The Universal Church celebrates this 20th day in October 2024 as the twenty-ninth Sunday in ordinary time, year B. In the Entrance Antiphon of this day’s Mass, we pray: “I call upon you, God, for you will answer me; bend your ear and hear my prayer. Guard me as the pupil of your eye; hide me in the shade of your wings. Amen.”
The Universal Church celebrates this last but one Sunday of October as Mission Sunday. In 1926, Pope Pius XI officially declared the last but one Sunday of October as Mission Sunday, emphasizing its importance in the Church's calendar and mission strategy.
In his message for this Sunday, Pope Francis reminds Christians that our encounter with Christ is not merely for personal gain but to share Him with all the people.
The theme of this Mission Sunday is ‘Go and invite everyone to the banquet’, inspired by the Gospel parable of the wedding banquet (cf. Mt. 22:1-14).
The first reading of this Mission Sunday is the fourth song of the Suffering Servant of God taken from the prophet Isaiah. Innocent and dedicated to God, the servant suffers for his people to atone for their sins. This suffering servant in Isaiah prefigures Christ, who will suffer and die in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
In the second reading, we continue to reflect on the Letter to the Hebrews in which the sacred author sees Christ as a compassionate high priest, who faithfully presents our cause to his Father. Although he never yielded to temptation, he shares everything with us except sin.
In the Gospel, Saint Mark shows us Christ giving a lesson to his disciples on what true greatness is all about. Christ’s mission on earth is one of service. So his disciples, too, will only become great if they become servants of the community and not the lord of the people.
Let us, in the course of this Eucharist, heed the Holy Father’s call to every Christian during this Mission Sunday to offer his or her witness to the Gospel in every context so the whole Church can continually go forth with her Lord and Master to the “crossroads” of today’s world.”
First Reading: Book of Isaiah, 53: 10-11.
The Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity. If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear.
Comment
Of all the Old Testament Books, pride of place in the liturgy belongs to the Book of Isaiah. We are told in the Book of Sirach that the prophet Isaiah lived in the time of Hezekiah, king of Judah (716-687), and that “he saw the last things, and comforted those who mourned in Zion”, that is, those exiled to Babylon (Sirach 48: 22-25). Isaiah, often considered the greatest of the prophets, was born in about 765 BC of a Jerusalem aristocratic family. He received his prophetic vocation in 740 BC and his long ministry spanned a period of over forty years.
In the Christian Bible, the Book of Isaiah is the first of the Major Prophets, not just because Isaiah predates the other writer-prophets but also because his book is the longest and perhaps the most important of all the prophetical books. It is 66 chapters long. The Hebrew Bible also places him first among what it calls the “Later Prophets”, that is, ahead of Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the twelve Minor Prophets, namely, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.
The Book of Isaiah is also important because it is the Old Testament book most quoted in the New Testament. This means that it is the prophetical book that most clearly announces Jesus Christ. As Saint Jerome once remarked, Isaiah is more a Gospel than a prophecy. Saint Augustine, Saint Jerome’s contemporary, also calls Isaiah an evangelist, not a prophet.
The Book of Isaiah covers three distinct periods of Israel’s history. The first part, chapters 1-39, was written by the prophet himself; the second and third parts were written by other prophets when the people of Israel were in exile in Babylon and after their return from exile.
Our reading comes from the third and final part of the book. The servant does not suffer because of his sins, but rather to atone for the sins of others, the sins of the entire people, even though he is not guilty of them himself. By bearing the penalty for those sins, the suffering servant cleanses the guilt involved.
Saint Matthew sees the words of the prophet Isaiah being fulfilled by Jesus Christ (Mt 8: 17). He interprets Jesus as being the servant foretold by the prophets, who will cure the physical suffering of people as a sign that he is curing the root cause of all types of evil, that is, sin or iniquity. The miracles Jesus works for the sick are therefore a sign of redemption.
As The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, “Christ’s whole life is a mystery of redemption, which comes to us above all through the blood of his cross” (CCC, 517). Let us pray with the Psalmist: “Our soul is waiting for you, O Lord, because you are our help and salvation. May your love be upon us as we place all our hope in you.” Through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
Second Reading: Hebrews 4: 14-16.
Brothers and sisters: Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.
Comment
In this brief passage, the sacred author of the Letter to the Hebrews talks about the priesthood of Christ, which is radically different from the priesthood that Moses entrusted to the members of one tribe, the Levi, specifically to Aaron and his descendants. In addition to being descendants of Aaron, the priests had to be free from physical mutilation or defects; they had to observe ritual purity in religious ceremonies and lead an irreproachable life (Lev 21, 22: 1-5). When engaging in religious worship they also had to wear special and very ornate vestments (Ex 28: 40ff).
