Third Sunday of the Season of Creation

September 19, 2021 –25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Introductory Comments

Today is the Third Sunday of the 2021 Season of Creation

In today’s readings, we are given a sense of the destructive power of passions, divisions, jealousies, greed, and competition, both for people and, in this Season of Creation, for Earth itself and all Earth inhabitants.

As we begin, enter the quiet of our spirit…conscious of God’s gift of Earth, the nurturing home of such rich diversity of life–human, animal, aquatic, plant—conscious of our destruction and suffering from overconsumption, exploitation, and the crisis of dangerously-rising temperatures globally.

A reading from Wisdom 2:1, 7-20

–Are we/Earth facing what Jesus was trying to teach his apostles in today’s gospel: I will be handed over to people who will kill me?

Responsorial Psalm 54:3-8

R You alone Are My Help

Will I/we respond effectively to the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor?

A reading from the Letter of Saint James 2:1-5

How will I/we reform my consumptive ways, my attitude toward the “different”?

A reading from the Gospel of Mark 9:30-37

Can we turn our country’s values upside down to nurture growth in mutual service, simplicity of life, and walk in interdependence with our living Earth?

Musical selections–optional

E – Entrance: For the Healing of the Nations Fred Kaan, ©1968 Hope Publishing Co

O – Offertory: For the Fruits of This (All) Creation Fred Pratt Green, ©1970 Hope Publishing Co

C – Communion: Pan de Vida Bob Hurd and Pia Moriarty ©1988 by Bob Hurd, pub. by OCP

D – Dismissal: How Can I Keep From Singing Robert Lowry

Click here to download a PDF of this prayer service.

Second Sunday of the Season of Creation

September 12, 2021 | 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Introductory Comments:

As we began the Season of Creation last Sunday, we heard the encouragement of Isaiah to “Be strong and fear not,” relying on God’s faithful presence. We were invited to recognize God in the opening of eyes and ears to the crises Earth is suffering. We were encouraged to discern and accept God’s invitation to share in the work of saving Earth and all the communities whose home it is.

Today again we hear the call to listen to God’s Word coming in the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor.

We are urged to put our faith into action and to expect resistance and suffering, our share in the cross of Christ.

As we begin today, let’s enter into the quiet of our spirits,… conscious of Earth, our home and the home of every other living and inanimate creature we know … just a dot in the vast expanse of the Milky Way … the Milky Way itself but a small dot in the vast expanse of the Universe… conscious of the destruction and suffering on Earth from overconsumption, exploitation, and the crisis of dangerously-rising temperatures globally … yet home to millions of people rising up to restore, heal, and save our common home….

!st reading : Isaiah 50:5-9a  0“God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them.”:5-9aIsaiah 50:5-9a

Reflection :  “Morning after morning God opens my ear that I may hear….”  Are we listening to God’s word that calls us to justice in spite of resistance—our own and the world’s?-9a

Responsorial Psalm : Ps. 116:1-9

Response:  I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

Reflection:  How will I/we walk with our God who has given us life?

2^nd  reading James 2:14-18  James insists that faith that is not put into action is worthless. Faith without works is dead.

Reflection: 

In the context of our current planetary crises, we whose ears have been opened to God’s Word in the Cry of the Poor and the Cry of Earth must use our “well-trained tongues” to speak out the prophetic Word. How might we take up the opportunities God provides us each to forward the healing and saving of Earth and all its communities?  How could I/we put that prophetic Word into action in our world today?

Gospel : Mark 8:27-35  Jesus begins teaching his disciples that he too must suffer, be rejected and killed.  Jesus knew that he was preaching God’s prophetic Truth to a divided and hostile social-religious context.

Reflection:  People around the planet who are raising their prophetic voices for Care of Earth and Care of the Poor in these times are enduring the resistance, persecution, suffering, and death we hear about here. They make up a community of the human martyrs of this age, joining the plants, animals and other species

suffering extinction from the effects of humanly generated climate change.

Music selections – optional

E – Entrance | O – Offertory | C – Communion | D – Dismissal

E- Journey of Faith Delores Dufner, © 2012 Sisters of St. Benedict, pub. by WLP

O – Take Up Your Cross Charles W. Everest

C – One Bread, One Body © 1978 John B. Foley, SJ. Published by OCP

D- Stewards of Earth Omer Westendorf, ©1984 World Library Publications

Click here to download a PDF of this prayer service. 

