Enter Through The Narrow Gate

JUNE 21, 2022, TUESDAY

MEMORIAL OF SAINT ALOYSIUS GONZAGA, RELIGIOUS (White)

CYCLE C - YEAR II

Lectionary: 372

Reading I

2 Kgs 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent envoys to Hezekiah

with this message:

“Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah:

‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you

by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over

to the king of Assyria.

You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done

to all other countries: they doomed them!

Will you, then, be saved?’”

Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it;

then he went up to the temple of the LORD,

and spreading it out before him,

he prayed in the LORD’s presence:

“O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim!

You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.

You have made the heavens and the earth.

Incline your ear, O LORD, and listen!

Open your eyes, O LORD, and see!

Hear the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.

Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations

and their lands, and cast their gods into the fire;

they destroyed them because they were not gods,

but the work of human hands, wood and stone.

Therefore, O LORD, our God, save us from the power of this man,

that all the kingdoms of the earth may know

that you alone, O LORD, are God.”

Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah:

“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,

in answer to your prayer for help against Sennacherib, king of Assyria:

I have listened!

This is the word the LORD has spoken concerning him:

“‘She despises you, laughs you to scorn,

the virgin daughter Zion!

Behind you she wags her head,

daughter Jerusalem.

“‘For out of Jerusalem shall come a remnant,

and from Mount Zion, survivors.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.’

“Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria:

‘He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it,

nor come before it with a shield,

nor cast up siege-works against it.

He shall return by the same way he came,

without entering the city, says the LORD.

I will shield and save this city for my own sake,

and for the sake of my servant David.’”

That night the angel of the LORD went forth and struck down

one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp.

So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp,

and went back home to Nineveh.

Responsorial Psalm

48:2-3ab, 3cd-4, 10-11

R. (see 9d) God upholds his city for ever.

Great is the LORD and wholly to be praised

in the city of our God.

His holy mountain, fairest of heights,

is the joy of all the earth.

R. God upholds his city for ever.

Mount Zion, “the recesses of the North,”

is the city of the great King.

God is with her castles;

renowned is he as a stronghold.

R. God upholds his city for ever.

O God, we ponder your mercy

within your temple.

As your name, O God, so also your praise

reaches to the ends of the earth.

Of justice your right hand is full.

R. God upholds his city for ever.

 

Alleluia

Jn 8:12

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

I am the light of the world, says the Lord;

whoever follows me will have the light of life.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mt 7:6, 12-14

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine,

lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.

“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.

This is the Law and the Prophets.

“Enter through the narrow gate;

for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,

and those who enter through it are many.

How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.

And those who find it are few.”

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Availability of good things and success in life can increase greed. False gods can take over and direction is lost. Being better off does not mean being better in what really matters. I need good values and time to reflect, so that good decisions about God’s bounty may be arrived at.

It is easy to drift, to follow the broad and easy route, but that does not lead to life. Jesus is the way to life and he is the entry point. ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep…whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture’ (John 10:7-9). Lord, help me to be a good follower of you.

PRAYER:

The easy option is to avoid personal responsibilities and to go with the crowd. The choice between right and wrong can often be lonely and narrow. Lord, please show me the road that leads to you. May I follow it with joy, whether it is hard or easy.

Stop Judging

JUNE 20, 2022, MONDAY
Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time (Green)
CYCLE C - YEAR II
Lectionary: 371

Reading I
2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18

Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, occupied the whole land

and attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years.

In the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel

the king of Assyria took Samaria,

and deported the children of Israel to Assyria,

setting them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan,

and the cities of the Medes.

This came about because the children of Israel sinned against the LORD,

their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt,

from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,

and because they venerated other gods.

They followed the rites of the nations

whom the Lord had cleared out of the way of the children of Israel

and the kings of Israel whom they set up.

And though the LORD warned Israel and Judah

by every prophet and seer,

“Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes,

in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers

and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,”

they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers,

who had not believed in the LORD, their God.

They rejected his statutes,

the covenant which he had made with their fathers,

and the warnings which he had given them, till,

in his great anger against Israel,

the LORD put them away out of his sight.

Only the tribe of Judah was left.

Responsorial Psalm
60:3, 4-5, 12-13

R. (7b) Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.

O God, you have rejected us and broken our defenses;

you have been angry; rally us!

R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.

You have rocked the country and split it open;

repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.

You have made your people feel hardships;

you have given us stupefying wine.

R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.

Have not you, O God, rejected us,

so that you go not forth, O God, with our armies?

Give us aid against the foe,

for worthless is the help of men.

R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.

Alleluia
Heb 4:12

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The word of God is living and effective,

able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mt 7:1-5

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Stop judging, that you may not be judged.

For as you judge, so will you be judged,

and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.

Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,

but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?

How can you say to your brother,

‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’

while the wooden beam is in your eye?

You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first;

then you will see clearly

to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Arrogance can make us believe that we are morally superior to others and can act as judges over them. As Jesus' imagery suggests it is all too easy to see others' faults and remain blind to our own. Becoming obsessed with a small failing in another person can distract us from being aware of a much greater shortcoming in ourselves.

