Opening Prayer
Jesus, sometimes you are impossible! Your demands make you seem ridiculous. Why do you ask that we invite strangers to our dinners, instead of people and friends we are comfortable with? No wonder so many people walked away from you! You seem like a hopeless romantic who does not work well in the real world. Yes, Lord Jesus, it is hard to follow you. Your sayings are hard and challenging. We want to follow you and fulfill God’s expectations of His children. Give us the humility to be servants rather than judging overlords! Fill us again with Your Spirit and Your Word, that You might penetrate and transform us, so that we can transform this world in the justice of your reign. Empower us to welcome strangers and the alienated to Your table and our tables! Help us to serve the needs of others rather than our own need for comfort and security.
- Readings for the Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop
Reading 1 Phil 2:1-4
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also everyone for those of others.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 131:1bcde, 2, 3
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
Alleluia Jn 8:31b-32
If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Lk 14:12-14
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.