For nearly 50 years, the Catholic Church in the United States has celebrated National Migration Week, which is an opportunity for us to reflect on the circumstances confronting migrants, which includes immigrants, refugees, children, victims and also survivors of human trafficking.

This year National Migration Week takes place between September 20-26.  The primary theme for this year is “TOWARDS AN EVER WIDER ‘WE’.”  In Pope Francis’ letter announcing this year’s theme, he emphasizes that this focus calls on us to ensure that we will no longer think in terms of ‘them’ and ‘those,’ but only ‘us’.  Pope Francis invites us to be part of a culture of encounter as we welcome, protect, integrate, and promote immigrants and refugees in our midst.

Immigration is about real people who are trying to find a better life and a new beginning.  It is about more than statistics.    As Pope Francis stated, “Each migrant has a name, a face and a story.” Immigrants who come to the United States, and particularly those who are undocumented, are an especially vulnerable population who have fled violence and persecution and are often seeking safety, family reunification and economic opportunity.  Our moral tradition calls on all people of faith and goodwill to stand up in defense of life and human dignity, regardless of one’s immigration status.

Today we are faced with the fact that forced displacement of people is at the highest level since World War II, with more than 65 million people displaced around the world and over 22 million refugees.  Let each of us do something during this month to become more aware of what is going on in the area where we live and work and to try to find one action from the Toolkit that was provided in last week’s news, to make a difference in growing TOWARDS AN EVER WIDER ‘WE’.

The Immigration Reform Committee has a message for Dominican Sisters and Associates from Pope Francis entitled “Toward an Ever Wider “We.”  Please click here to read this message that he wrote to us “Dear Brothers and Sisters” for our actions “to make this an ever more inclusive world.”

With the words of the Holy Father in your mind and heart, the IRC asks Sisters and Associates to locate a possible “Community Engagement” action, prayer service, or letter to send to your local newspaper letter in the attached toolkit for National Migration Week 2021- September 20-26. You can choose to implement this action in your local parish or community or share a service or communication with others.  Click here to view the toolkit.

IRC members will offer reflections each week in September to focus our attention on immigrants, refugees, children, and victims of human trafficking.  As you create an action, forward a description to the IRC (c/o cdubick@kent.edu).  Our Dominican Sisters and Associates always choose the “ever wider we” as we declare our common journey in this world with others.

Season of Creation Prayer Services 

First Sunday – September 5, 2021

Introductory Comments

Today is the First Sunday of the 2021 Season of Creation.

This season is a time of prayer and action stretching from September 1st, the World Day of Prayer for Creation, to October 4th, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

The Season celebrates God as Creator of the vast cosmic universe, God’s revelation in creation, and our calling to care for creation, to protect its rich diversity and to address the urgent, destructive crises threatening its health and future – including our own.

On this 1st Sunday of the Season of Creation, the scriptures urge us not to lose hope in the face of the urgent and complex climate crisis facing us. They remind us to trust in God Who is faithful and is even now working to save us. They challenge us to confront the false values of wealth and consumption that are so common and so destructive and to pray for Christ to open our eyes, our ears, our hearts.

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 35:4-7a

… Do I, do we as a community share in the discouragement and paralysis? Are we able to see the needs, hear the call, and act for healing and renewal of Earth?

Responsorial Psalm  146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10

R Praise the Lord, my soul! or R Alleluia

… Can we pray it with heartfelt conviction and draw strength from its vision?

A reading from the Letter of Saint James 2:1-5

… How can I/we transform our lifestyles and values to embrace a more authentic and sustainable way of living on Earth in solidarity with all God’s creation?

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 7:31-37

… Are we ready to pray for the healing power of Christ to be at work in us and through us so that we may hear and speak clearly the Word of God given us to share in this critical time?

Can we offer ourselves to join Christ in the difficult work of opening eyes and ears, freeing tongues, and supporting bold efforts to embrace the integral ecological conversion required in these times?

Music selections – optional

E – Entrance | O – Offertory | C – Communion | D – Dismissal

E- Glory and Praise to Our God – ©1972, 1974, 2008 Daniel L. Schutte, pub. OCP

O – Open My Eyes ©1988, 1998, 1999 -Jesse Manibusen, published by Spirit and Song (OCP)

C- Now In This Banquet – Marty Haugen, ©1986 GIA Publications, Inc.

D- Touch the Earth Lightly – Shirley Erena Murray, ©1992 Hope Publishing Company.

Click here to download a PDF copy of this service.