IN GOD’S HANDS
Introduction
Isaiah (Yahweh is salvation) experienced the holiness of God and was so haunted by it that it was the central message of his prophecies – the most vigorous and beautiful of all the prophetic writings. In the name of God’s holiness, he demanded conversion, especially to end the social injustice rampant in his time.
“Do not be afraid.” says Jesus to his disciples three times. Even, when persecuted and apparently failing in their mission, like Jesus, their master, they are in God’s hands. God takes care of his own. God’s kingdom cannot be built up without crosses and sacrifices, not without being contested by a world that wants to create its own future.
Opening Prayer
Dependable God,
you are present with us in all things,
even in our miseries,
and you take care of your own.
Deepen our trust in you
and make us afraid of only one thing:
to become instruments of evil.
Make us instead messengers of the Good News
that evil can be overcome
and that your goodness and justice will prevail.
Give us this faith and trust
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!
1 Reading – ISAIAH 6:1-8
In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft. They cried one to the other, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!” At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it and said, “See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!”
Responsorial – PSALM 93:1AB, 1CD-2, 5
R. (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendour robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength. R.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD. R.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days. R.
Alleluia – 1 PETER 4:14
Alleluia, alleluia.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel – MATTHEW 10:24-33
Jesus said to his Apostles: “No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! “Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
Commentary
Rushing in Where Angels Fear to Tread
The descriptions of God given by Isaiah and by Jesus cannot be any more different from each other: they look poles apart. For Isaiah, the majesty and holiness of Yahweh are so powerful and intimidating that he can only fall on his feet utterly conscious of his sinfulness. But Jesus presents a “Father” who is so maternal that even he has counted the hair on our head! How do we reconcile these two images? Of course, they are not contradictory, but two aspects of the same God. He is so holy that no creature on earth can stand its ground before him; yet God is so full of love that we can climb on his lap and pull his beard. Didn’t Alexander Pope sing that “fools rush in where angels fear to tread”? Pope could easily have been talking of God’s bosom, where angels fear to tread, but we, his foolish children, can barge in.
Intentions
– For the Church, that free from all paralyzing fears, it may have the courage born of faith to bear witness to the demands of the Gospel, we pray:
– For presiders in the liturgy, that they may have a deep sense of God’s holiness and of their own limitations and shortcomings, we pray:
– For all of us, that we may not fear those who threaten or ridicule us for our faith, as we live in trust of God who carries us in his hands, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Believable and trustworthy God,
your Son, Jesus Christ, committed himself
to the fight against evil and persecution,
yet he himself was its victim.
As he encounters us here
in these signs of bread and wine,
may he help us to understand better
that the disciple is not above the master,
that we cannot make your kingdom come true
without being torn apart
nor without being contested by the world.
We trust in you through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Prayer after Communion
Our holy God,
we have shared the table of your Son;
we are willing to share his life and mission.
Make us unafraid, as he was fearless.
Help us to be convinced
in the deepest of ourselves,
that our life and death are in your hands
and that our crosses bear within themselves
the seeds of joy and happiness.
Give us this faith and strength
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Blessing
Do not be afraid of professing your faith or of living it. Trust in God, who stands behind you. May God strengthen and bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!