HOW CAN MAN BE RIGHT AGAINST GOD

Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and 
give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen.

Mass Readings

Jobs spoke to his friends: 

 Indeed, I know it is as you say:
how can man be in the right against God? 
one in a thousand would be more than they could answer.
His heart is wise, and his strength is great:
who the can successfully defy him?

He moves the mountains, though they do not know it;

he throws them down when he is angry.
making all it pillars tremble.
The sun, at his command, forbears to rise,
and on the stars he sets a seal.
He and no other stretched out the skies,
and trampled the Sea's tall waves.
The Bear, Orion too, are of his making.
the Pleiades and Mansions of the South.
His works are great, beyond all reckoning, 
Where he to pass me, I should not see him, 
nor detect his stealthy movement.
Were he to snatch a prize, who could prevent him,
or dare to say, 'What are you doing?
or choose arguments against him?
Suppose I am in the right, what use is my defence?
For he whom I must sue is judge as well.
If he deigned to answer my citation, 
could I be sure that he would listen to my voice?
his marvels, past all counting.
How dare I plead my cause, then,
For he whom I must sue is judge as well.
If he deigned to answer my citation,
 could I be sure that he would listen to my voice?

He shakes the earth, and moves it from its place, Suppose I am in the right, what use is my defence?

As Jesus and his disciples travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go. 'Jesus answered, 'Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.' 

Another to whom he said, 'Follow me', replied, 'Let me go and bury my father first.' But he answered, 'Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.'

Another said, 'I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say goodbye to my people at home.' Jesus said to him, 'Once the hand is laid on the plough, no

one who looks back is fit for  the Kingdom of God.

Homily

Saint Jerome

  

ARCH ANGELS MICHAEL, GABRIEL AND RAPHAEL

Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen  Mass Readings

As I Watched: 

Thrones were set in place

and one of great age took his seat.

His robe was white as snow,

the hair of his head as pure as wool.

His throne was a blaze of flames,

its wheels were a burning fire.

A stream of fire poured out,

issuing from his presence.

A thousand thousand waited on him,

ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

A court was held

and the books were opened.

I gazed into the visions of the night:

        

And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven,

one like a son of man.

He came to the one of great age 

and was led into his presence.

On him was conferred sovereignty, 

glory and kingship,

and men of all peoples, nations and 

languages became his servants.

His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty.

which shall never pass away, 

nor will his empire ever be destroyed.

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming he said of him, 'There is an Israelite who deserves the name,  incapable of deceit. 'How do you know me/' said Nathanael. 'Before Philip came to call you,' said Jesus. I saw you under the fig tree.' Nathanael answered, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.' Jesus replied, 'You believe that just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.' And then he added 'I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.' 

Homily  Father in heaven, thank you for revealing your glory, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Lord Jesus Christ thank you for awakening hope in me and lifting me up.  Father in heaven send Arch Angels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael to my aid. 

HAVE YOU NOT PUT A WALL ROUND HIM AND HIS DOMAIN?

Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen     Mass Readings

JOB 1:6-22  One day the Sons of God came to attend on the Lord, and among them was Satan. So the Lord said to Satan, "Where have you been?" 'Round the earth,' he answered 'roaming about.' So the Lord asked him, "Did you notice my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth: a sound and honest man who fears God and shuns evil." 'Yes' Satan said 'but Job is not God-fearing for nothing, is he? Have you not put a wall round him and his house and all his domain?

You have blessed all he undertakes, and his flocks thong the countryside.  But stretch out your hand and lay a finger on his possessions: I warrant you, he will curse you to your face. "Very well," the Lord said to Satan "all he has is in your power. But keep your hands off his person." So Satan left the Lord.

On the day when Job’s sons and daughters were at their meal and drinking wine at their eldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job. ‘Your oxen’ he said ‘were at the plough, with the donkeys grazing at their side, when the Sabaeans swept down on them and carried them off. Your servants they put to the sword: I alone escaped to tell you.’ He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived. ‘The fire of God’ he said ‘has fallen from the heavens and burnt up all your sheep, and your shepherds too: I alone escaped to tell you.’ He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived. ‘The Chaldaeans,’ he said ‘three bands of them, have raided your camels and made off with them. Your servants they put to the sword: I alone escaped to tell you.’ He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived. ‘Your sons and daughters’ he said ‘were at their meal and drinking wine at their eldest brother’s house, when suddenly from the wilderness a gale sprang up, and it battered all four corners of the house which fell in on the young people. They are dead: I alone escaped to tell you.’

Job rose and tore his gown and shaved his head. Then falling to the ground he worshipped and said:

'Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall return.

The Lord gave, the Lord has taken back.

Blessed be the name of the Lord!'

