26th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2025 - Year C
The following are prayerful resources rather than a liturgy.
- The gospel for the day
- Some optional questions for reflection
- Prayers of Intercession
- Cluster Prayer
- The gospel of the week ahead with questions for reflection
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 please email us: cluster.alpha@outlook.com
Questions for reflection (framed for a group discussion)
Did you notice that God is not in this parable? Did you notice too that Lazarus does not say a word?
Jesus is speaking directly to the Pharisees and in some ways the parable is not about the fate of the rich in this world. It is about all those who know and understand the message of the Bible and fail to live it.
There is something of the Pharisee in all of us too if we are honest. We know what Jesus asks of us - in particular to be the voice of the voiceless: the voiceless such as Lazarus.
If we are to be part of the Kingdom of Heaven we need to be light, to be salt, to be a voice that challenges the hellish divisions of all kinds in our world. The devil has often been called the Divider who wishes to pit God against humanity and sow divisions among people themselves.
Abraham says if they won't believe Moses and the prophets then they won't believe someone coming back from the dead.
We have something the Pharisees did not have: the Resurrection. What better reason for us to try to heal divisions in our communities, our country, our world?
1. Recall a time when you spoke up for (or failed to speak up for) a person who could not defend themselves from an injustice done to them.
2. What are the "rewards" of caring for the needs of the poor?*
* All second questions
© The Pastoral Center
Prayers of Intercession
On this the first weekend in Fair Trade Fortnight, we pray for farm workers in all countries who rely for survival on the exports of their products; for the governments of Developing Countries struggling to repay International Debt, whilst facing inequality in Global Trade deals, and for the work of the FairTrade Foundation and its partners, as they fight for the rights of small producers.
Lord, in your mercy ... Hear our prayer
For the church and all faith communities, that there will be a response to the cry of Nature, wounded by humankind’s inability to recognise its vocation to be custodians of all that exists. May people of faith act with wisdom, compassion, urgency and love and grow in openness to more just ways to restore and renew Earth.
Lord, in your mercy ... Hear our prayer
For our brothers and sisters in Gaza and elsewhere, who are queuing for aid, cradling starving children and digging in the rubble for those they have lost. May they know that God is in their midst and that God’s love can never be contained by the walls of separation. May those in positions of authority come to realise that there will never be peace without restorative justice.
Lord, in your mercy ... Hear our prayer
For our Cluster Community, that we will resist the temptation to, like the rich man in today’s gospel, insulate ourselves from the suffering around us. May we step out of our comfort zone and reach out in faith to help them, knowing that God hears the cries of all who are in distress.
Lord, in your mercy ... Hear our prayer
For ourselves, that we will be people of faith who will act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God.
Lord, in your mercy ... Hear our prayer
For all known to us who are suffering in any way through illness, anxiety or loneliness and everyone on the Prayer Foundation List. May they experience Christ’s healing love through those who care for them or visit them.
Lord, in your mercy ... Hear our prayer
For those who have died and all whose anniversaries occur at this time. We remember especially: Jeffrey Sogovia, James Alphonso D’Souza, Bridget Bonnar, Joe Callaghan, Michael Boyle, Dorothy Gilhooly, Patrick Boyle, Jack Laing.
May Christ who has gone before them, welcome them into their heavenly home and may those who mourn them find comfort and peace.
Lord, in your mercy ... Hear our prayer
We will now say together the prayer to be missionary disciples.
Cluster prayer
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
Questions for reflection (framed for a group discussion)
In today's gospel, Jesus' reply sounds strange, to say the least, when the apostles ask him to increase their faith. After all, don't we all feel that our faith should be stronger than it is?
Perhaps the apostles were expecting, as do we often, that the strength of our faith should translate into immediate, visible results - the greater our faith, the greater the miracles worked. The real leap of faith is to carry on labouring in God's vineyard without seeing any instant fruit, and to trust that God will use our efforts in his own time.
1. Share a moment when, much later, you realised how God had used your seemingly futile efforts.
2. When have you done more than was required of you in the service of others?*
* All second questions
© The Pastoral Center
Gospel for the day - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Luke 16:19-31 - ‘You received good things, and Lazarus bad things; now he is comforted here, and your are in anguish.’
At that time: Jesus said to the Pharisees, ‘There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.” But Abraham said, “Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not do so, and none may cross from there to us.” And he said, “Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house — for I have five brothers — so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.” But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” And he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” ’
This is the gospel of the Lord. Commentary on the readings.