Thirtieth
Sunday of Ordinary Time
General
Intercessions
Celebrant: We trust and hope in
the goodness of the Lord, and we bring to Him our needs, the needs of the
Church, and those of the whole world.
Deacon/Lector:
That the Church may faithfully
carry out its mission to gather people to God by proclaiming and living the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, we pray to the Lord.
That the leaders of the Church
may call the people of God to repentance and to seek forgiveness of their sins
through the sacrament of penance, we pray to the Lord.
That those who are running for
public office may recognize their responsibilities to the law of God and the
promotion of the common good, we pray to the Lord.
That our eyes may be opened to
see more clearly the dignity of every human life, whether healthy or sick,
convenient or inconvenient, born or unborn, we pray to the Lord.
That those who are sick or
homebound may be comforted and assured of our ongoing prayer for them, we pray
to the Lord.
That those who have died may know
the peace of the heavenly kingdom in the company of the angels and saints, we
pray to the Lord.
Celebrant: Almighty God, you are
the source of every blessing and we give you praise and thanks. Accept our
humble prayers and grant what we need according to your holy will, through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Bulletin Insert
Where we begin…
“In protecting human life, we
must begin with a commitment never to intentionally kill, or collude in the
killing, of any innocent human life, no matter how broken, unformed, disabled or
desperate that life may seem. We urge Catholics and others to promote laws and
social policies that protect human life and promote human dignity to the maximum
degree possible. Laws that legitimize abortion, assisted suicide, and euthanasia
are profoundly unjust and immoral. We support constitutional protection for
unborn human life, as well as legislative efforts to end abortion and
euthanasia” (Faithful Citizenship, US Bishops, 2003).
Homily Suggestions on
Pro-life Themes
The
Gospel passage today about Jesus’ response to Bartimaeus epitomizes a key aspect
of the Church’s teachings on social justice, namely, our preferential option for
the poor. A “sizable crowd” was passing by, and the center of attention was
Jesus. Not only were people not paying attention to the man by the side of the
road, but his cries proved to be a nuisance, and people tried to silence him.
Bartimaeus symbolizes the marginalized of our society, the inconvenient and
burdensome – in short, the unwanted. Crowds pass them by every day and don’t
even want to think about them.
Jesus, however, pays attention neither to the crowd nor to those who tried to
eliminate the nuisance. He paid attention to the man at the margins. And he
called him and healed him.
As we
promote a Culture of Life, there are some who want to silence even further the
already silent screams of the unborn, who constitute the most marginalized and
oppressed segment of humanity today. Yet as a Church we are called to give
“urgent attention and priority” to these children (see the Pastoral Plan for
Pro-life Activities of the US Bishops, 2001). We are called to embody the
response of Christ, ignoring the rebukes of the “politically correct” segments
of our society, and identifying ourselves with the “man at the margins.” Not
only is this an imitation of Christ, but it is a fulfillment in our day of the
prophecy of Jeremiah that we hear in the first reading. God’s promise regarding
his scattered and oppressed people is, “I will gather them.” That’s what the
pro-life effort of the Church does – it gathers back together those who are
scattered by the legal fiction that their lives are not equal to the rest of
people; it restores protection to those who would otherwise be scattered by the
physical violence of abortion.