The passage of this day’s Mass paints a completely different picture of the new high priest, who has passed through the heavens. Even though he too is tempted as we are, he remains without sin. Christ’s state of sinlessness, which is often affirmed in Sacred Scripture, follows logically from his being God and from his human integrity and holiness. As the Church prays in the Litany of the Hours: “Let us adore Christ who emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave. He was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. Let us turn to him in prayer, saying, ‘You took on human weakness. Be the eyes of the blind, the strength of the weak, the friend of the lonely. Amen.”
Christ has initiated for us a time of forgiveness. His priesthood, unlike that of the priests of old, did not cease to operate with his death; it continues in heaven, where he forever pleads on our behalf, and therefore we should always turn to him in prayer for anything we need.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, give me a listening ear to hear your word and a willing tongue to proclaim it to all around me. Give me the courage to speak of your greatness whenever the opportunity arises. Open the hearts of those I meet today to receive your word so that everyone may come to know you and to praise you ever more. You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. The Son of Man came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Alleluia.”
Gospel: Mark 10: 35-45.
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." He replied, "What do you wish me to do for you?" They answered him, "Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left." Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" They said to him, "We can." Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared." When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Comment
In today’s Gospel, two brothers, the sons of Zebedee, James and John, try to do themselves a favour by asking Jesus to promise them a privileged seating arrangement when Jesus is in his glory. They want to sit one at his right hand and the other at his left hand. Shortly before this scene, the Apostles had been arguing among themselves as to who of them was the greatest. Jesus had warned them that the greatest among them was he who was a servant to all. The purpose of their vocation should be to serve, not to be served.
That message has not sunk yet, else the two Zebedee brothers would not be asking our Lord to do them a favour that would so blatantly put them above the others in terms of hierarchy in Christ’s new kingdom. In Matthew’s Gospel, it is the mother of these two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who intercedes for them, pleading with Christ to let her sons sit, one at his right and the other at his left, in his kingdom (Mt 20: 20-22). They all dream of Christ’s kingdom that would be all powerful and would help chase away the Roman occupants. “We had been hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel,” a despondent Clopas tells the stranger on the Road to Emmaus, who turns out to be our Lord himself (Lk 24: 21).
James and John, like the rest of the apostles, cannot understand how the Messiah could suffer and die and rise again from the dead. As Saint Mark tells us, Christ began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed and rise after three days (Mk 8: 31).
John will have to see Christ’s burial cloth rolled up in a separate place in the tomb to believe in the resurrection. For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead (Jn 20: 6-10). When James and John ask for strategic positions around Christ, they are using human calculations and their aims are worldly. They want a safe and bright future in what they imagine is going to be Christ’s kingdom.
But what is our Lord teaching us through his response to the Zebedee brothers? He tells them, and us listening to this broadcast, that his kingdom is not about who wears the crown, but who bears his cross after him. It is about selfless love that does not look for personal gain but rather total self-giving. He recommends service to his disciples that we are. He sets the example by tying a towel around his waist, going down on his knees, and washing the feet of his apostles, even those of Judas, who was to betray him.
It is not surprising therefore that when the other ten apostles hear of the selfish ambitions of the Zebedee brothers, they are angry. To calm things down and avoid more conflict, Jesus gives them his own image of religious authority, which must not be like that of the pagans where rulers lord it over the governed. He teaches us that true greatness does not lie in dominating and subjugating others, but rather in serving them. This is not an easy doctrine to follow because it calls for renunciation of self-interest and of sacrificing self for the good of others, a thing few of us are brave enough to do.
What lesson do we draw from his reading? We learn that those who were to become the unshakeable pillars of the Church – Peter, John, James, Paul -- were men like you and me; with their weaknesses. That Christ could overlook their weaknesses and still welcome them as members of his inner core is a clear indication that he too will welcome us whenever we sin and ask for forgiveness. God’s grace works wonders in people’s souls; so we should never give up in the face of our own weaknesses.
On this Mission Sunday, Pope Francis urges us to embrace the spirit of synodality, which involves everyone and excludes no one from Christ’s mission.
“Today, in a world torn apart by divisions and conflicts,” says the Holy Father, “Christ’s Gospel remains the gentle yet firm voice that calls individuals to encounter one another, to recognize that they are brothers and sisters, and to rejoice in harmony amid diversity. Let us never forget that in our missionary activities, we are asked to preach the Gospel to all: “Instead of seeming to impose new obligations, we should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet.” Pope Francis.
Let us pray to Christ to give us the courage to serve others as he did and not only seek positions of power where others will serve us.
We all need each other, especially in these times of uncertainty in our country which is beset by senseless wars in the northwest, southwest, and northern regions of our country. We pray for peace to return to our land and for our leaders – in church and political life – to learn to serve our people, and not expect our people to serve them, as is presently the case.
We make our supplication through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, who lives and reigns with the Father in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
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