Weekly Bulletin for Sunday, September 06, 2009

The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

Divine Office

Order of service for Morning and Evening Prayer.

Services and Events

Opening Prayer

Almighty God,
who called your Church to bear witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

First Reading

Isaiah 35.4-7a
A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
‘Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.’
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 146
R You open wide your hand, O Lord, and satisfy our needs.

1 Alleluia!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. R
2 Put not your trust in rulers,
nor in any child of earth,
for there is no help in them.
3 When they breathe their last, they return to earth,
and in that day their thoughts perish. R
4 Happy are they who have the God of Jacob
for their help!
whose hope is in the Lord their God;
5 Who made heaven and earth, the seas,
and all that is in them;
who keeps his promise for ever;
6 Who gives justice to those who are oppressed,
and food to those who hunger. R
7 The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
8 The Lord loves the righteous;
the Lord cares for the stranger;
he sustains the orphan and widow,
but frustrates the way of the wicked. R
9 The Lord shall reign for ever,
your God, O Zion, throughout all generations.
Alleluia! R

Second Reading

James 2.1-10, 14-17
A reading from the letter of James.

1 My brothers and sisters,
do you with your acts of favouritism
really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?
2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes
comes into your assembly,
and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in,
3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say,
‘Have a seat here, please,’
while to the one who is poor you say,
‘Stand there,’ or, ‘Sit at my feet,’
4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves,
and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.
Has not God chosen the poor in the world
to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom
that he has promised to those who love him?
6 But you have dishonoured the poor.
Is it not the rich who oppress you?
Is it not they who drag you into court?
7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name
that was invoked over you?
8 You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture,
‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
9 But if you show partiality,
you commit sin
and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law
but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters,
if you say you have faith but do not have works?
Can faith save you?
15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,
16 and one of you says to them,
‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’
and yet you do not supply their bodily needs,
what is the good of that?
17 So faith by itself,
if it has no works, is dead.

Acclamation

Alleluia! Jesus cast out many demons, but would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. Alleluia!

Gospel

Mark 7.24-37
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.

24 Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre.
He entered a house
and did not want anyone to know he was there.
Yet he could not escape notice,
25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit
immediately heard about him,
and she came and bowed down at his feet.
26 Now the woman was a Gentile,
of Syrophoenician origin.
She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 He said to her,
‘Let the children be fed first,
for it is not fair to take the children’s food
and throw it to the dogs.’
28 But she answered him,
‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’
29 Then he said to her,
‘For saying that, you may go –
the demon has left your daughter.’
30 So she went home,
found the child lying on the bed,
and the demon gone.
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre,
and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee,
in the region of the Decapolis.
32 They brought to him a deaf man
who had an impediment in his speech;
and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
33 He took him aside in private,
away from the crowd,
and put his fingers into his ears,
and he spat and touched his tongue.
34 Then looking up to heaven,
he sighed and said to him,
‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’
35 And immediately his ears were opened,
his tongue was released,
and he spoke plainly.
36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one;
but the more he ordered them,
the more zealously they proclaimed it.
37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying,
‘He has done everything well;
he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’

Closing Prayer

God our creator,
you feed your children with the true manna,
the living bread from heaven:
let this holy food sustain us through our earthly pilgrimage
until we come to that place
where hunger and thirst are no more;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.