First and Last

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Is 66:18-21

Thus says the LORD:
I know their works and their thoughts,
and I come to gather nations of every language;
they shall come and see my glory.
I will set a sign among them;
from them I will send fugitives to the nations:
to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan,
to the distant coastlands
that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory;
and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations.
They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations
as an offering to the LORD,
on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries,
to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the LORD,
just as the Israelites bring their offering
to the house of the LORD in clean vessels.
Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the LORD.

Ps. 117:1, 2

Responsorial Psalm

R. (Mk 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia.
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Heb 12:5-7, 11-13

Reading 2

Brothers and sisters,
You have forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children:
“My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord
or lose heart when reproved by him;
for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines;
he scourges every son he acknowledges.”
Endure your trials as “discipline”;
God treats you as sons.
For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline?
At the time,
all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain,
yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness
to those who are trained by it.

So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.
Make straight paths for your feet,
that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed.

Lk 13:22-30

Gospel

Jesus passed through towns and villages,
teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him,
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
He answered them,
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
‘Lord, open the door for us.’
He will say to you in reply,
‘I do not know where you are from.
And you will say,
‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
Then he will say to you,
‘I do not know where you are from.
Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth
when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God
and you yourselves cast out.
And people will come from the east and the west
and from the north and the south
and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.
For behold, some are last who will be first,
and some are first who will be last.”

Sunday Transfers

Bishop William Kenney, the apostolic administrator of Birmingham diocese, will this morning lead a Corpus Christi procession atMapledurham House, near Reading, after Mass in its historic chapel.

That's good to hear. For today is the real feast of Corpus Christi. Three years ago, the Bishops of England and Wales high-handedly moved the feast to the following Sunday, in a diktat that also monkeyed around with other Holydays of Obligation.

Many priests and people have never reconciled themselves to this change, or the insulting lack of consultation. So it's interesting that Bishop Kenney, who is running Birmingham diocese until a new bishop is appointed next year (why such a ridiculous delay?), is presiding at this Mass - in the ordinary form, I assume - organised by the local parish in Caversham.

It's important to emphasise that it wasn't just traditionalists who were upset by the bishops' de haut en bas ruling. The moving of the great weekday feasts of Epiphany, Ascension and Corpus Christi was a little piece of iconoclasm, comparable to the reordering of churches to make them look less like Catholic places of worship and more like social security offices. Last year, the bishops even attempted (but failed) to get a ruling out of Rome that would have stopped celebrations of the old feast days in the extraordinary form.

So does Bishop Kenney's wise and generous gesture signify a change of heart by the bishops as a whole? That's going too far, probably. But I think that some bishops, at least, now recognise that their experiment with the calendar has caused nothing but unhappiness and confusion. (Damian Thompson blog)

Who saves who?

Luke 10.25-37

25 There was a scholar of the law 11 who stood up to test him and said, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?"
27He said in reply, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."
28He replied to him, "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live."
29But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
30Jesus replied, "A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
31 A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
32Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
33But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight.
34He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him.
35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.'
36Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?"
37He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Reflection "For the ride home" by Ted Burgh

•Does the Good Samaritan save the man attacked by robbers, or does the man attacked by robbers save the Good Samaritan?

•Consider how Jesus saves you by “the blood of the cross” and how you save others and others save you through “the blood of the cross.”

•Who are we called to save? How is it possible?

He says: It is a joy, a bliss, an endless delight to me that ever I suffered for you. And this is the bliss of Christ’s deeds, and this is what he means when he says: We are his bliss, we are his reward, we are his honour, we are his crown. For he still has that same thirst and longing which he had upon the Cross, which desire, longing and thirst, as I see it, were in him from without beginning…

For as truly as there is in God a quality of pity and compassion, so truly is there in God a quality of thirst and longing and the power of longing; and the power of this longing in Christ enables us to respond to this longing and without this no soul comes to heaven. And this quality of longing and thirst comes from God's everlasting goodness, and this is the characteristic of spiritual thirst, which will persist in him so long as we are in need, and will draw us up into his bliss.

My Sundays

Here in retirement I rise in time to tune into news and "Sunday programme" on Radio 4, then take my wife a cup of tea in bed and retreat to bathroom for ablutions. Breakfast is at 9 a.m. giving time between 8 and 9 for early morning service in chapel or radio service at 8.10(Today from St Thomas, Fifth Avenue, New York for 'Thanksgiving') or attending BCP Eucharist at parish church.

After breakfast collect Sunday paper from newsagents. Attend eucharist in chapel or at parish church or enjoy leisurely read of paper(Today to chapel: 4 priests and 8 laywomen - 2nd before Advent CW). After chapel read paper while wife goes to coffee/sherry gathering on level 3 where news comes in from various outside services. Lunch at 12.45 - white tablecloths and wine with meal followed by selection of items from buffet table for tea in flat.

During afternoon time to complete papers and have a snooze etc before tea and tv "Points of View" "Songs of Praise" "Antiques Road Show" "Planet Earth" plus a little Radio 2 - "Melodies for you" Roger Royle(born and brought up at St Saviour's, Splott, Cardiff where I began my ministry as Methodist minister 50 years ago next summer) and "Sunday Half Hour"News" and bed soon after 10.

All very relaxing and pleasant compared to the active Sundays as a parish priest in days gone by. Still a distinctive day commemorating the Resurrection and marking the start of a new week. "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy".