October 17, 2010 29th SUNDAY  OF  THE  YEAR (Mission Sunday) Mass for the Evangelization of Peoples   ENTRANCE ANTIPHON May God bless us in his mercy; may he make his face shine on us, that we might know his ways on earth and his saving power among all the nations. PENITENTIAL RITE Today the Catholic Church all over the world celebrates MISSION SUNDAY to remind us of the need and our responsibility to spread the Good News of Jesus to all people. Lord Jesus asked his disciples: “Go and make disciples of all nations”. This missionary mandate of the Lord is relevant today as it was 2000 years ago. Let us be sorry for our negligence in living and sharing our faith, and ask the Lord for his grace to be zealous missionaries. (Pause) I confess... Glory to God... OPENING PRAYER God our Father, you Will all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of your truth. Send workers into your great harvest that the Gospel may be preached to every creature and your people, gathered together by the word of life and strengthened by the power of the sacraments, may advance in the way of salvation and love. We ask this... FIRST READING (Isaiah speaks of the light that shines upon Israel when the rest of the earth is covered in darkness of sin. All nations and kings shall walk by her shining radiance—this prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus and in the new Israel the Church.) A reading from the Book of Isaiah     (60:1-6) Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms. Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall thrill and rejoice; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord. This is the Word of the Lord PSALM    (95) Response: Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples. O sing a new song to the Lord, sing to the Lord all the earth. O sing to the Lord, bless his name. R./ Proclaim his help day by day, tell among the nations his glory and his wonders among all the peoples. R./ Give the Lord, you families of peoples, give the Lord glory and power, give the Lord the glory of his name. R./ Worship the Lord in his temple; O earth, tremble before him. Proclaim to the nations: “God is King.” R./ SECOND READING (St Paul speaks of the necessity to preach the Good News so that people get the opportunity to believe in the name of Jesus and be saved.) A reading from the Letter of St Paul to the Romans    (10:9-18) If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. The Scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. For, “Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach Good News!” But they have not all heeded the Gospel; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes from by the preaching of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION   (Jn 3:16) Alleluia! Alleluia! God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should have eternal life. Alleluia! GOSPEL   (Jesus, before his ascension, gives his disciples a missionary mandate to go and make disciples of all nations. He assures them of his abiding presence until the close of the age.) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew     (28:16-20) The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” This is the Gospel of the Lord I believe in God,/the Father almighty,/ Creator of heaven and earth./ I believe in Jesus Christ,/his only Son, our Lord./ He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit/ and born of the Virgin Mary./He suffered under Pontius Pilate,/was crucified, died, and was buried./He descended to the dead./On the third day he rose again./He ascended into heaven,/and is seated at the right hand of the Father./He will come again to judge the living and the dead./I believe in the Holy Spirit,/the holy catholic Church,/the communion of saints,/the forgiveness of sins,/the resurrection of the body,/and the life everlasting./ Amen. PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL Cel: Dear brothers and sisters, as disciples of Jesus, we are also called and sent by him to spread his Good News. Let us ask for the grace to become zealous missionaries, saying: Response: Lord, help us to fulfil your mission. 1. We pray for the holy Church of God. May she continue the saving mission of the Lord every day, and be a source of light and life to people all over the world. R./   2. We pray for all missionaries who are working in various parts of the world. May they be strengthened by the gifts and charisms of the Spirit. R./ 3. We pray for those who suffer persecutions for believing in the name of Jesus. May they experience the power of the Holy Spirit and hold fast to their faith in all circumstances. R./ 4. We pray for those who do not know Jesus, those who have abandoned their faith, those who are hostile to Christians. May they be touched and transformed by the healing grace of Jesus. R./ 5. We pray for those called to the priesthood, the religious life, the lay apostolate. May they become more aware of their missionary mandate and commit themselves more intensely to Christ and his Gospel. R./ (Pray for local and personal needs) Cel: Lord, we thank you for the gift of faith. Grant that our deeds, words and attitudes may faithfully proclaim the Gospel values to our brothers and sisters who have not yet known Jesus our Saviour. We ask this... PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Lord, look upon the face of Christ your Son who gave up his life to set all people free. Through him may your name be praised among all peoples from East to West, and everywhere may one sacrifice be offered to give you glory. We ask this...   