Our Sunday Supplication

Sunday, September 20, 2020

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Holy Mass is at the very core of our worship as a Catholic community. Nothing can ever be substituted for the celebration of the Eucharist. But in this exceptional time of difficulty for our communities, our nation, and the whole world, this order of prayer can be offered by individuals and families and engages us in our Sunday celebration of the Word of God. We can pray this prayer in our homes—the “domestic churches” which help build up the Body of Christ on earth—and thus be connected to the entire Church at prayer.

During this time of prayer, we include the opportunity to make a Spiritual Communion. Making a Spiritual Communion is a worthy practice, recommended by innumerable saints throughout the ages, which unites our whole selves to God and his Church.

Order of Prayer

Taken from the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours

Introduction

Leader: God, ✠ come to my assistance.
Response: Lord, make haste to help me.

Leader: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
Response: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Hymn

My Shepherd, you supply my need;
Most holy is your name.
In pastures green you make me feed
Beside the living stream.
You bring my wand’ring spirit back
When I forsake your ways,
And lead me, for your mercy’s sake,
In paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death,
Your presence is my stay.
One word of your supporting breath
Drives all my fears away.
Your hand, in sight of all my foes,
Does still my table spread.
My cup with blessings overflows;
Your oil anoints my head.

The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days.
O may your house be my abode
And all my work be praise!
There would I find a sheltered rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger or a guest,
But like a child at home.

Act of Contrition

Leader: Let us acknowledge our sins, and seek the Lord’s pardon and peace.

Together: I confess to almighty God
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,
through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault;
therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
all the Angels and Saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Leader: O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law
upon love of you and of our neighbor,
grant that, by keeping your precepts,
we may merit to attain eternal life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Together: Amen.

The Sunday Readings

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 55:6–9)

Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.

The Word of the Lord.
―Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 145:2–3, 8–9, 17–18)

Reader: The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
Together: The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

Reader: Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD and highly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable.
Together: The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

Reader: The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.
Together: The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

Reader: The LORD is just in all his ways and holy in all his works. The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.
Together: The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

A Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians (Philippians 1:20c–24, 27a)

Brothers and sisters: Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.

The word of the Lord.
―Thanks be to God.

Gospel Verse (Acts of the Apostles 16:14B)

Reader: Open our hearts, O Lord,
Together: to listen to the words of your Son.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 20:1–16a)

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
―Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

For Reflection:

It can be hard for us to comprehend God’s infinite love and mercy. As adopted sons and daughters of God in Christ Jesus, we are recipients of God’s boundless generosity. As members of Christ’s Body, we are also called to generously share what we have received with the world.

• How are today’s readings resonating in your heart? Did any words, phrases, or images linger in your mind and heart as you received the Word?
• “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.” Is God calling you to deeper conversion, to prayer, or to action in response to today’s Scriptures? How can you “put on Christ” and take on the mind and heart of God in your daily living this week?

Response to the Word

Leader: Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.
Response: Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.

Leader: You are seated at the right hand of the Father,
Response: have mercy on us.

Leader: Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Response: Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.

Prayer of the Faithful

Leader: Christ is the sun that never sets, the true light that shines on every man. Let us call out to him in praise:
Response: Lord, you are our life and our salvation.

Leader: Creator of the stars, we thank you for your gift, the first rays of the dawn, and we commemorate your resurrection.
Response: Lord, you are our life and our salvation.

Leader: May your Holy Spirit teach us to do your will today, and may your Wisdom guide us always.
Response: Lord, you are our life and our salvation.

Leader: Each Sunday give us the joy of gathering as your people, around the table of your word and your body.
Response: Lord, you are our life and our salvation.

Leader: From our hearts we thank you, for your countless blessings.
Response: Lord, you are our life and our salvation.

Leader: In your mercy, continue to sanctify all who are afflicted from the present pandemic, and draw us all closer to you, and to one another, in this time of suffering.
Response: Lord, you are our life and our salvation..

The Lord's Prayer

Leader: Let us pray together as Jesus taught us:
Together: Our Father, who art in heaven …

Spiritual Communion

Leader: You have given us bread from heaven, alleluia, alleluia.
Response: Containing in itself all delight, alleluia, alleluia.
Together: My Jesus,
I believe that you are present
in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
I love you above all things,
and I desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace you as if you were already there
and unite myself wholly to you.
Never permit me to be separated from you,
my Lord and my God!
Amen.

Canticle of Praise

Canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79)
Together: ✠ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.

Conclusion

Leader: ✠ May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Together: Amen.