#27th sunday in ordinary time

[seafoamreadings]

week of sunday august 27th, 2023

these are written predominantly for the *rising* signs but they are also intuitively "channeled" enough that they should work for any dominant energy you have! (try your sun if you don't know rising, or more advanced readers can try moon, anywhere you have a stellium, etc and see what works best for you!)

aries: if it feels like a bit of a lead weight on your soul all week, that's a saturn thing. this week's full moon in your 12th house is conjunct saturn, so you have a lot of feelings and it can seem like they're dragging you into a viscous horrible fluid by a lead anchor on your feet or concrete shoes. it isn't all as bad as it feels. the way out is to accept it, maybe retreat into a sort of hermit mode, sit with and listen to the emotions. on the other side of the full moon you start to float back up.

taurus: uranus goes retrograde in your sign. more retrograde phenomena are to follow next week. meanwhile also a full moon in pisces suggests a quiet night or two or several at home, even though socializing can be beneficial on ordinary full moons. this is not one. the stereotype that weird things happen and emergency rooms are more busy on full moons has to do with lunar antics like this.

gemini: focus on your home life, your family of origin, and your ancestry this week, especially if you have ancestral wounds or trauma and no one but yourself to heal your lineage. retrograde activity supports you in this work. it's not always fair that you have to do it, but you can heal the past and the future.

cancerians: the pisces full moon is one you can connect to viscerally as a water sign. but be advised it is conjunct saturn within a couple degrees and this can make it feel heavy and mundane compared to ordinary pisces full moons. therefore it likely takes on a melancholy tone and is less energizing for you than you would prefer. yet you're just as psychic and intuitive as ever, if you commit yourself to listening.

leo: you are the only sign i think this week's full moon on saturn REALLY benefits. if you have a magical practice or if you love to manifest, whatever you work on under that auspice gets plunked down into the 3D earth by heavy saturn. if you're not that sort at least launch a project or work on a goal or wish on a star or something!

virgo: a full moon in pisces highlights your relationships. maybe they go a little nuts. maybe YOU go a little nuts. that's okay. saturn keeps things somewhat realistic although if you refuse to see certain truths you may find things get more depressing than they needed to. try to keep your chin up! saturn brings wisdom when you work with him. that can lead to brighter times.

libra: be advised that if you've been neglecting your health in anyway it is likely to force you to deal with it this week due to the full moon conjunct saturn. and if it isn't about health it's about some aspect of your daily life, perhaps something you thought was too boring or ugly to bother about until now.

scorpio: many MANY changes are brewing in your life right now, in almost every facet of it, this week and next. fortunately you're the zodiac's alchemist, no question. don't neglect to turn the lead of this week's saturn vibes into gold, by hook or by crook. life is a spell and you are, certainly for now, the cauldron.

sagittarius: like your opposite sign gemini, you're slated to do ancestor work this week. if you're not typically the family genealogist you may find yourself deep in research or stories about your family's past. some will be good and others not so good. you will see how it affects you psychically, and find ways to heal. for you a bright light is cast on a dark shadow no one has acknowledged in a long time, in your lineage or your earliest years.

capricorn: keep a notebook or something close by this week. the astrology brings you inspirations and brilliant ideas and yet, so saturnine as the week is, if you wait too long to get it out of your head it will become too heavy to extract.

aquarius: retrogrades of your ruling planet are long and in the end just part (almost half) of the texture of life. but the one starting this week is a little unique as it occurs among many other retrogrades. furthermore the moments (days) surrounding the station either direction are typically strange. and by strange i mean not in a gradual way, but lightning bolts of things too serious to be coincidence. at the same time, the full moon in pisces cautions you against irresponsible spending or hiding your values, although it may be tempting.

pisces: a melancholy, saturnine full moon occurs in your sign this week. don't let any depressive episode drag you down, at least as well as you can help it. douse yourself in golden sunlight, and gold jewelry, and you will likely also respond very well to silver, and to music. especially if you can find something upbeat and happy to listen to (or compose!) or at least something catchy.

[ausetkmt]

https://x.com/AfricanArchives/status/1704567631515160830?s=20

Apart from Henry “Box” Brown, who mailed himself to freedom in a wooden box did you know there was a woman who also did the same?

Lear Green’s story is less well-known.

Green was an enslaved young woman who made one of history’s most daring and innovative escapes in order to marry the man she loved. Green was able to flee her slaveowner, James Noble, in an old wooden sailor’s chest during a long and arduous shipping journey from Baltimore to Philadelphia. Slaveholder and butter dealer Noble had “inherited” Green from his mother-in-law.

Green, born in 1839, was in her teens when she fell in love with a free Black man, William Adams, who asked her to marry him. Green initially refused because she did not want her children to be born into slavery. “How can I perform the duties of wife and mother while burdened by the shackles of slavery?” Green reportedly asked Adams. But Green later changed her mind after Adams and his mother, also a free woman, came up with a plan for her to escape.

Green, who was now determined to escape the oppression of slavery, purchased an old sailor’s chest and placed various items in it, including “a quilt, a pillow, and a few articles of raiment, with a small quantity of food and a bottle of water.”

Her fiance Adams and his mother fastened the chest with heavy rope, with Green cramped inside. Adam’s mother boarded an Ericsson steamboat in Baltimore and brought the chest with her. The chest was secured with rope and stowed with other freight. During the 18-hour journey to Philadelphia, Adams’ mother snuck into the compartment and from time to time lifted the lid of the chest to check in on Green and allow her a breath of fresh air.

After 18 hours in the chest, the ship arrived in Philadelphia. Green would meet with Underground Railroad conductor William Still before making her way further North to marry Adams and move to Canada. As expected, Green’s slaveowner Noble named her a fugitive slave, and a manhunt was launched to bring her back.