In all this misfortune Job committed no sin nor offered any insult to God.

GOSPEL

An argument started between the disciples about which of them was the greatest. Jesus knew what thoughts were going through their minds, and he took a little child and set him by his side and then said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the least among you all, that is the one who is great.’

John spoke up. ‘Master,’ he said ‘we saw a man casting out devils in your name, and because he is not with us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘You must not stop him: anyone who is not against you is for you.’ Homily

Heavenly Father, protect me from the evil one. I am helpless without your help.

OBEDIENCE

Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting  thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen.  Mass Readings 

 The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘You object, “What the
Lord does is unjust.” Listen, you House of Israel: is what I do unjust? Is it not what you do that is unjust? When the upright man renounces his integrity to commit sin and dies because of this, he dies because of the evil that he himself has committed. When the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live. He has chosen to renounce all his previous sins; he shall certainly live; he shall not die.’

Philippians 2:1-11

If our life in Christ means anything to you, if love can persuade at all, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy, then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is one thing which would make me completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people's instead. In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus......

GOSPEL 

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people, 'What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He went and said to the first, "My boy, you go and work in the vineyard today." He answered, "I will not go," but afterwards thought better of it and went. The man then went and said the same thing to the second who answered, "Certainly, Sir" but did not go. Which of the two did the father's will?' 'The first' they said. Jesus said to them, 'I tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you, a pattern to true righteousness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and prostitutes did. Even after seeing that, you refused to think better of it and believe in him.'  Homily

Heavenly Father, reveal the glory of your Son Jesus Christ to me. Transform my life. Fill my heart with your presence and your love. Father I chose to live. Give me your Holy Spirit.

CAST WORRY FROM YOUR HEART

Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting  thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen 

Mass Readings    Rejoice in your youth, you who are young; let your heart give you joy in your young days. Follow the promptings of your heart  and the desires of your eyes. But this you must know: for all these things God will bring you to judgement Cast worry from your heart,shield your flesh from pain......  

Ecc. 11:9-12:8

           At a time when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, Jesus aid to his disciples, ‘For your  part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: “The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.”’ But they did not understand him when he said this; it was hidden from them so  that they should not see the meaning of it, and they were afraid to ask him about what he had just said.

Homily

MAN CANNOT COMPREHEND THE WORK OF GOD

Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting  thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen 

Readings  There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven:A time of giving 

A birth, a time for dying; a time for planting, a time for uprooting what has been planted.

A time for killing, a time for healing;

a time for knocking down, a time for building.

A time for tears, a time for laughter,

a time for mourning, a time for dancing.

A time for throwing stones away, a time for gathering them up;

a time for embracing, a time to refrain from embracing.

A time for searching, a time for losing;

a time for keeping, a time for throwing away.

A time for tearing, a time for sewing;

a time for keeping silent, a time for speaking.

A time for loving, a time for hating;

a time for war, a time for peace.

What does a man gain for the efforts that he makes? I contemplate the task that God gives mankind to labour at. All that he does is apt for its time; but though he has permitted man to consider time in its wholeness, man cannot comprehend the work of God from beginning to end.

One day when Jesus was praying alone in the presence of his disciples he put this question to them, '

Who do the crowds say I am?' And they answered, 'John the Baptist, others Elijah; and others say one of the ancient prophets come back to life.' But you, 'he said, "Who do you say I am?" It was Peter who spoke up. 'The Christ of God' he said. But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this. Homily

Father give me wisdom. Help me invest my time in seeking you, and to understand that my time is in your hand.

THE EARTH STANDS FIRM FOREVER

 Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen

Mass Readings Vanity of vanities, the Preacher says. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity! For all his toil, his toil under the sun, what does man gain by it? 

  A generation goes, a generation comes, yet the earth stands firm for ever. The sun rises, the sun sets; then to its place it speeds and there it rises. Southward goes the wind, then turns to the north; it turns and turns again; back then to its circling goes the wind. Into the sea all the rivers go, and yet the sea is never filled, and still to their goal the rivers go. All things are wearisome. No man can say that eyes have not had enough of seeing, ears their fill of hearing. What was will be again; what has been done will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun. Take anything of which it may be said, ‘Look now, this is new.’ Already, long before our time, it existed. Only no memory remains of earlier times, just as in times to come next year itself will not be remembered.

Herod the tetrarch had heard about all that was being done by Jesus; and he was puzzled, because some people were saying that John had risen from the dead, others that Elijah had reappeared, still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. But Herod said, ‘John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?’ And he was anxious to see Jesus.

HomilyLord Jesus Christ I believe in you. I give you my fears and worries. I ask for a deeper faith. Open my eyes to see your majesty. Grant me wisdom to understand the mysteries of the world that I may know that only your word stands firm. That you O Lord reign for ever.

