24th Sunday C

The following are prayerful resources rather than a liturgy.

The gospel for the day
(a useful commentary on the reading here)
Some optional questions for reflection
Prayers of Intercession
Cluster Prayer
The gospel of the week ahead with questions

Luke 15:1-32
There will be rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus

to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained.

‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

So he spoke this parable to them:
‘What man among you with a hundred sheep, losing one,

would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness

and go after the missing one till he found it?

And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders

and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours?

“Rejoice with me,” he would say “I have found my sheep that was lost.”

In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven

over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men

who have no need of repentance.

‘Or again, what woman with ten drachmas would not, if she lost one,

light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found it?

And then, when she had found it, call together her friends and neighbours? “Rejoice with me,” she would say “I have found the drachma I lost.”

In the same way, I tell you,

there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.’

He also said, ‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father,

“Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.”

So the father divided the property between them.

A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine,

and now he began to feel the pinch,

so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants

who put him on his farm to feed the pigs.

And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating

but no one offered him anything.

Then he came to his senses and said,

“How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want,

and here am I dying of hunger!

I will leave this place and go to my father and say:

Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;

I no longer deserve to be called your son;

treat me as one of your paid servants.”

So he left the place and went back to his father.

‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity.

He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly.

Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

I no longer deserve to be called your son.”

But the father said to his servants,

“Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him;

put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it;

we are going to have a feast, a celebration,

because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life;

he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back,

as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing.

Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about.

“Your brother has come” replied the servant

“and your father has killed the calf we had fattened

because he has got him back safe and sound.”

He was angry then and refused to go in,

and his father came out to plead with him;

but he answered his father,

“Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders,

yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends.

But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property –

he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours.

But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice,

because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”

This is the gospel of the Lord

Having used our prayer resources, you might want simply to reflect yourself on them and how that might flow into your coming week. Some people have found it very helpful to meet with others and share their thoughts.
If you are interested in joining a small group to share your thoughts and feelings about God's Word from any of the resources you have watched please email us. cluster.alpha@outlook.com

Questions for reflection (framed for a group discussion)

These parables speak of things lost. In our world today, the human race seems to have lost not only its own humanity, but it continues to destroy the common good of all life

and to threaten the very existence of the planet itself.

Promoting the common good in our local area in the coming months will mean more than
giving from our surplus. What must we do (and do without) so that others may live with dignity?
When have you persistently sought after a member of your family who has lost his or her way?

Prayers of Intercession

This is the second Sunday in the Season of Creation’. “Listen to the voice of creation” is the theme and invitation for this year’s celebration. Let us pray

For Pope Francis, who In his message says, “If we learn to listen, we can hear in the voice of creation a kind of dissonance. On the one hand, we can hear a sweet song in praise of our beloved Creator; on the other an anguished plea, lamenting our mistreatment of this common home”. May his prophetic call to care for the earth touch more and more hearts everywhere.