Collect for 22nd Sunday Year B

 

COLLECT SERIES

The Mass: Collect Series Icon.

COLLECT 

The Collect for the Twenty Second Sunday Year B reads as follows:

God of might, Giver of every good gift,

Put into our hearts the love of Your name,

So that, by deepening our sense of reverence,

You may nurture in us what is good and, by Your watchful care,

Keep safe what You have nurtured.

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. Name the gifts God has given you in this last week and say thank you to God for these gifts.

2. How do I speak about God?

3. Do I take the Lord’s name in vain or do I use it to honour and praise Him?

4. What do I do when other people misuse God’s name. What strategy can I use this week to bring to awareness the rightful use of God’s name and stopping its misuse?

5.What do I see good in Me?  How does God see me?

6. Spend time this week giving thanks for all God is doing in my life.

 

GOSPEL REFLECTION

 The Gospel is from St Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23. In today's encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus tells them that they are hypocrites: "they honour God with their lips but their heart is far from God"; they obey the Law and the traditions, not to please God, but to be seen and admired by men; their motive, self-glorification, vitiates every otherwise good act they perform. Christ then addresses the people — the crowds who most likely had overheard his dialog with the Pharisees — and he tells them that it is not legal or cultic uncleanliness that matters, but cleanliness of the heart before God. Eating with unwashed hands, or using unwashed vessels for drinking, does not defile a man, this does not make him less worthy before God. It is not from things outside him that a man incurs defilement but from his own innermost self. Every serious sin against God and neighbor has its beginning within a man, in his intellect and will; the evil design is the forerunner and instigator of the evil deed.

The Pharisees should have known all this. They did know it. They knew very well that before a man breaks any of the commandments of God he must first plan and decide to break it; it was not their theology that was defective but their practice. They despised their neighbours and called fellowmen "sinners," because through ignorance they violated many of the man-made precepts the Pharisees had added to the Law of Moses. There were also fellow-Jews of theirs who violated the law itself, but it was not their right to judge or condemn much less excommunicate them, as they so often did in practice.

Christ condemned the Pharisees by word and deed. He was merciful, kind and understanding to all sinners. He forgave sin and promised forgiveness to all who would repent of their past misdeeds. Not only that: for he left to his followers for all time his sacrament of mercy and forgiveness, by means of which they could have their sins forgiven by his minister, acting in his name.

Should we ever forget all he has done for us and disobey in a serious way any of his commandments, let us remember that we are not excluded from his company as the sinners were excluded by the Pharisees: we have banged the door on ourselves but he has given us the key with which to reopen it. Let us never be so foolish as to fail to use that key.

Let us recommit to receiving God’s mercy through the Sacrament of Reconciliation regularly.

‘In this time of pandemic where we may not be able to receive this Sacrament because of lockdown restrictions, we can turn to Christ  and ask His forgiveness and prepare to make a good confession at the first opportunity.  Lockdown can be an opportunity to review our lives and to prepare the way of the Lord to receive His mercy.