COLLECT SERIES
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The Mass: Collect Series Icon. |
COLLECT
The Collect for the Twenty Fifth Sunday Year B
reads as follows:
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.How well do I know and keep the
commands of God and His sacred law?
2. How will I improve my knowledge of
faith this coming week? What steps will
I take to know my faith better?
3. What steps will I take to live my
faith better this coming week of love of God and love of neighbour?
4. How strong is my desire to attain
eternal life? Am I living with my
eternal home in mind or living day to day here on earth with no or little
thought to my eternal home?
5. When I look back on this coming
week in a week’s time, what will I see?
What improvements or growth will I notice or will it be exactly the same
as I am now. In this present moment?
GOSPEL REFLECTION
The Gospel is from St Mark 9:30-37. The Apostles were still very worldly-minded. They were full of the hope that Christ would establish an earthly messianic kingdom, that he would not only free their holy land from the hated pagan rulers but that he would set up a worldwide empire for the people of God. Many of the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament spoke of a worldwide kingdom; all nations would submit to the descendant of David; Jerusalem would be the magnet which would attract all peoples.
The
prophets, however, were speaking of the true messianic kingdom, the spiritual
kingdom that Christ would establish. The Apostles were as yet unable to see the
true meaning of these prophecies. They took them as referring to a worldly
kingdom. They had come to believe that Christ was the promised Messiah,
therefore, he would overcome all enemies and all opposition and set up this
kingdom. How, therefore, could his enemies overpower him much less put him to
death before he had accomplished his task? As a consequence of their thinking, they
refused to believe his prophecies concerning his coming tortures and death.
Now, either in trying to understand what he had so plainly told
them, or maybe in putting this disturbing thought far from their minds, they
began disputing with one another as to which of them would have the highest
post of honour in the earthly messianic kingdom which they had envisaged. How
worldly but how human they were! We must not forget though, that they were not
yet really Christians — they needed the death and resurrection of Christ to
make them what they became — His true followers and loyal disciples.
There was in the unformed Apostles a desire to turn Christ's
kingdom into an earthly welfare state, rather than into a preparation for
heaven. All Christians know that Christ suffered and died for their salvation,
and that he asked his followers to take up their cross and follow him if they
wished to be his disciples. The first generations of Christians fully
understood this and faithfully followed him even to martyrdom. However, as time
went on and opposition to the Christian faith disappeared, so too did the zeal
and fervour of many Christians. For centuries we have had nominal Christians in
Christ's Church -- men and women who tried to make their paradise in this
world, and forgot the everlasting heaven.
Our own age has seen an unprecedented increase in this falling
away of Christians. Leaving aside the parts of Europe which are professedly
atheist -- but where in spite of the leaders there are many sincere and devout
Christians -- the number of lapsed and nominal Christians in the other Western
countries is frightening. These non-practicing Christians, unwilling to carry
their crosses, have decided to make this earth their paradise. They want
prosperity, comfort and happiness in this world. The vast majority of them, of
course, refuse to look to the future; it could be an unpleasant thought, yet
they must see that in every town and village there is a mortician, an
undertaker who makes a good living disposing of human "remains." Die
they must; "and what then?" should be a question which overshadows
their lives.
Today sadly many nations have turned their back on God, on
Christianity. Many people have turned their back on God, on faithful practice
of their faith. Even in the time of the Covid pandemic where with lockdowns and not
being able to be physically present at Mass, we had to make the choice to
attend online Mass- not just to watch but to attend Mass- to be truly present,
to long to receive Jesus sacramentally and to want to be make a difference in
our lives and the lives of others through the pandemic. We need to put our
faith into action but there needs to be faith as well as action. Sometimes the
action is given so much focus that the reason for the action is
overlooked. It always needs to be love
of God that we are called into action-
belief in the God who loves us that we act lovingly, behave lovingly and walk
humbly with our God.
Today's thought for each one of us is this: Christ became man,
suffered and died as man, for our sakes. By his resurrection He conquered death
and opened heaven for us. Heaven is our true destiny. Loving God and our neighbour
and carrying our cross is the only way to reach heaven. We need to examine our motivations and forget this "heaven
on earth" doctrine; it does not and never will exist! Accept Christ and
you are accepting the Father who sent Him. He in turn will accept you.
Place God first place in our lives this coming week in all we
think, do and say.
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