PADRE PIO

Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen

Mass Readings

Every word of God is unalloyed, he is the shield of those 

who take refuge in him.

To his words make no addition, lest he reprove you and know you for a fraud.

Two things I beg of you, do not grudge me them before I die:

keep falsehood and lies far from me,

give me neither poverty nor riches,

grant me only my share of bread to eat,

for fear that surrounded by plenty, 

I should fall away and say, 'the Lord - who is the Lord? 

or else, in destitution, take to stealing

and profane the name of my God.

Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. He said to them,

'Take nothing for the journey: neither staff, nor haversack, nor bread, nor money; and let none of you take a spare tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there; and when you leave, let it b from there. As for those who do not welcome you, when you leave their town shake the dust from your feet as a sign to them.' So the set out and went from village to village proclaiming the Good New and healing everywhere.

Padre Pio

My Father in heaven, reveal the glory of your Son Jesus Christ to me. Transform my life by your Holy Spirit. I desire to know you. Father may I never question your sovereignty, your power, and your existence. Preserve me Lord least I profane your Holy Name. 

THE HEART OF A KING

  Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen

Mass Readings      Like flowing water is the heart of the king in the hand of the Lord, who turns it where he pleases.

A man's conduct may strike him as upright, the Lord, however weighs the heart.

To act virtuously and with justice is more pleasing to the Lord than sacrifice.

Haughty eye, proud heart, lamp of the wicked, nothing but sin.

The hardworking man is thoughtful, and all is gain; too much haste, and all that comes of it is want.

To make a fortune with the help of a lying tongue, such the idle fantasy of those who look for death.

The wicked man's soul is intent on evil, he looks on his neighbour with dislike.

When a mocker is punished, the ignorant man grows wiser,

when a wise man is instructed he acquires more knowledge.

The Just One watches the house of the wicked; he hurls the 

wicked to destruction. 

He who shuts his ear to the poor man's cry shall himself plead and not be heard.

The mother and brothers of Jesus came looking for him, but they could not get to him because of the crowd. He was told, 'Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to see you.' But he said in answer, 'My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.'

Homily

Create in me a pure heart Lord Jesus Christ. Open my ear to hear the word of God, open my heart to keep God's word, and put it into practice.

SAINT MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST AND APOSTLE

Altar Server Prayer: 

Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need. I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen

Mass Readings

I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitable, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.

Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. To some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with fullness of Christ himself.

As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, 'Follow me.' And he got up and followed him.

While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 'Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?'  When he heard this he replied, 'It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.'
Homily 

Father in heaven, I am amaze at your love. Open my eyes to see your majesty.  I give you my fears, my doubts. Holy Spirit come dwell in me, help me to be charitable towards fellow creatures. Lord help me to see more clearly the great hope in which you call me.

SEEK THE LORD WHILE HE IS STILL TO BE FOUND

Seek the Lord while he is still to be found,

call to him while he is still near.

Let the wicked man abandon his way,

         the evil man his thoughts. 

         Let him turn back to the Lord who will take pity on him,

         to our God who is rich in forgiving;

         for my thoughts are not your thoughts,

         my ways not your ways – it is the Lord who speaks.

        Yes, the heavens are as high above earth

         as my ways are above your ways,

         my thoughts above your thoughts. Mass Readings

Life to me is Christ 
Christ will be glorified in my body, whether by my life or by my death. Life to me, of course, is Christ
but then death would bring me something more; but then again, if living in this body means doing work which is having good results – I do not know what I should choose. I am caught in his dilemma: I want to be gone and be with Christ, which would be very much the better, but for me to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need for your sake. Avoid anything in your everyday lives that would be unworthy of the gospel of Christ.

Jesus said to his disciples 'The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner going out at daybreak to hire 

‘The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner going out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. He made an agreement with the workers for one denarius a day, and sent them to his vineyard. Going out at about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place and said to them, “You go to my vineyard too and I will give you a fair wage.” So they went. At about the sixth hour and again at ninth hour, he went out again and did the same.

Then at about the eleventh hour he went out and found more men standing round, and he said to them, “Why have you been standing here idle all day?” “Because no one has hired us” they answered. He said to them, “You go into my vineyard too.” In the evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his bailiff, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last arrivals and ending with the first.” So those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came forward and received one denarius each. When the first came, they expected to get more, but they too received one denarius each.  They look it, but grumbled at the landowner. “The men  who came last” they said “have done only one hour,and you have treated them the same as us, though we have done a heavy day’s work in all the heat.” 

He answered one of them and said, My friend, I am not being unjust to you; did we not agree on one denarius “My friend, I am not being unjust to you; did we not agree on one denarius? Take your earnings and go.  I choose to pay the last comer as much as I pay you. Have I no right to do what I like with my own? 

