September 5
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
Sat. 4:00 PM – Kristin Blake/ Family
Sun. 7:30 AM – John Laura / Family
Sun. 10:30 AM – Jorge Reguindin Fabunan / Pio & Ebeneza Oliverio
Sun. 5:00 PM – Christian Hall / Lisa A. Langan
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
Isaiah 35:4-7a
Thus says the LORD: Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10
R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
The God of Jacob keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
Second Reading
James 2:1-5
My brothers and sisters, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here, please, ” while you say to the poor one, “Stand there, ” or “Sit at my feet, ” have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs?
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?
Gospel Acclamation
Cf. Mt 4:23
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mark 7:31-37
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” — And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
“Praise the Lord, my soul!”
Reflection
We are told in this week’s readings that our God is a healing God. Both Isaiah and the psalmist who wrote Psalm 146 testify to the works that Jesus does hundreds of years later, saying that the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the deaf will hear. What we need to realize is that there are different kinds of blindness and deafness in our world. There are those who are blind to their own sinfulness and deaf to the cries of those who need their assistance. It is important for us to make an assessment of our own ability to see and hear what is going on around us.
There is an Ignatian practice that is called the Examination of Conscience. It is a process that takes place at the end of each day where we think through the interactions we have had and decide where we have or have not seen the hand of God in our lives. This includes our own actions where we have recognized the need to help others as we pass through our world. Among the questions we can ask of ourselves are these: Have I prayed for those around me? Have I given of my time, talent, and treasure to those who are in need? Have I made the lives of those around me a little better today? Even if our answer is no to some of these questions, we can grow closer to God by continuing to ask them in an effort to grow closer to being the faith-filled and generous people He asks us to be.
God truly does make the blind see and the deaf hear. Often though, the way these things happen is through our own willingness to see ourselves clearly.
Keep the faith,
Deacon Dare
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