28th Sunday B

The following are prayerful resources rather than a liturgy

  • Responsorial Psalm 89 - Fill us with your love
  • The gospel for the day
    (a useful commentary on the reading         here)
  • Some optional questions for reflection
  • Prayers of Intercession
  • Our Cluster Prayer

Psalm 89 - Fill us with your love

Fill us with your love that we may rejoice

Fill us with your love that we may rejoice

 

Make us know the shortness of our life that we may gain wisdom of heart

Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?

Show pity to your servants.

 

Fill us with your love that we may rejoice

 

In the morning, fill us with your love;

We shall exult and rejoice all our days

Give us joy to balance our affliction for the years when we knew misfortune.

 

Fill us with your love that we may rejoice

 

Show forth your work to your servants;

Let your glory shine on their children.

Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:

Give success to the work of our hands

 

Fill us with your love that we may rejoice


* * * * *


Gospel  Mark 10:17-30  Give everything you own to the poor, and follow me


Jesus was setting out on a journey when a man ran up,

knelt before him and put this question to him,

‘Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good?

No one is good but God alone.

You know the commandments:

You must not kill; You must not commit adultery; You must not steal;

You must not bring false witness; You must not defraud;

Honour your father and mother.’

And he said to him,

‘Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days.’

Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him, and he said,

‘There is one thing you lack.

Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor,

and you will have treasure in heaven;

then come, follow me.’

But his face fell at these words and he went away sad,

for he was a man of great wealth.


Jesus looked round and said to his disciples,

‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!’

The disciples were astounded by these words,

but Jesus insisted,

‘My children,’ he said to them ‘how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle

than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’

They were more astonished than ever.

‘In that case’ they said to one another ‘who can be saved?’

Jesus gazed at them.

‘For men’ he said ‘it is impossible,

but not for God: because everything is possible for God.’


Peter took this up. ‘What about us?’ he asked him.

‘We have left everything and followed you.’

Jesus said, ‘I tell you solemnly, there is no one who has left house,

brothers, sisters, father, children or land for my sake

and for the sake of the gospel who will not be repaid a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land –

not without persecutions –

now in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life.’


This is the gospel of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Copyright © 1996-2021 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.

Having read the gospel, you might want simply to reflect yourself on what you have read 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)

The passage says that Jesus loved this man - a morally good person

who was certainly not poor. For many, that could be us.

Does Jesus really want us to sell everything we have?

Not sell perhaps but use: use your house, your car, yes even your holiday...

...'use it or lose it', in the service of others.

  1. If you were wakened in the middle of the night by fire,
    and had the chance to take just one thing, what would it be? (Share in your group)
  2. How can the pleasures and comforts of this world
    become barriers to your relationship with God?

Prayers of Intercession


We pray for the leaders of our faith communities, that they will both live and teach the true wisdom that comes from God and being grounded in God’s love, truth and mercy, lead  people to the House of the Father.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer

 

For our political leaders, that they grow in awareness of the need to care for our home, the earth. As preparations are made for COP26, we ask the Spirit of God to speak into their hearts to support wise directives for the long term good of all peoples.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer

 

We bring before our loving Father in prayer our brothers and sisters who are living in areas of conflict and instability. May we who live in more peaceful parts of the world draw on God’s wisdom and loving concern to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly and co-operate in bringing about justice and peace in our world.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer

 

We pray for those affected by abuse in the Church or domestic violence, that they will be supported in finding refuge, justice and safety by their communities.  For those who resort to physical and psychological violence that they turn from evil and find freedom to choose life rather than death.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer

 

That the Lord would comfort those recently bereaved and those who are suffering in mind, body and spirit and all those named in the cluster newsletter and the Prayer Foundation. We ask you to send wise and loving people to accompany them tenderly.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer

 

We lift up in prayer to our Lord and Our Lady, those who have died recently:  Jack Black, Laurence Friel and George Lewis and those whose anniversaries occur at this time of year.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer


Prayer to be missionary disciples

Lord continue to bless our community
in this time of transition.
Help us on our journey
to grow from a maintenance church
to a missionary church.
Give us the courage
to be missionary disciples.
Make our doors wide enough
to receive all who need
human love and fellowship;
narrow enough to shut out
all envy, pride and prejudice.
Kindle in us the fire of your love
that all who come here
will find joy, peace and love.
Make this a house of prayer
and a gateway to your kingdom.
AMEN

Preparing for next week



 Mark 10:35-45       The Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many.


James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached Jesus.

‘Master,’ they said to him ‘we want you to do us a favour.’

He said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’

They said to him, ‘Allow us to sit one at your right hand

and the other at your left in your glory.’

‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus said to them.

‘Can you drink the cup that I must drink,

or be baptised with the baptism with which I must be baptised?’

They replied, ‘We can.’

Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I must drink you shall drink,

and with the baptism with which I must be baptised you shall be baptised,

but as for seats at my right hand or my left,

these are not mine to grant;

they belong to those to whom they have been allotted.’


When the other ten heard this

they began to feel indignant with James and John,

so Jesus called them to him and said to them,

‘You know that among the pagans their so-called rulers lord it over them,

and their great men make their authority felt.

This is not to happen among you.

No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant,

and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all.

For the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve,

and to give his life as a ransom for many.’


This is the gospel of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Copyright © 1996-2021 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.

Jesus says, "This is not to happen among you."

In God's world, the master washes the feet of his followers

in the manner of a servant, dying that they might know eternal life.
The hierarchical structure of the church sits uncomfortably with this.

With open minds and hearts, let's approach the forthcoming synod

and listen carefully to the Spirit speaking in each one of us.

  1. Have you ever envied the ministry skills of someone else in your faith community? Make time this week to thank God for the way s/he has helped us all, and plan how you can better assist your community with your strengths.
  2.  Why is it hard to do good works if you will not be acknowledged for them?