Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle B

Celebrant: Confident of our covenant with God and our unity with our brothers and sisters, we present these prayers before God's throne.

Deacon/Lector:

That the Church continue to guide and teach us in faith, and be a living witness to the compassionate love of God, we pray to the Lord.

That leaders of nations may protect the rights of all in their care and lead all in the ways of peace, we pray to the Lord.

That families will be filled with the graces that flow from marriage and parenthood, and become true sanctuaries of life, we pray to the Lord.

That the gifts of nature, as expressed through the animals who serve our needs and the pets we enjoy, may lead us closer to the Creator of all life, we pray to the Lord.

That those who suffer in body and spirit may experience the presence of our compassionate God in their moments of loneliness, we pray to the Lord.

That our beloved dead may be greeted by God's loving mercy, we pray to the Lord. 

Celebrant:

God of love, draw us always to You, so that we may imitate your love and compassionate care for those in need.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Marriage and the Gift of Life

“A certain sharing by man in God's lordship is also evident in the specific responsibility which he is given for human life as such. It is a responsibility which reaches its highest point in the giving of life through procreation by man and woman in marriage. As the Second Vatican Council teaches: "God himself who said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone' (Gen 2:18) and ‘who made man from the beginning male and female' (Mt 19:4), wished to share with man a certain special participation in his own creative work. Thus he blessed male and female saying: ‘Increase and multiply' (Gen 1:28)” (Pope John Paul II, The Gospel of Life, n. 43)

Gn 2:18-24
Heb 2:9-11
Mk 10:2-16

Watch a video with homily hints

The proclamation of the sanctity of life and the proclamation of the sanctity of marriage go hand in hand. God made both in his image. The “image” of God in the human being is fully reflected in the image of the total self-giving of human beings to one another in the common vocation of love. This is seen in marriage as well as in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom. Those also who embrace the vocation of the single life are always called to give themselves away in loving service to the wider community. We are never called to live a life turned in on ourselves. 

The love by which we reach out to the other is a love that gives life. Welcoming the spouse in marriage includes welcoming his/her fertility. Contraception is wrong because it compromises the totality of our self-giving to one another. “I will take only part of you, not all of you.” 

Love leads to life. The longer form of today’s Gospel passage brings the theme of welcoming children into light right after the Lord’s teaching on faithful marriage. Faithfulness and Fruitfulness are two of the key characteristics of marriage. This forms the basis of the family, which is thereby the sanctuary of life. “There is no family without life; there is no life without family.”