Noble reportedly posted an advertisement of her escape, which read as follows: “$150 REWARD. Ran away from the subscriber, on Sunday night, 27th inst., my NEGRO GIRL, Lear Green_about 18 years of age, black complexion, round featured, good looking and ordinary size… I have reason to be confident that she was persuaded by a negro man named Wm Adams…he had heard to say he was going to marry the above girl.”

Green and Adams married and settled in Elmira, New York. But their joy together was short-lived. After three years of marriage, Green suddenly died at the age of 21 for unknown reasons.

[blogger-yura]

Entry #52 Oct 23rd '23

#YurasLife #MovieMonday #HalloweenWeek #Thriller #Horror #Slasher #Gore

𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 - This is Halloween~

This is Halloween~ Pumpkins scream in the dead of night~.

It's that time of the year again! Isn't it just OH, so exciting! If you've been here a while, you might know how much I LOVE holidays ♡ And Halloween, of course, holds a special place in my heart. Wouldn't be able to tell you why, but it's always with great joy that I spend october, and especially the last week, preparing, decorating, and celebrating ~.

Same as last year, to get in the mood this week before the day comes, I've prepared a small list with movies to watch! Some were added to the ranking last time, classics that simply can't be left out–. And some, well, are just here to enjoy and have fun with friends at night (*^ω^)

With nothing else to say, I hope you enjoy this year's selection!

Monday 23rd

Title: Scream franchise (1996-2023) - Director: Wes Craven, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Christopher Landon

It is not a Halloween movie night if there's not at least ONE Scream movie in there. That's it. That's everything there is to say. Ah, how do you even explain this franchise? To this day, it remains a must watch for any and all horror lovers. There is no further discussion about it. I'm taking the holiday as an excuse! Still need to watch the new drop. So do the same, and if you haven't watched them all, make yourself a favor and sit through them tonight!

Personal score: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Tuesday 24th

Title: Hostel (2005-2011) - Director: Eli Roth, Scott Spiegel

Personal score: 🌟🌟🌟☆☆

Wednesday 25th

Title: Slither (2006) - Director: James Gunn

Personal score: 🌟🌟🌟☆☆

Thursday 26th

Title: The Evil Dead franchise (1981-2023) - Director: Sam Raimi, Federico Alvarez, Lee Cronin

It's the hand. It will ALWAYS be the hand. Picture this, you're watching a terribly gore-y, comical horror movie. You can't get past the 1st person POV of the evil spirit sprinting through the woods, trying to take the movie seriously as it's so old. And then, to top it off, a possessed hand wants to end its former owner's life. That's all you need to know to understand why this is here. A comic, a computer game, a movie, a tv show, and a musical. That's the cultural impact of The Evil Dead!

Personal score: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Friday 27th

Title: House of 1000 corpses (2003) - Director: Rob Zombie

Personal score: 🌟🌟🌟☆☆

Saturday 28th

Title: The Strangers (2008) - Director: Bryan Bertino

Personal score: 🌟🌟🌟🌟☆

Sunday 29th

Title: Paranormal Activity (2006) - Director: Oren Peli.

Lets be honest for once. There's only one good Paranormal Activity movie, and that's simply the first one. Maybe it was the fear it induced, the novelty of the idea and the filmmaking, or simply the fact it made it seem like such an ordinary occurrence, like it could happen to you at any time. But it is, undoubtedly, an axiety inducing, terrifying movie. And I am more than convinced it deserves a little spot in todays list.

Personal score: 🌟🌟🌟🌟☆

Did I pick your favorite movie, or did I miss it? It's always so hard picking so little movies to share and have fun with for these dates! Never know if I want to keep the list old school, modern, psychological, or bloody! Regardless, this is the list I'm going with myself! A bit of everything, I reckon, and I know I'll enjoy it.

If you have your own horror list for the week, what do you have in it? And if you don't like horrors, what do you watch for Halloween? (^w^)

Can't wait for next week to come already! Still have so much to share the next few days, though. I'm super excited, and I hope you are too!

I'll go now, or I'll fall behind on my other plans! But I'll be back tomorrow with more, so don't miss me much! All the love, my little pumpkins~.

Stay safe out there! -Yura ♡

🧡: @clubwnderland [💙] @shin-haneul @neonvandalsxcb @neverland-fairies @silcntxnight @urluvlyfe @oppositesattraxt @theboys-oc @norselegends-cb @jinju-oc @fallenangels-cb @domxbot @moonlightchn @cyberpunkcollection @coffeexdreamcb @thetoplinecb @vandalsxcb @teyvatcb @lunaaofthemoon @oc-honeys @3rachabot @darkloversxcb @yandereskz @darkkingdomscb @johnnys-toes-cb @markshands-cb @domrachaa @soyeon-cb @lucky-charmsanhwa @livealittleoc-cb @reve-rv @evicted-oc @littleboywooyoungie @vampireskz @demonljy @welcome-to-maniac @shuhua-cb @theonesxcb @bpkhybrids-shelter @night-racers @firstkill-cb @fearlessxcb @fantasyaespa @minsour-r @redlight-cb @dreamtech-cb @chxithex @hearthstone-apothecary @elemental-dream @kimheebby

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

27th August >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 16:13-20 for the Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A: ‘Who do you say I am?’

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Gospel (Except USA) Matthew 16:13-20 You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said, ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’ Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Gospel (USA) Matthew 16:13–20 You are Peter, and to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Reflections (6)

(i) Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

If each one of us were to ask the question Jesus asks in today’s gospel reading, I wonder what kind of answers we would get, ‘Who do people say I am?’ If I was told what other people had to say about me, I might feel that they don’t really understand me. Other people only have a limited insight into the kind of person any one of us is. There is always more to us than others see and hear.

