Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
June 17, 2021
Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 368
Reading I
Brothers and sisters:
If only you would put up with a little foolishness from me!
Please put up with me.
For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God,
since I betrothed you to one husband
to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning,
your thoughts may be corrupted
from a sincere and pure commitment to Christ.
For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached,
or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received
or a different gospel from the one you accepted,
you put up with it well enough.
For I think that I am not in any way inferior to these “superapostles.”
Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge;
in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
Did I make a mistake when I humbled myself so that you might be exalted,
because I preached the Gospel of God to you without charge?
I plundered other churches by accepting from them
in order to minister to you.
And when I was with you and in need, I did not burden anyone,
for the brothers who came from Macedonia
supplied my needs.
So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.
By the truth of Christ in me,
this boast of mine shall not be silenced
in the regions of Achaia.
And why? Because I do not love you?
God knows I do!
Responsorial Psalm
R. (7a) Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart
in the company and assembly of the just.
Great are the works of the LORD,
exquisite in all their delights.
R. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Majesty and glory are his work,
and his justice endures forever.
He has won renown for his wondrous deeds;
gracious and merciful is the LORD.
R. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The works of his hands are faithful and just;
sure are all his precepts,
Reliable forever and ever,
wrought in truth and equity.
R. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You have received a spirit of adoption as sons
through which we cry: Abba! Father!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“This is how you are to pray:
‘Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.’
“If you forgive others their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”
Reflection: THE LORD'S PRAYER
The literary structure of the Lord's Prayer is very revealing. There are seven invocations with a simple introduction. The introduction is that we first have to believe that God is “Father" and is “our” Father, that is, we are brothers and sisters. Without this pre-condition, we cannot pray. Then we have three apparently useless invocations. In fact they are in indirect voice - holy be your name, may your kingdom come, your will be done! But who will do all these? The answer is in the last three invocations. The father's name is made holy when his son keeps away from evil. The son helps to bring God's kingdom when he resists the devil's kingdom and its temptations. And a son gets his father will done, when he loves and forgives his own brothers and sisters. Thus, the first three invocations, which are mere wishes, become true only by the committed and holy life of the son or daughter given in the last three invocations. In the centre we have the most important invocation - give us today our daily bread! This is not mainly about rice and curry, but about the Word of God. Already soon after baptism in the desert, Jesus told the devil, that man does not live on bread alone, but more importantly by every Word that comes from the mouth of God. The Word that came from the Mouth of God is Jesus Christ, his eternal word, given to us in the Eucharist. That is why the 'Our Father', with its central invocation is in the middle of the Holy Mass. The 'Our Father' is not a prayer to be recited, but the one to be lived!