20-second Summary
God’s constant love and mercy abounds! They are present everywhere and every time, every place and every moment. This week’s readings are all about seeing, recognizing, and experiencing His constant love and mercy.
Our discussion helps us see that, and our activity gives us the opportunity to knowingly, actively participate in it!
Catechesis At Home – Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
Constant Love and Mercy
First Reading
or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.
But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;
and you overlook people’s sins that they may repent.
For you love all things that are
and loathe nothing that you have made;
for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.
And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it;
or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?
But you spare all things, because they are yours,
O LORD and lover of souls,
for your imperishable spirit is in all things!
Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little,
warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing,
that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD!
Responsorial Psalm
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
Second Reading
Brothers and sisters:
We always pray for you,
that our God may make you worthy of his calling
and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose
and every effort of faith,
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you,
and you in him,
in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.
We ask you, brothers and sisters,
with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our assembling with him,
not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed
either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement,
or by a letter allegedly from us
to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.
Gospel Reading
Alleluia
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
“Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house.”
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying,
“He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
“Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over.”
And Jesus said to him,
“Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost.”
Mass Readings are presented verbatim from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) web site in good faith accordance with its “Web and Other Digital Media Usage” guidelines. All Rights are reserved to the USCCB.
Constant Love and Mercy
REFLECTION – God’s Constant Love and Mercy
Our readings this week incorporate the theme of God’s loving Mercy for all His creatures. He made the earth and all that is in it out of love. He loves us so much that when we sin, he does not “unmake” us or destroy us, but leads us back to Him. He doesn’t have to do this, but:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that all who believes in Him will have eternal life.”
John 3:16 is our Gospel acclamation this week. It sums up the entirety of Salvation History in one sentence.
When Jesus called Zacchaeus out of that tree, He invited him to repent and believe so he can have eternal life. This is the same thing Jesus does for us every day, every Mass, every prayer. He is constantly calling out to us to return to Him. And since we just as constantly sin, we need His persistence and His omnipresence. We need that outpouring of mercy.
A central theme of all of Sacred Scripture is God’s fidelity and His People’s infidelity to the covenants. Jesus fulfilled all previous covenants when He died and rose again. The seal of this covenant is the Eucharistic feast. Each time we celebrate the Eucharist at Mass we recall this covenant fidelity of God, and in partaking of Holy Communion we re-consecrate ourselves to this covenant. This is what God created us for – to love and be in communion with Him, and each other.
DISCUSSION – Do We Experience God’s Constant Love and Mercy?
When have you felt Jesus call you back to Him? How has He done it? Discuss ways that God constantly and patiently calls us back into the fold with your family this week. And how we respond – what do we do to come back? After attending Mass together, talk about how being in God’s grace is so much better than being separated from Him.
ACTIVITY – Being God’s Constant Love and Mercy to Each Other
This week find ways to be examples of God’s constant love and mercy to each other – say a kind word, help when not asked, complain less (or not at all!), give hugs and kisses. Let each of us be Christ to one another.
DIG DEEPER – Other Constant Love and mercy resources from Holy Owned and Operated:
Page: Prayer Basics
TWMWU: Are You Prepared?
TWMWU: What is Love?
TWMWU: Glory to God
TWMWU: The Virtue of Humility
Podcast: Our Saints – Episode 18
Video: Fruits of the Spirit: Love
How does the Lord’s Constant Love and Mercy help you?
by Beth & Kristofer Cowles
HOO™ Co-Founders
Other Help on HOO
Being On The Road To Perfection – Episode 166
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:32 — 22.6MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Stitcher | Blubrry | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS | More Subscribe Options
We are called to be perfect, as we discussed last week.
So, what does being on the road to perfection look like?
If Jesus was “finished” and his ministry was “completed,” as it means when He said, “It is done,” by saying, “It is perfected” just before He died on the Cross, He must have walked a road to perfection.
And so must we.
In this episode we discuss that concept, in terms of what we are doing and how we respond to the call for our life.
It’s a simple concept, and a difficult task, but we have the example of Our Lord which, from the proper perspective, is not an impossible example to follow and exemplify.
0 Comments