When Jesus asked his disciples the question, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ he too would have felt that people didn’t really understand him. People were saying that Jesus was a prophet, like John the Baptist or Elijah. There was much more to Jesus than a prophet. Jesus then asked his disciples, ‘Who do you say I am?’ He would have expected a more insightful answer from them. They had been his close companions for some time. It would be like each of us asking the person who was closest to us, ‘Who do you say I am?’ We would expect a more insightful answer than that given by others. It was Peter who answered Jesus’ question, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’. Here was an answer that did much fuller justice to who Jesus really was. However, good as Peter’s answer was, he had a lot more to learn about the kind of Christ, the kind of Son of God, Jesus would be. He certainly didn’t think that Jesus was the kind of Christ or Son of God who would end up hanging on a Roman cross.

Jesus’ question, ‘Who do you say I am?’ is addressed to each one of us. This is not a question that is looking just for information, like a question on an examination paper. ‘Write a short essay on who Jesus is’. It is a much more personal question than that. Jesus is really asking, ‘Who am I for you?’ ‘What part do I play in your life?’ In a sense Jesus is asking, ‘How do you relate to me?’ ‘What image do you have of me?’ It is worth pondering that question a little this Sunday. Jesus speaks of himself throughout the gospels using many images. Which image appeals to you? Which image speaks most powerfully to you? In the gospel of John alone, Jesus says of himself, ‘I am the bread of life’, ‘I am the light of the world’, ‘I am the good shepherd’, ‘I am the gate’, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’, ‘I am the vine’. Elsewhere in John’s gospel, other people identify Jesus in other ways. John the Baptist says, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’. The Samaritans declare, ‘This is truly the Saviour of the world’. Peter says to him, ‘You are the Holy One of God’. Thomas says to him, ‘My Lord and my God’. None of these ways of speaking about Jesus do him full justice, but each one gives us an insight into who he is. Which image speaks most powerfully to you? There was a time when the image of the Sacred Heart for Jesus spoke most powerfully to people. I remember that image in the kitchen of my grandparents. ‘Who do you say I am?’ ‘You are the Sacred Heart’. Even though Jesus never spoke of himself in this way, this image powerfully conveyed the tremendous love of Jesus for each of us personally, his loving presence at all times, especially in the valleys of darkness. Here was a love that loved me as I am, a love that could be trusted.

The image of Jesus that speaks most powerfully to us may not be based on anything Jesus said about himself or on what others said about him. It could be based on a gospel scene. I have a sense of Jesus as a constant companion. It is based on the scene in the gospel of Luke where the risen Lord joins the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, listening to their sad story, sharing God’s story from the Scriptures with them, and then making himself known to them in the breaking of bread, the Eucharist. ‘Who do you say I am?’ I might answer, ‘You are my constant companion, present in others, in your word, in the Eucharist’. What gospel scene, what image of Jesus from the gospels, speaks most powerfully to you? My mother was drawn to the gospel scene of Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well. She said to me once, ‘It was to a woman that Jesus first revealed himself as the Messiah’. Where does Jesus speak most powerfully to you in the gospels? What scene do you feel drawn to in some way? Our answer to Jesus’ question, ‘Who do you say I am?’ will be very personal to each one of us, because Jesus relates personally to each of us. He calls each of us by name. He invites each of us into a personal relationship with himself, asking us to answer for ourselves his question, ‘Who do you say I am?’

And/Or

(ii) Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Most of us have at least one set of keys. If you are like me, you will loose one or other set from time to time. We worry until we find them again. We know that keys have the power to open and shut, and we do not like to think of that power falling into the hands of strangers. We are careful about who we give our keys to. We give them only to those we really trust. To give somebody a set of keys to our house is saying: ‘I trust you enough to give you the freedom to enter a place that means a great deal to me’.

The first reading and gospel reading today make reference to the giving of keys to people. In the first reading, the Lord gives the key of the house of David to Eliakim. This key gave him the authority to open and to shut the palace in Jerusalem where the king, David’s successor, lived. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus promises to give the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter. The keys of a royal palace are one thing; the keys of the kingdom of heaven are quite another. Of course, Jesus was not speaking literally here. He would not hand over to Peter a physical set of keys. The kingdom of heaven is not a purely earthly kingdom; there are no keys to it in the sense in which we all have house keys. However, the language of giving keys suggests that Jesus is investing Peter with significant authority – authority not in the sense of power, but in the sense of responsibility and service. It is extraordinary that someone whom Peter had just addressed as the Christ, the Son of the living God, should give such responsibility to a human being, to flesh and blood. What was the responsibility given to Peter that was signified by the keys? The answer to that question is to be found in the phrase which sounds somewhat obscure to our ears: ‘whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven’. The language of ‘binding’ and ‘loosing’ is a Jewish expression and it refers to teaching authority. Jewish rabbis had authority to bind and loose the Jewish law, to declare which parts of the law were binding and which could be interpreted loosely. Rabbis had the authority to interpret God’s law for people’s lives. What Jesus is portrayed as doing in our gospel reading today is giving Peter responsibility for interpreting, not the Jewish law, but the teaching of Jesus. Peter is given the task of interpreting the teaching of Jesus for the lives of the members of the church.

This is not the time or place to explore the claim of the church that this responsibility has always resided and resides today in the Bishop of Rome. What is more relevant for our life today, perhaps, is the more general point that Jesus was willing to entrust enormous responsibility to human beings. He may have given special responsibility to Peter, but he also entrusted great responsibility to all his followers. At the very end of Mathew’s gospel he called on all his disciples to go forth and make disciples of all the nations. In the Our Father we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come’. We, thereby, recognize, that the coming of God’s kingdom is primarily God’s responsibility. We look to God to see to the coming of God’s kingdom. Yet, there is a great deal in the gospels to suggest that the coming of God’s kingdom is also our responsibility. Jesus has made the coming of God’s kingdom, the promotion of God’s values, dependant on all of us - on some more than on other, certainly, but on all the baptized. You could argue that Jesus was taking a tremendous risk in doing this. Peter, who was given the greatest responsibility, left a lot to be desired. In next Sunday’s gospel reading, which follows immediately after our gospel reading today, Jesus turns to Peter and says, ‘Get behind me Satan’. The rock on which the church was built immediately became an instrument of Satan. Yet, there is no indication in the gospel that Jesus then took back the responsibility he had given to Peter. Jesus presumably knew that he was dealing with very fickle instruments, and yet he entrusted enormous responsibility to them.

