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First Reading: Is 54:1–10
Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear,
break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor,
For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife
than the children of her who has a husband,
says the LORD.
Enlarge the space for your tent,
spread out your tent cloths unsparingly;
lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes.
For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left;
your descendants shall dispossess the nations
and shall people the desolate cities.
Fear not, you shall not be put to shame;
you need not blush, for you shall not be disgraced.
The shame of your youth you shall forget,
the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember.
For he who has become your husband is your Maker;
his name is the LORD of hosts;
Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
called God of all the earth.
The LORD calls you back,
like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
A wife married in youth and then cast off,
says your God.
For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with great tenderness I will take you back.
In an outburst of wrath, for a moment
I hid my face from you;
But with enduring love I take pity on you,
says the LORD, your redeemer.
This is for me like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah
should never again deluge the earth;
So I have sworn not to be angry with you,
or to rebuke you.
Though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be shaken,
My love shall never leave you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 30:2 and 4, 5 – 6, 11–12a and 13b
R./ I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R./ I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R./ I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
“Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.”
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R./ I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Gospel Reading: Luke 7:24-30
When John's messengers had gone, Jesus began speaking to the people about John. And he said, "What did you want to see when you went to the desert? A tall reed blowing in the wind? What was there to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? But people who wear fine clothes and enjoy delicate food are found in palaces. What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. For John is the one foretold in Scripture in these words: I am sending my messenger ahead of you to prepare your ways. No one may be found greater than John among those born of women but, I tell you, the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."
All the people listening to him, even the tax collectors, had acknowledged the will of God in receiving the baptism of John, whereas the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, in not letting themselves be baptized by him, ignored the will of God.
Introduction
The first reading speaks of the future glory of Jerusalem, God’s people. She had deserted God like an unfaithful bride, and God had apparently abandoned her for a while in the exile. Now he is ready to take her back and renew his covenant with her; she becomes again like a new bride. God’s new initiative of love has even room for the sinner, for it is a covenant of mercy and pity, and Jerusalem’s stability will come not from her justice but from God’s love. This will become a reality in the new people of God, the Church, which is God’s bride through Christ.
John, who prepared the road for Christ’s coming, is the greatest of prophets, yet he is the smallest in the new Kingdom of Christ, because he did not see the full reality of Christ, the God-Man, the God-with-people, and of the message of Jesus.
Opening Prayer
Lord, faithful God of the covenant,
you kept your promise
of a new and permanent union with people
through Jesus Christ, our God-with-us.
Give us grateful hearts
for accepting us with mercy and pity
as the sinners we are.
Renew us by your faithful love
and let your covenant of peace
never be shaken.
Stay always with us
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
General Intercessions
– That God’s people may be a joyful people, for God never abandons us; may he forgive us and always begin anew with us, we pray:
– That we may be grateful people, for God brings us always forgiveness and reconciliation, we pray:
– That we may be a people who keep preparing in hope the way for the deeper coming among us of Christ, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord, faithful God,
we wish this bread and this wine to say
that we are open
to the full coming among us
of your Son Jesus Christ.
Through him, call us back
close to your heart,
restore us with a youthful love,
that people may praise you
as the God of mercy and tender love,
now and for ever.
Prayer after Communion
God of mercy and love,
in this eucharist you have shown us
what John the Baptist could not see,
that you are our God-with-us
in your Son Jesus Christ.
Strong with this faith and joy,
may we go out and prepare the way
for the full coming among people
of your future of justice and love
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
We cannot be but a people of hope. For notwithstanding our failures, God does not give up on us. He relies on us to be trailblazers for him, who cannot give up trying again and again to be good and loving people, just and merciful. That is our vocation, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
