mysticism, however, can never be invoked to support religious relativism in the name of an experience that would lessen the value of God's revelation in history. As disciples of Christ, we feel the urgent need and the joy of witnessing to the fact that God manifested himself precisely in him, as John's Gospel tells us: "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known" (Jn 1: 18).

This witness must be given without any reservation, but also in the awareness that the action of Christ and his Spirit is already mysteriously present in all who live sincerely according to their religious convictions. And with all genuinely religious people the Church continues her pilgrimage through history towards the eternal contemplation of God in the splendor of his glory.

To the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors the Holy Father said:

I am always pleased to greet the NATO Defense College, recognizing your organization's role in the service of peace. Today, unfortunately, the Balkans are without peace, and we are daily witnesses to the great suffering of so many of our brothers and sisters. I urge you to keep clearly before your eyes the need for everyone to work to ensure that dialogue and negotiation will succeed in bringing an end to violence in the area.

I extend a special greeting to Up With People, and to the members of the Dominican Festival Choir. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, especially Cardinal Keeler with the group from Baltimore, and those from England, Scotland, Denmark, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States of America, I invoke the abundant blessings of almighty God.

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Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
26 May 1999, page 7

Provided Courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
www.ewtn.com