23 rd SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (B)
6 th SEPTEMER 2015
THOUGHT FOR T HE DAY
ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
You are just, O Lord, and your judgement is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.
FIRST READING (Isaiah 35: 4-7)
Say to all faint hearts, Courage! Do not be afraid. Look, your God is coming, vengeance is coming, the retribution of
God; he is coming to save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed, then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy; for water gushes in the desert, streams in the wasteland, the scorched earth becomes a lake, the parched land springs of water.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM (Psalm 145)
Response: My soul, give praise to the
Lord
1 It is the Lord who keeps faith for ever, who is just to those who are oppressed.
It is he who gives bread to the hungry, the Lord, who sets prisoners free.
2 It is the Lord who gives sight to the blind who raises up those who are bowed down the Lord who loves the just, the Lord, who protects the stranger.
3 The Lord upholds the widow and orphan but thwarts the path of the wicked.
The Lord will reign for ever,
Zion’s God, from age to age. Alleluia!
2 nd READING (James 2: 1-5)
My brothers, do not try to combine faith in
Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the making of distinctions between classes of people. Now suppose a man comes into your synagogue, beautifully dressed and with a gold ring on, and at the same time a poor man comes in, in shabby clothes, and you take notice of the well-dressed man, and say, 'Come this way to the best seats'; then you tell the poor man, 'Stand over there' or 'You can sit on the floor by my foot-rest.' Can't you see that you have used two different standards in your mind, and turned yourselves into judges, and corrupt judges at that? Listen, my dear brothers: it was those who are poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia, Alleluia! Speak Lord, your servant is listening: you have the message of eternal life. Alleluia!
THE GOSPEL (Mark 7: 31-37)
Returning from the district of Tyre, Jesus went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of
Galilee, right through the Decapolis region.
And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue with spittle. Then looking up to heaven he sighed; and he said to him, 'Ephphatha', that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, and the ligament of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they published it.
Their admiration was unbounded. 'He has done all things well,' they said, 'he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.'
COMMUNION ANTIPHON
Like a deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God. My soul is thirsting for God, the living God.
A woman gets on the bus, she is talking to herself and we suspect dementia or drug abuse. We spread ourselves out on the seat hoping against hope that she chooses to sit somewhere else. An old man stumbles in the high street and doesn't get up again. We suspect he's had too much to drink and hurry on. Perhaps someone else better qualified will lend a helping hand. We respond with fear and discrimination. It's a good job that although many of us choose to close our eyes and ears, there are equally as many people who want to help. We only have to look at the number of aid agencies, charity campaigns and caring individuals to see signs of Jesus in our midst.
This is the significance of today's gospel story. What at first seems to be a straightforward account of the healing of a deaf man turns out to be much more. The story points to the miracle as a sign that Jesus was the
Messiah the Jews had been expecting.
It was prophesied that the ears of the deaf would be unsealed and that the tongues of the dumb would sing for joy. The curing of the deaf man was exactly the sort of miracle the Jews would have been expecting of the awaited Messiah. What seems like a straightforward account of a miracle takes us a step further. The deaf man happened to be a Gentile. In biblical times, orthodox Jews would have considered a Gentile unclean. By choosing a Gentile as the subject of his miracle, Jesus is telling us that there is no discrimination when it comes to God's salvation.
Today we ask God to help us see and hear the needs of others. There has never been a better time to show the world that Jesus is at the heart of our teaching. The migrant crisis that is on our news on a daily basis, shows some countries acting with empathy and others with inflammatory language and high barbed fences. We are reacting with the fear and discrimination that Jesus fought against. We cannot turn a deaf ear or

a blind eye; we have to act like
Christians in the way we speak, in the way we give, in the way we campaign and in our prayers.
Peace Actions for September

13th September is Racial
Justice Sunday. Think of ways you can build bridges between individuals or groups within your own community or workplace.

Give your Jewish friends or neighbours a New Years card to celebrate Rosh HaShanah,
14th September the Jewish
New Year..

September is the month of harvest festivals and reverence for God’s earth.
This month renew your commitment to supporting a climate changing charity.

Pray for those who work in the media, that they may be guided by honesty and justice.
(29th September St Gabriel's
Day)
Pope Francis’ Prayer Intention for
September
The general prayer intention of Pope
Francis is for the jobless youth: that opportunities for education and employment may increase for all young people. The Holy Father is greatly concerned about high jobless rates among young people, saying they are becoming a lost generation - victim of today’s “throw-away” culture that casts aside anyone who is not profitable economically. Pope
Francis stressed that high unemployment among youth is a crisis of the family, “a true social plague” that leaves young people feeling useless. If the youth are deprived of hope, then the very future and hope of society and of the Church is jeopardized. We are invited to join in
Pope Francis’s prayer “..... that opportunities for education and employment may increase for all young people.”
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
8th September
The Church has celebrated
Mary's birth since at least the sixth century. A
September birth was chosen because the Eastern
Church begins its Church year with
September. The September 8 date helped determine the date for the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 (nine months earlier).
Scripture does not give an account of
Mary's birth….the apocryphal
Protoevangelium of James fills in the gap. This work has no historical value, but it does reflect the development of
Christian piety. According to this account, Anna and Joachim are infertile but pray for a child. They receive the promise of a child that will advance God's plan of salvation for the world. Such a story (like many biblical counterparts) stresses the special presence of God in Mary's life from the beginning. (American
Catholic)
Assisted Dying Bill
On Friday 11 September 2015 the
House of Commons will be debating and voting on a Private Member’s Bill to legalise assisted suicide. To request your MP vote against the bill, fill in the template email at www.catholicnews.org.uk/Home/Feat ured/Assisted-Dying-Bill
SICK LIST
Please pray for Eileen Taylor,
Geoffrey Hope, Phyllis Snuggs,
Ruth Edwards, May Frost, Fr Harry
Reynolds, Claire White, Joanne
Ware, Sheila Burt, Peggy Devine,
Sarah Butler, Joshua Mills, Tanisha
Chester, Jane Hand, Victoria Kane,
Katherine Deasey, Eileen Treacey,
Karen Roche, Jo Page, Teresa &
Eric Williamson, John Collins,
Julien Clarke, Anastasia O’Connell,
Peter & Patricia Collins, Frank
Whelan, Trent & Mary Hobbs,
Elliott Cable, Kim Boulton, Baby
Ellis, Mary Moody, Kay & Ron
Chester, Baby Caitlin Ross,
Deacon John Newman, Margaret
O’Donoghue, Maureen Burton,
Janet Butters, Bishop Pat Lynch,
Susan Graham, Christina Swain,
Becky Warren-Heys, Marie Denvir,
Brenda Batten, Baby Teddy
Mooney and Elaine Davey.
ANNIVERSARIES
Please pray for all those who have died recently. Please also remember those whose anniversaries occur at this time:
May their souls and the souls of the all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.