Monday 05th September 2022
Mother Teresa
of Calcutta
(1910 – 1997)
Born in Macedonia, she became a missionary in India. Teresa had an encounter, in which she heard Christ tell her, “Come be my light.” She formed the Missionaries of Charity, who set up hospitals and homes for the dying. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work. Mother Teresa died in 1997 and was beatified in 2002.
Entrance Antiphon : Ps 118: 137, 124
You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.
Collect
O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : 1 Corinthians 5:1-8
I have been told as an undoubted fact that one of you is living with his father’s wife. This is a case of sexual immorality among you that must be unparalleled even among pagans. How can you be so proud of yourselves? You should be in mourning. A man who does a thing like that ought to have been expelled from the community. Though I am far away in body, I am with you in spirit, and have already condemned the man who did this thing as if I were actually present. When you are assembled together in the name of the Lord Jesus, and I am spiritually present with you, then with the power of our Lord Jesus he is to be handed over to Satan so that his sensual body may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. The pride that you take in yourselves is hardly to your credit. You must know how even a small amount of yeast is enough to leaven all the dough, so get rid of all the old yeast, and make yourselves into a completely new batch of bread, unleavened as you are meant to be. Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the feast, then, by getting rid of all the old yeast of evil and wickedness, having only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Psalm 5:5-7,12
R/ Lead me, Lord, in your justice.
- You are no God who loves evil; no sinner is your guest. The boastful shall not stand their ground before your face.
- You hate all who do evil; you destroy all who lie. The deceitful and bloodthirsty man the Lord detests.
- All those you protect shall be glad and ring out their joy. You shelter them; in you they rejoice, those who love your name.
Gospel Acclamation : Ps118:105
Alleluia, alleluia! Your word is a lamp for my steps and a light for my path. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 6:6-11
On the Sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. The Scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see if he would cure a man on the Sabbath, hoping to find something to use against him. But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Stand up! Come out into the middle.’ And he came out and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I put it to you: is it against the law on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to destroy it?’ Then he looked round at them all and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He did so, and his hand was better. But they were furious, and began to discuss the best way of dealing with Jesus.
Prayer over the Offerings
O God, who give us the gift of true prayer and of peace, graciously grant that through this offering, we may do fitting homage to your divine majesty and, by partaking of the sacred mystery, we may be faithfully united in mind and heart. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Ps 41: 2-3
Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God; my soul is thirsting for God, the living God.
Prayer after Communion
Grant that your faithful, O Lord, whom you nourish and endow with life through the food of your Word and heavenly Sacrament, may so benefit from your beloved Son’s great gifts that we may merit an eternal share in his life. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Meditation
It is a big contradiction to assume the right to kill or harm or destroy life in the name of religion (which is even falsely interpreted just to suit our desires). We live in a world where those who do good are ridiculed, disgraced, left aside, insulted, harassed, and even tortured, while those who perpetrate evil are praised, raised, and acclaimed. While some are building, others are destroying. In a similar manner, the subjects of morals and religious studies have been taken out of the academic programmes of our schools today. Children are no longer taught what they should to build their character and be closer to God. Are we part of those who build or those who destroy? Something must be done by you and me.