20-second Summary
Jesus comes with His message for ALL people, even those whom we think don’t deserve it, or are different from us. In reality, we are all the same, human beings, sinners, who need a Savior. Read on to learn how we can support, live and share in the mission of Christ, spreading the Good News to all people.
This Week’s Mass Warm-Up!
Catechesis At Home – Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year A
Good News for All People
First Reading
Thus says the LORD:
Observe what is right, do what is just;
for my salvation is about to come,
my justice, about to be revealed.
The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
ministering to him,
loving the name of the LORD,
and becoming his servants—
all who keep the sabbath free from profanation
and hold to my covenant,
them I will bring to my holy mountain
and make joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be acceptable on my altar,
for my house shall be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.
Responsorial Psalm
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the nations be glad and exult
because you rule the peoples in equity;
the nations on the earth you guide.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
Second Reading
Brothers and sisters:
I am speaking to you Gentiles.
Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles,
I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous
and thus save some of them.
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy.
For God delivered all to disobedience,
that he might have mercy upon all.
Gospel Reading
Alleluia
Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.
Jesus’ disciples came and asked him,
“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
He said in reply,
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”
He said in reply,
“It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters.”
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.”
And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.
Mass Readings are presented verbatim from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) web site in good faith according its guidelines and under the Fair Use doctrine for educational and commentary purposes. All Rights are reserved to the USCCB.
Good News for All People
REFLECTION – Jesus’ Message for All People
When Jesus encounters the woman in today’s Gospel, it is a bit shocking. Jesus liked to shock His listeners, because it made them pay attention. Isaiah and Paul do similarly in the first two readings. It is shocking that God, who made a covenant with the Israelites, would allow Gentiles into the covenant. This was very shocking at the time. Strangers, people who speak different languages, worship idols, and eat unclean food…why should they be offered a place at the table?
And Jesus seems to ask the same question, when the Gentile woman pleas for her daughter’s deliverance. She sees in Jesus a means to help her daughter and family. She doesn’t give up, even when Jesus insults her!
“It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” – Jesus calls her and her kind, dogs. But, she’s tenacious, this woman, she has a quick come-back: “Even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table.” Jesus relents, healing her daughter, without even seeing the girl, “from that hour” because of the mother’s faith.
Jesus comes with His message for ALL people, even those whom we think don’t deserve it, or are different from us. In reality, we are all the same, human beings, sinners, who need a Savior.
The teaching of Jesus, fulfills the prophecies of Isaiah, and Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles is the fruit of that teaching and fulfillment. We, ourselves, are recipients of this ministry. The Church spread to all nations, corners of the earth, so that Jesus’ saving message for all people may be heard, received, and lived. The Good News of Jesus Christ, is that, though we are sinners, He saves us from eternal damnation by His Incarnation, Cross, Resurrection and Ascension. He came not just for the Jewish people, but for all people, the whole human race. May we be faithful and faith-filled recipients of the grace and mercy offered.
DISCUSSION – What is the Good News for All People?
Discuss this question among your family and friends this week. We speak often about the Good News, or Gospel, of Jesus Christ. But, do we honestly know what it is? Can we proclaim it to others? Do we take it to heart? The Good News in a nutshell can be found in John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Everyone has the chance for salvation through Jesus Christ. How can we live this reality today?
ACTIVITY – Salvation for All
This week pray for the grace and faith of Jesus to be shared with all the world. There are many missionaries who proclaim the Good News to people who have never heard of Jesus, who do not have access to a Church, or a Bible, or anything we take for granted. Pray for them in their mission. Read about some of them. Pray and ask God how you can support the spread of His Good News to all people.
DIG DEEPER – Other For All People resources from Holy Owned and Operated:
Page: Faith Formation
TWMWU: He Gathers All Nations
TWMWU: We Are Called to Be Prophets
TWMWU: To Whom Shall I Go – Making God the Priority
Podcast Episode: Spreading the Good News – Episode 135
Podcast Episode: Kerygma – Episode 77
Podcast Episode: Are You Saved? – Episode 136
Article: Maximilian Kolbe – A Saint for All Times
How do you help spread the Good News For All People?
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)
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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.
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