Most of us are reasonable aware of our own failings and limitations; the older we get, the more aware we become of them. I am afraid that our weaknesses do not let us off the hook. Jesus continues to entrust us with responsibility for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth. What else can he do? We are all he has. The choirs of angels cannot do the job he wants done. It is a job for flesh and blood, for flawed people who are, nevertheless, generous, and who can learn to trust the Lord as much as he trusts them. When it comes to doing the work of the Lord, whatever that might mean for any one of us, we are not on our own. The Lord is with us. We have his word for it. ‘I will be with you always until the end of the age’. The Lord will work within us and among us, if we grasp the responsibility he has given us. That is clear even from today’s gospel reading. When Peter made his marvellous confession, Jesus said to him, ‘It was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven’. Jesus was saying to him, ‘Well done, but it was not all your doing’. It is never all our doing. If we do what only we can do, God will certainly do what only God can do.

And/Or

(iii) Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

We often struggle to get to know each other well. If we were to ask even close friends, ‘Who do you say I am?’ they might struggle to give an adequate answer to that question. If people are to know us, we need to reveal ourselves to them, and self-revelation does not come easy to us. Even if it does, there is always more to us than we can ever reveal. We are, all of us, mysterious. Having been made in the image and likeness of God, we share in the mystery that is God. In this morning’s second reading, St Paul seems awestruck by the mystery of God. He exclaims, ‘How rich are the depths of God – how deep his wisdom and knowledge – and how impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods’. This is coming from the greatest theologian of the early years of the church. Even he would have struggled to answer the question that God might have put to him, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ If Paul can say ‘How rich are the depths of God’, to a lesser extent we can say, ‘How rich are the depths of every human being’.

We can certainly say of Jesus, ‘How rich are his depths’, because he was no ordinary human being; he was God in human form. The gospels suggest that people struggled to get to know the person of Jesus. When Jesus turns to his disciples in today’s gospel reading and asks them, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ the answer he got showed that the general perception of him was somewhat inadequate. Jesus was not John the Baptist, or Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets, even though he had something in common with all of them. When Jesus asked his disciples the more probing question, ‘But you, who do you say that I am?’ Peter’s answer on behalf of the others was much more satisfactory, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’. Here indeed was real insight into Jesus’ identity. Jesus acknowledges Peter’s insight, ‘Blessed are you, Simon’. However, he immediately declares that this insight of Peter was a God-given insight; it was not simply the result of Peter’s own natural abilities, ‘it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven’. What is true of Peter, in this regard, is true of all of us. If any of us are to come to know Jesus more fully, it is only with God’s help that we can do this; we need the light of God’s Spirit if we are to come to know God’s Son. It is above all the Spirit who leads us to the truth, who leads us to the one who said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’.

According to the gospel reading, what singled Peter out from the other disciples was his God-given insight into the identity of Jesus. Peter knew Jesus better than any of the other disciples. It is because of this unique insight that Jesus gives Peter a unique role among his followers. He is to be the rock, the firm foundation, on which Jesus will build his church. It is an extraordinarily significant role for Jesus to give to any of his disciples. Peter’s role is further spelt out by Jesus promising him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The image of the keys suggests authority and responsibility. Jesus spells out the nature of that authority in terms of binding and loosing. This is probably a reference to a teaching authority. Peter is responsible for discerning what aspects of Jesus’ teaching are binding and what elements can be interpreted more loosely. Peter is being entrusted with the task of authoritatively interpreting the teaching of Jesus for other members of the church. As Catholics, we believe that the teaching authority entrusted to Peter resides in a special way in the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. Later on in Matthew’s gospel Jesus will criticize the Pharisees for locking people out of the kingdom of God by their teaching. In contrast, Peter’s teaching is meant to pave the way for people to enter the kingdom of God. All Christians can look to Peter as the one to whom Jesus entrusted his own teaching role in a special way. He is, in that sense, the patron of all teachers of the faith. Peter shows us that authoritative teaching is grounded in insight into the person of Jesus. We all share that teaching role of Peter to some degree.

This morning’s gospel reminds us that the church will always be a teaching church. Jesus intended it so from the very beginning. The church will always need teachers of the faith, teachers whose teaching, like that of Peter, is grounded in a God-given insight into the rich depths of the person of Jesus. The church, of course, is also a learning church, and all teachers of the faith are also learners. We are all learners when it comes to the ways of the Lord. None of us can ever adequately answer the Lord’s question, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ At most, we will only ever be on the way to answering that question. That is why we need, each one of us, to keep on invoking the coming of the Holy Spirit to lead us to the complete truth.

And/Or

(iv) Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

We struggle to know ourselves well. It is only with experience that we become aware of our strengths and weaknesses. There are probably levels to ourselves that we never fully know. If we struggle to know ourselves, it is even more of a struggle to know someone else. Even people we have been close to for years can remain something of a mystery to us. After many years they may reveal some side to themselves that we had not been aware of. We sudden realize that, perhaps, I don’t know this person as well as I thought.