PREFACE    (35) Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks. So great was your love that you gave us your Son as our redeemer. You sent him as one like ourselves, though free from sin, that you might see and love in us what you see and love in Christ. Your gifts of grace, lost by disobedience, are now restored by the obedience of your Son. We praise you, Lord, with all the angels and saints in their song of joy: All: Holy, holy, holy... COMMUNION ANTIPHON Teach all nations to carry out everything I have commanded you. I am with you always, until the end of the world. PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Lord, you renew our life with this gift of redemption. Through this help to eternal salvation may the true faith continue to grow throughout the world. We ask this...     LITURGY  AND  LIFE A girl and a boy, who live in two different countries, came to know each other through a matrimonial site. They started sending e-mails to get to know each other. One day the boy asked the girl what were her expectations of her future husband. Among many of her expectations, she wrote something very striking: “He should have a special heart for the less privileged of the society.” Both the boy and the girl, originally from India, had a Catholic upbringing. Without being aware, the girl here becomes a missionary as she lives the values of Jesus in her life and shares the same with another person. In fact it is about people such as her that St Paul speaks in today’s Second Reading: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!” She truly becomes an instrument of the Good News to her future life partner.   Every year groups of young lay people from Europe board the airplane to go to the remote villages of Africa to build houses and classrooms, to dig wells and make roads, to open clinics and community centres for the less privileged people of that continent. They are missionaries in the true sense of the term. I know of students from various universities in the US who travel all the way to India to spend their vacation in the orphanages and Shishu Bhavans of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata and other cities. They truly live out the mandate of the Lord to go and make disciples of every nation. I know of a Catholic doctor who works first six months of the year in Italy to collect enough funds to give free medical treatment among the tribals of Maharashtra in the second half of the year. He finds fulfilment in his ‘mission’ of caring for the poor tribals and makes the Lord’s healing ministry present to them through his dedicated service.   Mission Sunday is not only about remembering the clergy and religious who dedicate their lives for the missionary activity of the Church, and giving some donations for the ‘mission lands’. It is about the missionary nature of the entire Church. It is about loving, living, appreciating and sharing one’s faith which was given to us at our baptism. It is about being the salt of the earth and light of the world, no matter what our state of life is. It is about putting the Lord’s teachings and values into practice in our daily activities, in our professional life, in our relationships and in our homes. Year after year Mission Sunday reminds us that every baptized person is a missionary, i.e., to be a Christian is to be a missionary. No baptized person is excluded from missionary activity. By living our faith fervently, by being a joyful and caring Christian, by following the values of honesty, integrity and justice, we exercise our mission and influence and attract others to the ways of Christ. Pope Benedict XVI observed in his Mission Sunday message for 2009: “Proclamation of the Gospel must be for us, as it was for the Apostle Paul, a primary and unavoidable duty.”  —Fr Joe Eruppakkatt, ssp     October 2010      READINGS  OF  THE  WEEK        Psalter Week  1 18 Mon (R) St LUKE, Ev, Fst 2 Tim 4:10-17b; Ps 144:10-11;12-13ab,17-18; Lk 10:1-9 19 Tue (G)   Eph 2:12-22; Ps 84:9ab-10,11-12,13-14; Lk 12:35-38 20 Wed (G)  Eph 3:2-12; Ps Is 12:2-3,4bcde,5-6; Lk 12:39-48 21 Thu (G)   Eph 3:14-21; Ps 32:1-2,4-5,11-12,18-19; Lk 12:49-53 22 Fri (G)   Eph 4:1-6; Ps 23:1-2,3-4ab,5-6; Lk 12:54-59 23 Sat (W) St John of Capestrano, pt Eph 4:7-16; Ps 121:1-2,3-4ab,4cd-5; Lk 13:1-9