Why be envious because I am generous?” 

Thus the last will be first, and the first, last.’

Homily for 25th Sunday Ordinary Time

REVELATION OF THE MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM

Alter Server Prayer: Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you be serving his

brothers and sister in need.  I now ask you to give me your help as I serve you and your people. Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen. Mass Readings

'Someone may ask, ‘How are dead people raised, and what sort of body do they have when they come back?’ They are stupid questions. Whatever you sow in the ground has to die before it is given new life and the thing that you sow is not what is going to come; you sow a bare grain, say of wheat or something like that. It is the same with the resurrection of the dead: the thing that is sown is perishable but what is raised is imperishable; the thing that is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; the thing that is sown is weak but what is raised is powerful; when it is sown it embodies the soul, when it is raised it embodies the spirit. 

If the soul has its own embodiment, so does the spirit have its own embodiment. The first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living soul; but the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. That is, first the one with the soul, not the spirit, and after that, the one with the spirit. The first man, being from the earth, is earthly by nature; the second man is from heaven. As this earthly man was, so are we on earth; and as the heavenly man is, so are we in heaven. And we, who have been modelled on the earthly man, will be modelled on the heavenly man.

The Parable of the Sower

With a large crowd gathering and people from every town finding their way to him, Jesus used this parable:

‘A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell on the edge of the path and was trampled on; and the birds of the air ate it up. Some seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered away, having no moisture. Some seed fell amongst thorns and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell into rich soil and grew and produced its crop a hundredfold.’ Saying this he cried, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!’

His disciples asked him what this parable might mean, and he said, ‘The mysteries of the kingdom of God are revealed to you; for the rest there are only parables, so that  they may see but not perceive,  listen but not understand.   Homily

Lord Jesus Christ, help me to see more clearly the great hope to which you call me. Help me understand your teaching. Give me the grace to follow you.  

CHRIST OUR RISEN LORD

Now if Christ raised from the dead is what has been preached, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ himself cannot have been raised, and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is useless; indeed, we are shown up as witnesses who have committed perjury before God, because we swore in evidence before God that he had raised Christ to life. For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, you are still in your sins. And what is more serious, all who have died in Christ have perished. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people.   But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.   Mass Readings

Jesus made his way through towns and villages preaching, and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits  and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources.

Mass Homily

Lord Jesus Christ what a priceless gift you have given us. The gift of eternal life through your rising from the dead. You are our risen hope. Thank you for uniting us with yourself and making us partakers in your eternal life. Lord Jesus Christ you are our hope of salvation, our risen Lord.

THE GREAT SINNER

Altar Server Prayer: 

Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need. I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen

Mass Readings:     Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you - believing anything else will not lead to anything.

Well then, in the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve.  Next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles; and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it.

I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God's grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless. On the contrary, I, or rather the grace of God that is with me, have worked harder than any of the others; but what matters is that I preach what they preach, and this is what you all believed.

Her Many Sins Have Been Forgiven One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to a meal.  When he arrived at the Pharisee's' house and took his place at the table, a woman came in, who had a bad name in the town.  She heard he was dining with the Pharisee and had brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment. She waited behind him at his feet, weeping, and tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them away with her hair; then she covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with ointment.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, 'If this man were a prophet, he would know who this woman is that is touching him and what a bad name she has.' The Jesus took  him up and said, 'Simon, I have something to say to yo.' Speak, Master' was the reply.  'There was once a creditor who had two men in his debt; one owed him five hundred denarii, the other fifty. They were unable to pay, so he pardoned them both.  Which of them will love him more?' 'The one who was pardoned more, I suppose, answered Simon. Jesus said, 'You are right.'

Homily   

Lord you know I love you. Let me love you even more like Paul and the woman in today's readings. Give me the courage and strength to do your will, in the smallest things as well as the greater things. I owed you a lot by my sins, I can never pay back my indebtedness. May my desire to do your will please you more, and bring succor to my soul. 

 Here I am Lord

SAINTS CORNELIUS POPE AND CYPRIAN BISHOP

Alter Server Prayer: Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you be serving his brothers and sister in need.  I now ask you to give me your help as I serve you and your people. Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well. Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts.  Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen

Mass Readings  Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them. If I have all the eloquence of men or angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes....

WE PLAYED THE PIPES  

Jesus said to the people:

'What description can I find for the men of this generation? What are they like? They are like children shouting to one another while they sit in the market place: "We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn't dance;

'For John the Baptist comes, not eating bread, not drinking wine, and you say, "He is possessed" The Son of Man comes, eating and drinking, and you say, "Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." Yet Wisdom has been proved right by all her children.'  we sang dirges, and you wouldn't cry."Homilies