Collect for 21 Sunday of Year C

COLLECT SERIES

THE MASS: COLLECT SERIES ICON.

COLLECT 

The Opening Prayer for the Twenty First Sunday of Year C reads as follows:

O God, who cause the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose,

grant your people to love what you command

and to desire what you promise,

that, amid the uncertainties of this world,

our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

Converting this prayer into spirituality in action, the following reflection questions emerged:

1.What is the single purpose to which I am united?

2.What are the commands that God wants to love?

3. Which of these commands do I struggle with most often and what can I do to change this?

4.What are the promises of God that I need to desire?

5.Where is my heart fixed right now and where will I fix it this coming week?

6. What are the uncertainties of my world that I can bring to God this coming week?

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Enter through the narrow gate.  This is the key message of today’s Gospel.  What does it mean?

The reality of life is that we can easily become distracted with life= not even necessarily bad things but making an income, caring for our families and the like. These are good things and of course most necessary.  God does not ask us to put them aside because He knows that we need to do these things.However, we are to Seek the Kingdom first. God is our top priority.

Enter through the narrow gate is to put God first and not to assume that our salvation is secured.  Yes, God died for us to redeem us but we must want to accept that redemption personally.

Earning an income and looking after our families but if these things, although good stop us from putting God first then we need to reassess our true priorities. We need to put God first.  For example: you have to take a child to sport game. This will mean that you may miss Mass- a commandment of God.  If you love God and are following Him in your heart, then you will find a way to attend Mass on that Sunday- eg Saturday night/Sunday night.  Alternatively, you say to your child that he/she is not to play sports on Sunday. It is the Lord’s day. Play 6 times a week if you wish, but not on Sunday.  This tells the child that Go is more important- your value of obeying His command is more important than the sports game. Yes, your child may be disappointed but do you wish to enter through the narrow gate?

Depending on the time of the game, it may mean attending Mass getting up early and going to Mass. The child may complain but  you will be honouring God and His commands and teaching your child to do the same. 

This is of course just one example from life but every day we are faced with many such decisions. As Catholics we need to value our faith and not just cop out and think it is just all too hard.

Think of a narrow gate- not easy to jus waltz straight through- no, there is a sqeeze- it requires effort.  God asks us for our effort to enter through the narrow gate.