If we struggle to get to know others, even those who are closest to us, it was certainly a struggle for people around Jesus to get to know him. He was more mysterious than the average person. What Paul says of God in today’s second reading could equally be said of Jesus, ‘How deep his wisdom and knowledge! How impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods! Who could ever know the mind of the Lord?’ When Jesus asks his disciples in today’s gospel reading what people were saying about him, they answered, ‘John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets’. That answer is reasonable in some far as it goes. It is the answer that Moslems and Jews would give today. Jesus was a great prophet who proclaimed God’s word. However, Jesus himself did not find that answer adequate. That is why he turned to his disciples and asked them, ‘But who do you say I am?’ He wanted to know what the people who were closest to him thought. Simon Peter answered on behalf of them all, ‘You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God’. There is an answer which shows real insight into the identity of Jesus. Yet, even that fine answer was open to more than one interpretation. When Peter gave that answer, he wasn’t thinking of a crucified Christ, a Son of God who would be rejected and put to death. Peter, even with his rich confession of faith, was only beginning to understand who Jesus really was and what that meant for the life he was being called to live.

Jesus’ question, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ is in some sense addressed to all of us. We are each asked to give our own answer to that question. It is not just an academic question that is looking for correct knowledge. That is certainly important. As Christians, we need to understand with our minds who Jesus is. We find the core of our understanding of Jesus in a section of the Creed which we will shortly recite together. A correct understanding of who Jesus is remains important for all of us as Christians today. The early church struggled for the first three hundred years of its existence to come up with an adequate answer to the question of Jesus’ identity. The great creeds were the fruit of that intellectual search. However, the question of Jesus has another dimension; it contains within itself another, more personal, question, ‘Who am I for you?’ ‘What place do I have in your life?’ ‘Where do I stand in your life?’ There is a modern religious song which I like very much and which the parish choir sometimes sing. The chorus goes, ‘You are the centre, you are my life’. That is one answer to that second way of understanding Jesus’ question. It is the answer, perhaps, that we would all like to give, and, yet, in our heart of hearts we often know that Jesus is not always at the centre of our lives. As Peter would soon discover, there can be a great deal of self at the centre of our lives. In a sense, the whole of our lives as Christians is a journey towards putting Jesus at the centre of our lives, or allowing Jesus to place himself at the centre of our lives. We are always on a journey in that regard. That is really what we mean by conversion, the process of putting the Lord at the centre of our lives, that continuous turning from self towards the Lord.

Because of Peter’s inspired insight into who Jesus was, Jesus gave him a momentous role within the emerging community of believers, the church. He was to be the rock, the foundation, on which Jesus would build his church. He was given keys as a symbol of authority - authority as understood within the kingdom of God, not the authority of domination, but the authority of service. That service would consist especially in binding and loosing. That language is a metaphor for teaching, for interpreting the words of Jesus for the other disciples. Peter was given this role, even though he was still at the beginning of his journey, and in the very next passage he would actually be addressed by Jesus as Satan. Yet, that is how the Lord works. Even as we struggle to grow in our relationship with him, as we try to know him better, with our heads and our hearts, he nevertheless entrusts all of us with great responsibility. He does not wait for us to be perfect before calling on us to share in his work. What he does ask, however, is that we are always open to ongoing conversion, just as Peter was.

And/Or

(v) Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

We know from our own experience how difficult it is to get to know someone, even someone whom we have been around or with whom we have lived for a very long time. We may think we know someone well and then we may suddenly discover something really important about them that we had never suspected. Some of you may have seen the film, the Dead, which is a film adaptation of the short story by James Joyce. At the end of the film the husband discovers something about his wife he had no inkling of up until then, her deep feelings for someone she knew as a young woman and who died tragically.

Each of us is something of a mystery. We are all made in the image and likeness of God, and, in this morning’s second reading, Paul is very aware of the profound mystery that is God, ‘Who could ever know the mind of the Lord?’ We each reflect something of the mystery that is God. If that is true of each of us, it is even truer of Jesus, who was the perfect image of God. His own disciples, those who spent time with him, struggled to come to know him, and really only began to grasp him after his resurrection and the coming of the Spirit.

When Jesus asks his disciples in this morning’s gospel reading - ‘Who do you say I am?’ - he was testing how well they had come to know him. The answer that Peter gave to that question was as good an answer as Jesus could have expected, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’. Here is an answer that has stood the test of time. We continue to give that same answer today. It is the faith of the church. In the creed we will be shortly reciting we say, ‘I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God’. That statement goes a little bit further than Peter’s answer because it reflects the developed understanding of Jesus gained by the church over several hundred years. Yet, Peter’s confession of Jesus contains in nucleus what we profess in the Creed. It is a reminder to us that the roots of our faith today are to be found in the faith of those who were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life and ministry.

Yet, even though Peter’s confession of Jesus’ identity was accurate, at the time he didn’t fully understand the implications of what he said for his life. Jesus would show himself to be the Son of the living God above all by his faithfulness to God’s mission, and this faithfulness would take him to his passion and his crucifixion. The Son of the living God was also the suffering Son of Man. To follow such a Son of God would entail being ready to travel the way of the cross with him, and it soon transpired that this was something Peter was not prepared to do. He went on to deny Jesus publicly and then to abandon him. Although Peter spoke the right words, it took some time before those words really shaped his life.

The question ‘Who do you say that I am?’ is addressed by the risen Lord to all of us. It is a question that isn’t just looking for correct information or an accurate verbal expression. It goes deeper than that. In asking, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ the Lord is asking ‘Who am I to you?’, ‘What part do I play in your life?’, ‘How deep is your relationship with me and to what extent does it shape all your other relationships, all you say and do?’ In a sense, Jesus is asking, ‘What difference do I make in your life?’ If Jesus is asking for knowledge in putting the question, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ it is as much a knowledge of the heart than a knowledge of the mind, the kind of knowledge that is the fruit of love, that flows from a loving fidelity to Jesus and all he stands for. It was this loving fidelity that Peter lacked initially but eventually went on to attain, as he gave his life for Jesus.