PRAYER:

Lord, it is not easy always to think the best of other people, though I know I should. Newspaper headlines are pointing the finger of blame every day; they see the speck in every neighbor's eye, and urge me to judge, denounce and sue for damages. But I never know enough of the story to form a proper judgment on anyone. I would rather leave judgment to God, and try to be godlike in thinking well of my fellows.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (CORPUS CHRISTI SUNDAY - C)

JUNE 19, 2022, SUNDAY
THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST 
(CORPUS CHRISTI) (White)
FATHER'S DAY
CYCLE C - YEAR II 
Lectionary: 169

Reading I
Gn 14:18-20

In those days, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine,

and being a priest of God Most High,

he blessed Abram with these words:

            "Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

                        the creator of heaven and earth;

            and blessed be God Most High,

                        who delivered your foes into your hand."

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4

R (4b)  You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

The LORD said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand

            till I make your enemies your footstool."

R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:

            "Rule in the midst of your enemies."

R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

"Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;

            before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you."

R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:

            "You are a priest forever, according to the order of  Melchizedek."

R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

 

Reading II
1 Cor 11:23-26

Brothers and sisters:

I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,

that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,

took bread, and, after he had given thanks,

broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me."

In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,

"This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,

you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Sequence
Lauda Sion

Laud, O Zion, your salvation,

Laud with hymns of exultation,

            Christ, your king and shepherd true:

Bring him all the praise you know,

He is more than you bestow.

            Never can you reach his due.

Special theme for glad thanksgiving

Is the quick’ning and the living

            Bread today before you set:

From his hands of old partaken,

As we know, by faith unshaken,

            Where the Twelve at supper met.

Full and clear ring out your chanting,

Joy nor sweetest grace be wanting,

            From your heart let praises burst:

For today the feast is holden,

When the institution olden

            Of that supper was rehearsed.

Here the new law’s new oblation,

By the new king’s revelation,

            Ends the form of ancient rite:

Now the new the old effaces,

Truth away the shadow chases,

            Light dispels the gloom of night.

What he did at supper seated,

Christ ordained to be repeated,

            His memorial ne’er to cease:

And his rule for guidance taking,

Bread and wine we hallow, making

            Thus our sacrifice of peace.

This the truth each Christian learns,

Bread into his flesh he turns,

            To his precious blood the wine:

Sight has fail’d, nor thought conceives,

But a dauntless faith believes,

            Resting on a pow’r divine.

Here beneath these signs are hidden

Priceless things to sense forbidden;

            Signs, not things are all we see:

Blood is poured and flesh is broken,

Yet in either wondrous token

            Christ entire we know to be.

Whoso of this food partakes,

Does not rend the Lord nor breaks;

            Christ is whole to all that taste:

Thousands are, as one, receivers,

One, as thousands of believers,

            Eats of him who cannot waste.

Bad and good the feast are sharing,

Of what divers dooms preparing,

            Endless death, or endless life.

Life to these, to those damnation,

See how like participation

            Is with unlike issues rife.

When the sacrament is broken,

Doubt not, but believe ‘tis spoken,

            That each sever’d outward token

            doth the very whole contain.

Nought the precious gift divides,

Breaking but the sign betides

            Jesus still the same abides,

            still unbroken does remain.

The shorter form of the sequence begins here.

Lo! the angel’s food is given

To the pilgrim who has striven;

            see the children’s bread from heaven,

            which on dogs may not be spent.

Truth the ancient types fulfilling,

Isaac bound, a victim willing,

            Paschal lamb, its lifeblood spilling,

            manna to the fathers sent.

Very bread, good shepherd, tend us,

Jesu, of your love befriend us,

            You refresh us, you defend us,

            Your eternal goodness send us

In the land of life to see.

You who all things can and know,

Who on earth such food bestow,

            Grant us with your saints, though lowest,

            Where the heav’nly feast you show,

Fellow heirs and guests to be. Amen. Alleluia.

Alleluia
Jn 6:51

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;

whoever eats this bread will live forever.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Lk 9:11b-17

Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God,

and he healed those who needed to be cured.

As the day was drawing to a close,

the Twelve approached him and said,

"Dismiss the crowd

so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms

and find lodging and provisions;

for we are in a deserted place here."

He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves."

They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have,

unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people."

Now the men there numbered about five thousand.

Then he said to his disciples,

"Have them sit down in groups of about fifty."

They did so and made them all sit down.

Then taking the five loaves and the two fish,

and looking up to heaven,

he said the blessing over them, broke them,

and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.

They all ate and were satisfied.

And when the leftover fragments were picked up,

they filled twelve wicker baskets.

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Jesus became bread broken for us. The cup of blessing is the blood of the new covenant that would be poured out for us. Jesus drew on simple everyday signs to present a profound message. His self-giving is complete, as are bread when it is eaten and wine when it is drunk. Nothing is left. As Eucharistic people we are to be taken, blessed, broken and given to others as Jesus was. His continued presence among us gives us nourishment and we in turn nourish others.

PRAYER:

Lord, thank You for allowing us to touch You through the Holy Eucharist. Heal, transform and give me new life whenever I receive You.