Prayer of the Faithful for Sunday, November 23rd, 2014. The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Celebrant: As we celebrate our merciful Lord, Jesus Christ, who gathers the lost sheep to Himself, let us, dear sisters and brothers, approach the one God to voice all our needs.
· Help us to be like the Good Shepherd, portrayed in today’s readings. We pray to the Lord.
· Help St. Mary’s always respond to the wishes of Jesus:
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’. We pray to the Lord.
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’. We pray to the Lord.
· Let us not forget that we were once the “least brethren” of Matthew’s Gospel. We pray to the Lord.
· That all may have food and shelter and human companionship on Thanksgiving and throughout the year. We pray to the Lord.
· That we as a people might raise our voices in a sincere chorus of thanksgiving to the one God. We pray to the Lord.
· and for those for whom this mass is offered [name them]. We pray to the Lord.
Let us pause now and silently offer to the Father our own particular intentions [...allow for silence...]. We pray to the Lord.
Celebrant: Father, we have hope that you will be moved to hear and respond to our sincere prayers, for they are asked in the name of your generous Son, the King of the Universe, and in the power of your Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.#
Every Sunday, for the past six months, I have had the great privilege of composing the Sunday petitions, the Prayer of the Faithful, for our local Church. At first I found the task very difficult and time-consuming. I have now developed a system, an approach, to this task, and have settled into the job. I have really been enjoying it and have learned to appreciate the beautiful (usually beautiful) readings that have been selected for our Sunday masses. This week, the readings are outstanding:
Readings for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe: EZ 34: 11-12, 15-17; PS 23: 1-3, 5-6; I COR 15: 20-26, 28; MT 25: 31-46. http://www.usccb.org/bible/
In his most recent blog posting, Mike Rivage-Seul comments on these readings, and calls this week's gospel "absolutely transcendent." Click here for Mike's blog.
Here is that gospel, Matthew 25: 31-46. These words are at the center of my own Christianity:
Gospel MT 25:31-46
Jesus said to his disciples:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right,
'Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left,
'Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked and you gave me no clothing,
ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’
Then they will answer and say,
'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?’
He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life."
[Post Script: Here's something odd. My focus was so much on the bolded passages in the above gospel that I pretty much ignored the disturbing passages in Matthew's gospel! How are these to be explained?]
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right,
'Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left,
'Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked and you gave me no clothing,
ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’
Then they will answer and say,
'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?’
He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life."
[Post Script: Here's something odd. My focus was so much on the bolded passages in the above gospel that I pretty much ignored the disturbing passages in Matthew's gospel! How are these to be explained?]
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