Collect for 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B.

 COLLECT SERIES

The Mass: Collect Series Icon.

COLLECT 

The Collect for the Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B reads as follows:

 

O God, who show the light of your truth to those who go astray,

so that they may return to the right path,

give all who for the faith they profess are accounted Christians

the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ

and to strive after all that does it honour.

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

 

In making this prayer tangible, the following reflection questions emerged:

1. What is the light of Your truth in my life?
2. How does God guide me along the right path?
3. What is my attitude towards the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
4. How do I strive to honour Christ in my life?
5. What steps will I take to honour Christ more this coming week?
6. What steps will I take this coming week to make this Collect Prayer my own in my life?

 
GOSPEL REFLECTION

The Gospel for today is from St. Mark.6:7-13.  Christ is the Son of God and could have chosen to spread His Gospel of peace and love, his message of eternal salvation, to the whole world without human help.   However, Jesus chose His disciples who showed human weakness as well as strength to start the work of evangelisation.  Jesus sent their own fellowmen to bring them the message. This choice showed his divine love and understanding of weak human nature, much better and much more effectively than the use of any of the supernatural means which he could have employed.

God, and Christ is God, gave man the gift that we call freewill.  We are able to choose between alternatives. God wants humanity to choose heaven as his eternal home, but He wants usto choose it without compulsion or coercion. He will have volunteers in heaven not conscripts. When we choose Heaven, we must also choose the means of going there. This means is through prayer, being in relationship with God, through the Church and its Sacraments and through fellowship with each other.   

By appointing mortal men to bring the news of salvation, the news of heaven, and the means of getting there to all of us, Christ has given us the chance of exercising our freewill and therefore of meriting heaven. Refusal to accept would hardly be possible if Christ informed us miraculously or taught us in person. If some extraordinary individual could persist in refusing, his refusal would be utterly inexcusable.

God's mercy and love can reach into the darkest corners and produce fruit from the most unlikely and apparently most neglected of orchards.

Sometimes we may feel we are walking alone along the road less travelled.  We are never alone because Jesus is always with us.  We need to be strong and when we feel weak, we can lean on Him.   We need to make the daily commitment to desire Heaven and do everything we possibly can to walk on this journey by the choices we make.  There are many things we need to do in our lives but we might want to ask ourselves whether these are bringing us closer to God or drawing us away. Even the smallest thing can pull us away or if we do it in God’s strength then it has the capacity to draw us closer.  What will we choose?  Will we walk the path towards Heaven this coming week?

We are almost half way through the liturgical year.  This week may be an ideal opportunity to review our spiritual journeys so far this year.  What is working well?  What needs improvement?  How do I want to grow spiritually by the end of this liturgical year?  We are either moving forward or backward and never sitting on the fence still.  So, which direction are we going in right now and which direction do you wish to head by the end of the year? Take stock this week and devise a plan to move forward.

May God continue to show his mercy and divine understanding towards ourselves and to humanity who is such need of Him.