Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B

General Intercessions

Celebrant: Let us turn as children to God our Father and present our prayers and needs to him with confidence.

That the Church may ever more effectively lead the faithful to the true treasures of heaven, we pray to the Lord.

That the clergy may continue to grow in wisdom and allow the Lord to enter their hearts, that they may follow his ways, we pray to the Lord.

That citizens may diligently prepare for our national elections by studying the candidates and their positions on critical issues, we pray to the Lord.

That we will have the grace to respond to the Lord's invitation to give ourselves away for all who are poor and weak, especially the dying, the forgotten, and the unborn, we pray to the Lord.

That the people of our parish family who are burdened with illness and suffering may be aided by our prayers and comfort, we pray to the Lord.

That the faithful who have died may enjoy their eternal treasure in heaven, we pray to the Lord. 

Celebrant: Almighty God, we thank you for everything you have done for us.  Help us to find in your Holy word the source of truth and wisdom.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

Bulletin Insert

The Triumph of Life

“As today’s pro-life community often is, Paul was regularly ridiculed: indeed, he suffered far worse than ridicule, for the truth about God, God’s law, and the natural law makes many uncomfortable. Those who resist God’s law don’t want to be reminded of its demands. This is no less true in our time than in Paul’s. And so we pray for the conversion of those whose hearts have been made hard by the sin of abortion and the sin of its propagation. We pray for the courage and persistence of St. Paul, as we endeavor to spread the Gospel of Life. We pray for the triumph of life” (Cardinal William Keeler, January 22, 2006). 

Homily Suggestions on Pro-life Themes  

The manifold demands and activities of life can often obscure our understanding of what among them is most important. As the second reading indicates, it is the Word of God that cuts through the fog and enables us to discern clearly what matters most.  

The gift of “wisdom,” to which the first reading refers, is actually Christ himself. He is the Word, the Wisdom, the perfect image of the Father, the ultimate desire of our hearts. He himself is the Kingdom of God, and the possession above all our possessions. Both the first reading and the Gospel point us to him and urge us to desire him, and value our relationship with him, above all things. 

That relationship, that possession of the Kingdom that comes by following him, depends concretely on our keeping of the commandments. It is no accident that the first commandment Jesus mentions in this Gospel passage is “You shall not kill.” The man is asking how to possess God, and Jesus is helping him to avoid a spirituality disconnected from earth. The man must have imagined that Jesus was going to give some spiritual answer upon which he could then go home and meditate, all the while enjoying his many possessions. But Jesus anchored the demands of the man’s spirituality right down to earth, asking him what he was doing and what he intended to do in relationship to people and things around him that he could see, hear, and touch. The relationship with God, as Jesus taught it, rises and falls with our relationship to others – and the first demand of those right relationships is not to kill the other.

As the passage progresses, it becomes clear that “Do not kill” is only the pre-requisite, not the fulfillment of perfect love. Love demands that we seek the least, the poorest. “Give to the poor” and “follow me” are in the same breath, not because discipleship demands that we own nothing, but precisely because discipleship demands that we give of ourselves for the other – especially for the smallest. 

Here, then, is revealed the wisdom of being pro-life. What we possess – not only material goods, but career and reputation and friendship as well – can never be clung to at the expense of ruining our relationship with God. If we fail to serve the least – the most vulnerable human beings – and instead kill them, or tolerate their killing – then everything else we have as a result is false security and false joy.

Liturgical Resources