In living out that loving fidelity to the Lord, we need the support of the community of the believers, what we call the church. In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of ‘my church’. Because it is his church, he protects it; he promises Peter that the gates of the underworld will never hold out against it. The powers of death and evil will never destroy it. The church will always be there and we will always need it. This morning’s gospel suggests that Jesus gave Peter a special teaching role in his church. The language of binding and loosing is Jewish terminology for interpretation God’s law, God’s will. Peter has a special responsibility for interpreting the teaching of Jesus for the other members of the church. As Roman Catholics we believe that this special teaching role assigned to Peter continues to reside in the bishop of Rome, the Pope. We need the Lord’s church in all its dimensions if we are to live our faith to the full; we need each other’s lived witness and we need the church’s teaching and guidance.

And/Or

(vi) Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

We recently had to lock the front gate of the church because the paving around the church was being steam-cleaned. It is an old gate that is rarely locked. We seldom need the key to it. When I went looking for the key to lock the gate, I was struck by how big it was. It is not the kind of key you would carry around in your pocket. I was reminded of that key by today’s first reading. There the Lord declares that he will place the key of the royal palace in Jerusalem on the shoulder of Eliakim. This was an even bigger key than our gate key. It had to be carried on the shoulder, as one might carry a shovel today. The giving of the key in that reading symbolized the conferring of authority or responsibility. Eliakim had the authority and the responsibility to open and close the royal palace. To give such a key to someone was an act of great trust. Even today, if we give a key to someone, we are showing that we trust them. We don’t give the keys of our house or our car or, indeed, the church, to any and every stranger. We give such keys to people we trust will use responsibly the freedom which the keys give.

There is another reference to keys in today’s gospel reading. Jesus says to Peter, ‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven’. Artists down the centuries have depicted this scene in a very realistic way, with Jesus physically handing over a bunch of keys to Peter. When Peter is depicted in art, he is often portrayed as carrying a bunch of keys in his hand. However, the gospels suggest that Jesus often spoke in symbolic language, using a great variety of images and symbols to express his message. In addressing Peter in our gospel reading, Jesus is again speaking in this symbolic way. He makes use of this image of keys to entrust Peter with an important role in the church. Jesus uses a second image to express the nature of this role. Peter is to be the rock on which Jesus will build his church. On the Lord’s behalf, he is to give stability and direction to the community of believers; he is to be the focal point of their unity. Within the Roman Catholic Church, we have come to understand this role that Jesus gives to Peter as residing in the Bishop the Rome, the Pope.

When we hear the phrase ‘keys of the kingdom of heaven’ we can easily shorten it in our mind to the ‘keys of heaven’. This probably lies behind the image in popular religious imagination of Peter at the gates of heaven with a set of keys deciding who to let in and who to lock out. That image in turn has given rise to a whole plethora of jokes about Peter at the pearly gates. However, when Jesus spoke about ‘the kingdom of heaven’, he wasn’t referring only to the life beyond this earthly life. The words with which Jesus opened his ministry were ‘the kingdom of heaven has come near’. He went on to teach his disciples to pray, ‘Father, your kingdom come’. Jesus came to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth, to create a space where God’s life-giving reign became a reality. Whenever people responded to his presence, to his message, there the kingdom of heaven was coming to pass. The same is true today. Whenever we allow the risen Lord to live out his life in and through our lives, there the kingdom of heaven is drawing near. When Jesus says to Peter, ‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven’, he is entrusting to Peter a special responsibility of unlocking for others the reality of the kingdom of heaven not just beyond this earthly life but within it. He is calling on Peter to invite people into that space where God’s love and mercy can be experienced and celebrated, where healing and reconciliation can be found.

The role that Jesus gives to Peter in today’s gospel reading is, in some sense, unique to him. Nowhere else in the gospels does Jesus say to someone, ‘you are the rock on which I will build my church and to you I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven’. Yet, we all have a role to play in unlocking the riches of the kingdom of heaven for each other. The last words of the risen Lord in Matthew’s gospel were addressed not to Peter but to the disciples as a group, who represent us all, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations’. The risen Lord commissions us to bring others, each other, into an experience of the kingdom of heaven in the here and now. The Lord, who is present with us, his church, until the end of time, wants to work through each of us for the fuller coming of God’s kingdom of earth, ‘a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace’, in the words of the Mass for the feast of Christ the King.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[barbaramillicentgordonroberts]

: (Looks like as seen from 👆that Joseph E. Lucas has the full animation of this sighting of the movie from my last post, so thank you for being able to please me by being able to let us know all about that!) :

: Justin from his channel is back to be able to show us the Disney 23 magazine for the summer of 2023 issue for the cover of Pixar's Elemental that like I just said that we can be able to also get it for The Little Halle Bailey Mermaid, and also for the Haunted Mansion, and actually the cover of this does not continue in the back, since because it is nicely shown in the front, and the other side of the magazine is for a tv show on Disney Plus called The Muppets Mayhem although that video from 👆 shows us highlights of this magazine, can anyone please be able to do all of the other pages that he has not shown to us in this video besides from all of the other pages that he has just showed to us from 👆 :

: Besides from the 4 newly collectable pins of Pixar's Elemental from BoxLunch, this guy named Ryan Modus shows us other pins as seen from this video 👆 here! (I could be able to be wrong with his name, but this is the first ever time to a video of his that has me watching him on his channel that has all about all of the pins of Pixar, Disney, and much more of this for all of us to see besides from being able to get all of the ones that he has besides from all of the other ones that he does not have yet to be able to make sure that we do not have duplicates, or however more than that way before we are able to add them to our collection from there!) :

Check out these following three cards from MoonPig as its 14th ever partner for the movie 👇! :

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: (New hashtag for Gale Cumulus 👇, keep them all coming in for one of each of every single of all of the characters from the movie at a time!)

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: The Elemental experience of its multi mall tour is going to be able to happen at a place called Yorktown Center which should be able to be somewhere in Chicago from Friday, May/26th/2023 to Saturday, May/27th/2023 opening at its starting with the time at 10 : 00 A. M. to its ending time for the place to be able to be closed down at 9 : 00 P. M., but citizens of Chicago, and all of the non Chicagoers, do not feel so glum because there is another chance to be able to get to there on Sunday, May/28th/2023 from the very start of this day at 11 : 00 A. M. until the very end of this day at 6 : 00 P. M., again like how I did not know what the directions are to be able to get there at the sighting from New York, I might be able to not know what the directions will be able to be for Chicago, but I still got the address to be able to get you all a hint which will be able to be at 203 Yorktown Shopping Center, Lombard, IL 60148! : Today was pretty much ordinary than all of the other days were before since from the very start of this movie way before we got nothing at all from all of these 5 months except for trailers, etc., but I think that tomorrow, Thursday, May/25th/2023 will be able to be getting back to the extraordinaryness way before Friday, May/26th/2023 comes, and all of the entire rest of history after that until the very end of time of how I explained it! :

[jacierto08]

Peace may rise based on our actions

Last October 08, 2023, I participated on the 27th Sunday Mass of Ordinary Time and I got a time to celebrate the Holy Eucharistic Mass at Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya. I reflected and realized again some things that is somewhat true to my life.

                The first reading was from the book of Isaiah 5:1-7, I learned from this reading that if we are doing something that would be beneficial to everyone, we shouldn't wall ourselves off. Similar to the man in the reading who planted a vineyard but surrounded it with fences, wild vines grew there instead of grapes. According to this, we shouldn't establish boundaries or barriers between our brothers, but rather, we should be welcoming to them.

                On the second reading, it was from the book of Philippians 4:6-9, The word of the Lord states that, we should avoid feeling anxious in every situation and instead gather our faith and have the courage to tell God everything you want to say. We should continue to have faith in Him and work to understand what He wants from us if we want to receive His peace.

                The Gospel was from the Gospel of Matthew 21:33-43, This is a parable about a vineyard owner who gave workers a job in his property, but when it is time for the owner to collect the produced fruit, they simply stoned, beat, and killed the servants he had sent and even his son was killed by them. This is similar to what humanity did to Jesus when He was crucified; humanity made Him suffer and killed Him by nailing Him to a cross, and while He was among us and walking around, we mocked and called Him a fraud and a hypocrite. The judgement that we received was that God will take away the gate of the heavens to those people who thinks of greed and will give the Kingdom of God to those people who would produce the fruit itself.

                The readings on this mass are telling us to reflect on how we do treat the opportunities that the Lord had given us. In the parable, I haven’t experienced something like that but I know that the instinct of a man when he thinks that a vulnerable person is with him, he would take away every ounce of goodness that he has until nothing will be left from him. In the first reading it states that we should guard up the things that we have but if we look at it, it is not applicable to the world that we are living now. So, the only thing that we can do is to guard up but at the same time be considerate and helpful to other people. They may harm us or speak words that could shatter us into pieces we should forgive them and move on because we know to ourselves that if we forgive and focus on what we needed to do then the peace of the Lord will descend upon us.

[putikslayer]

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 21:33-43

[some-muddy-loves-you]

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 21:33-43

[rustykev]

Today we celebrate the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Take a moment now to listen to the Mass Readings and Psalm for today, drawing closer to Our Lord's Most Sacred Heart. God love you.

Also, pray along and listen to the Office Readings of the Church.

[dehonians-philippines]

Sacred Heart Formation House, Cagayan de Oro City, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

[adoseofgodtoday]

Karen & Ken-Moments

October 8, 2023 – 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100823.cfm) For pasalubong, a monsignor once bought a box of munchkins from Dunkin Doughnut. While waiting for their flight, a family sat beside him at the pre-departure area. Giving in to his cravings for sweets, the monsignor took a munchkin from the box, and enjoyed eating it.…

[friarmusings]

A Final Thought

This coming Sunday is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The old tenants lost their place because they failed to produce the required fruit, and it is the distinguishing mark of the new “nation” that it will produce it. The point is not developed here, but this qualification potentially carries a warning also to the new “nation.” If it in turn fails to produce the fruit, it cannot presume on its…

[carmelitesaet]

Download #CelebratingAtHome for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time at https://carmelites.org.au/celebratingathome

Stewards of God’s gift

In last Sunday’s parable, Jesus addressed the Jerusalem priests and elders with a message that “action speaks louder than words”.

This Sunday, Jesus continues his address to them, building upon that message by using another parable.

This week’s parable asks us how we have used the gifts that God has entrusted to us. It is essentially a parable about stewardship.

God has entrusted the kingdom to us, individually and collectively. We are expected to cultivate and manage this Kingdom life in such a way that it bears good fruit, fruit that we can present to God, the ‘owner of the vineyard’.

There is nothing in the parable to indicate that there was any actual produce for the landowner to collect. It may very well be that the tenants had simply neglected the wonderful vineyard altogether and allowed it to fall into ruin.

Each of us has been given, not only the gift of life, but the wealth provided by God’s grace – the very kingdom of God. Indeed, we have been privileged. However, with this privilege comes responsibility and we are ultimately responsible to God for the way we use or neglect the Kingdom within. We have to become a people who produce the fruit of the kingdom: love, mercy, justice, forgiveness, tolerance, hope, joy, deeds of loving kindness.

What will we do with the Kingdom that has been entrusted to us?

Let us pray that we may leave all the various ‘vineyards’ of our worlds in a better condition than how we were given them. Let us develop and sustain our awareness, seek out opportunities to contribute and then make judicious use of the gifts and grace that God has given us by letting God’s grace be seen at work in us; and, through us, at work in the world.

We are stewards of the Kingdom and of God’s grace. Let’s not waste such a great gift.

