Year A
Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
Explore this week's readings and hear what God is saying to us through His Word.
Find out more about how we can mark this special day in our liturgy.
See our music recommendations for the liturgy.
This Sunday’s first reading and gospel focus on welcome and hospitality, while the second reading emphasizes the grace of baptism.
· In today’s second reading, St Paul reminds us that when we were baptised, we went into the tomb with Christ, so that by joining him in death, we could rise again with him. God’s plan is that we may live a new life, becoming his witnesses.
· Today’s gospel is the conclusion of St Matthew’s Mission Discourse, his instruction to the twelve apostles as they begin to set out on their mission to proclaim the Good News.
· Those who welcome the messengers will be welcoming Jesus, and ultimately welcoming his heavenly Father. Anyone who receives a prophet or holy person will have the same reward as a prophet or holy person.
· The first reading gives us the story of an Israelite woman who welcomes the prophet Elisha, the successor to the great prophet Elijah. She lived in Shunem, a village eight miles south of Nazareth.
· The woman from Shunem recognised that Elisha was a holy prophet of God, and hence offered him a room to stay in whenever he was in the area. Her generous hospitality resembles the welcome once given to the three travellers by the childless couple, Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18).
· Informed by his servant Gehazi that the woman is childless, Elisha promises that next year she will beholding a son in her arms. Similarly, an angel had previously promised that the childless Abraham and Sarah would have a son (Isaac). In this way, like Abraham and Sarah, the woman from Shunem is rewarded for her hospitality.
· Many great saints were famed for their hospitality towards visitors. Martha and Mary welcomed Jesus hospitably. St Bridget of Kildare and Mother Teresa of Kolkata were famous for their hospitable care for the needy. In today’s world, many migrants are looking for a welcome after fleeing terrible situations.
· Our Lady welcomed the angel Gabriel when he brought her the good news that she had been chosen, and in this way, she welcomed God’s Son bodily into herself.
· How do we welcome God into our lives? How do we welcome others?
During the celebration of the Mass, we make use of candles. It is something that we can easily take for granted in this day of age when we can flip a switch for an instant light source. Lit candles are rich in mystagogy or symbolism in the liturgy. Firstly, Christ proclaimed that he is the ‘light of the world’ and secondly, followers of Christ are called to be the ‘light of the world’. Liturgically, we make use of candles in the procession on either side of the processional cross, when the Gospel is proclaimed, and on or next to the altar-table. Today’s collect brings to ‘light’ the importance of being children of light. Through the grace of adoption, which occurred in our baptism, we are chosen to be children of light. In our baptism the minister gave our godparents a lit candle saying, “this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. This child…has been enlightened by Christ…[they are] to walk always as a child of the light.” We are called to be children of the light. This connects with today’s second reading to the Romans, in that when we were baptised, we went into the tomb with Christ, so that we too might live a new life. However, through our selfishness and sin, we are blinded, and live in falsehood or error, and therefore we become unable to see reality with clarity and charity. Therefore, we prayer that we are not wrapped in the darkness of error, but to stand in the bright light of truth, that is Jesus Christ. The Eucharist, as the Prayer after Communion highlights, fills us with life and light, so that we may bear fruit that lasts forever. This also connects with today’s Gospel in that being children of the light, we follow the way of Christ and we lose ourselves to allow the light of Christ to shine through, in welcoming and in sharing this light with others.
These hymns have been picked and chosen from different sources.
Fight the good fight (CFE171 L860, LHON255)
Unless a grain of wheat (CE754, L748, LHON697)
Will you come and follow me? (CFE812, L877, LHON740)
Bless the Lord, my soul (Taize) (CFE81, L813)
Key
CFE - Celebration Hymnal for Everyone
L – Laudate
LHON – Liturgical Hymns Old and New (Mayhew, 1999)
TCH – The Catholic Hymnbook (Gracewing)
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
