Menu
First Reading: Rom 8:1-11
Brothers and sisters:
Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has freed you from the law of sin and death.
For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do,
this God has done:
by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
so that the righteous decree of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh
are concerned with the things of the flesh,
but those who live according to the spirit
with the things of the spirit.
The concern of the flesh is death,
but the concern of the spirit is life and peace.
For the concern of the flesh is hostility toward God;
it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it;
and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 24:1b-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The LORD's are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Gospel Reading: Lk 13:1-9
One day some persons told Jesus what had occurred in the Temple: Pilate had Galileans killed and their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus replied, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this? I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did.
"And those eighteen persons in Siloah who were crushed when the tower fell, do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem? I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did."
And Jesus continued with this story, "A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the gardener: 'Look here, for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree and I have found none. Cut it down, why should it use up the ground?' The gardener replied: 'Leave it one more year, so that I may dig around it and add some fertilizer; and perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it doesn't, you can cut it down."
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
you enter our existence,
torn and divided as it is,
and with death written into it,
to set us free with the life of your Spirit.
May we give space to your Spirit
to work in us, to unify and renew
our being and our actions,
that with his help we may overcome
the forces of evil in us.
May we not be cut down like fruitless trees
but live for life and for love
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
General Intercessions
- That all the faithful, leaders and members, may heed the call of the Church to look into our own hearts and to change what ought to be changed, we pray:
- That we may bring a bit of warmth to those whose hearts are empty and cold, that they may discover happiness in the love of God and neighbor, we pray:
- That the word of God may stir us to bear fruits of justice and love, and that the bread of life of the eucharist may make us strong and faithful, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord, God of life and love,
you created people in your own likeness
and then you sent your Son among us
to take on our own human likeness.
As he comes now among us,
he who knew how to cope with sin,
may his Spirit become the source
of our vitality and strength,
that your Son's experience may become ours
and that with him we die to sin
and live for a life that never ends.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
may we be so guided in life by your Spirit,
who is also the Spirit of Jesus, your Son,
that we may not be merely grateful
for the freedom he brought us,
nor claim his message as our ideology.
We pray you rather
that your Son may live in us in such a way
that people recognize that he is alive in us
who is our Lord for ever.
Blessing
God sent his Son to take sin away and to make us live in the Spirit, who brings us life and peace. So we must live the life of the Spirit, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