[offmetropolitan]

SUNDAY 8TH OCTOBER 2023: THE TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

Worship Words, Cerezo Barredo 1998, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Click here to read today’s Sunday Mass Readings. Finally, [the owner of the vineyard] sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’      Matthew 21:37-38. For further information, click on…

[fr-martin-gospel-reflections]

27th August - ‘Who do you say I am?’ Reflection on today’s gospel reading (Mt 16:13-20)

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

If each one of us were to ask the question Jesus asks in today’s gospel reading, I wonder what kind of answers we would get, ‘Who do people say I am?’ If I was told what other people had to say about me, I might feel that they don’t really understand me. Other people only have a limited insight into the kind of person any one of us is. There is always more to us than others see and hear.

When Jesus asked his disciples the question, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ he too would have felt that people didn’t really understand him. People were saying that Jesus was a prophet, like John the Baptist or Elijah. There was much more to Jesus than a prophet. Jesus then asked his disciples, ‘Who do you say I am?’ He would have expected a more insightful answer from them. They had been his close companions for some time. It would be like each of us asking the person who was closest to us, ‘Who do you say I am?’ We would expect a more insightful answer than that given by others. It was Peter who answered Jesus’ question, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’. Here was an answer that did much fuller justice to who Jesus really was. However, good as Peter’s answer was, he had a lot more to learn about the kind of Christ, the kind of Son of God, Jesus would be. He certainly didn’t think that Jesus was the kind of Christ or Son of God who would end up hanging on a Roman cross.

Jesus’ question, ‘Who do you say I am?’ is addressed to each one of us. This is not a question that is looking just for information, like a question on an examination paper. ‘Write a short essay on who Jesus is’. It is a much more personal question than that. Jesus is really asking, ‘Who am I for you?’ ‘What part do I play in your life?’ In a sense Jesus is asking, ‘How do you relate to me?’ ‘What image do you have of me?’ It is worth pondering that question a little this Sunday. Jesus speaks of himself throughout the gospels using many images. Which image appeals to you? Which image speaks most powerfully to you? In the gospel of John alone, Jesus says of himself, ‘I am the bread of life’, ‘I am the light of the world’, ‘I am the good shepherd’, ‘I am the gate’, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’, ‘I am the vine’. Elsewhere in John’s gospel, other people identify Jesus in other ways. John the Baptist says, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’. The Samaritans declare, ‘This is truly the Saviour of the world’. Peter says to him, ‘You are the Holy One of God’. Thomas says to him, ‘My Lord and my God’. None of these ways of speaking about Jesus do him full justice, but each one gives us an insight into who he is. Which image speaks most powerfully to you? There was a time when the image of the Sacred Heart for Jesus spoke most powerfully to people. I remember that image in the kitchen of my grandparents. ‘Who do you say I am?’ ‘You are the Sacred Heart’. Even though Jesus never spoke of himself in this way, this image powerfully conveyed the tremendous love of Jesus for each of us personally, his loving presence at all times, especially in the valleys of darkness. Here was a love that loved me as I am, a love that could be trusted.

The image of Jesus that speaks most powerfully to us may not be based on anything Jesus said about himself or on what others said about him. It could be based on a gospel scene. I have a sense of Jesus as a constant companion. It is based on the scene in the gospel of Luke where the risen Lord joins the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, listening to their sad story, sharing God’s story from the Scriptures with them, and then making himself known to them in the breaking of bread, the Eucharist. ‘Who do you say I am?’ I might answer, ‘You are my constant companion, present in others, in your word, in the Eucharist’. What gospel scene, what image of Jesus from the gospels, speaks most powerfully to you? My mother was drawn to the gospel scene of Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well. She said to me once, ‘It was to a woman that Jesus first revealed himself as the Messiah’. Where does Jesus speak most powerfully to you in the gospels? What scene do you feel drawn to in some way? Our answer to Jesus’ question, ‘Who do you say I am?’ will be very personal to each one of us, because Jesus relates personally to each of us. He calls each of us by name. He invites each of us into a personal relationship with himself, asking us to answer for ourselves his question, ‘Who do you say I am?’

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

27th August >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

(Liturgical Colour: Green: A (1))

First Reading Isaiah 22:19-23 I place the key of the House of David on my servant's shoulder.

Thus says the Lord of Hosts to Shebna, the master of the palace:

I dismiss you from your office, I remove you from your post, and the same day I call on my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I invest him with your robe, gird him with your sash, entrust him with your authority; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah. I place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; should he open, no one shall close, should he close, no one shall open. I drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a throne of glory for his father’s house.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 137(138):1-3,6,8

R/ Your love, O Lord, is eternal: discard not the work of your hands.

I thank you, Lord, with all my heart: you have heard the words of my mouth. In the presence of the angels I will bless you. I will adore before your holy temple.

R/ Your love, O Lord, is eternal: discard not the work of your hands.

I thank you for your faithfulness and love, which excel all we ever knew of you. On the day I called, you answered; you increased the strength of my soul.

R/ Your love, O Lord, is eternal: discard not the work of your hands.

The Lord is high yet he looks on the lowly and the haughty he knows from afar. Your love, O Lord, is eternal, discard not the work of your hands.

R/ Your love, O Lord, is eternal: discard not the work of your hands.

Second Reading Romans 11:33-36 All that exists comes from him; all is by him and from him.

How rich are the depths of God – how deep his wisdom and knowledge – and how impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods! Who could ever know the mind of the Lord? Who could ever be his counsellor? Who could ever give him anything or lend him anything? All that exists comes from him; all is by him and for him. To him be glory for ever! Amen.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation 2 Corinthians 5:19

Alleluia, alleluia! God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. Alleluia!

Or: Matthew 16:18

Alleluia, alleluia! You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. Alleluia!

Gospel Matthew 16:13-20 You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said, ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’ Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.