Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

Celebrant: The Lord is with us, and today salvation has come to our house. This gives us confidence now to pray.

Deacon/Lector:

That our Holy Father and all bishops may always be given the grace to be good and faithful Shepherds, we pray to the Lord...

That world leaders may seek always the wisdom, mercy, and strength that come from God alone, we pray to the Lord...

That like Zaccheus, our knowledge of Jesus may lead us to be generous to the poor, as well as to all the weak, the neglected, and the unborn, we pray to the Lord… 

For all who are preparing for marriage, that they may have a deep understanding of the Church's teachings about this sacrament, we pray to the Lord...

For our nation and its leaders, that we may embrace the Culture of Life, we pray to the Lord...

That God may heal the sick, comfort the dying, and bring the departed into the joy of His presence, we pray to the Lord...

Celebrant:
Father, 
As you hear our prayers,
May we glorify your name
Through our faithful service.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Disposable Children?

"The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships...It has portrayed the greatest of gifts - a child - as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters...The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign." – Mother Teresa 1994 

Wis 11:22—12:2
2 Thes 1:11—2:2
Lk 19:1-10

Watch a video with homily hints

The Zacchaeus story shows our Lord’s eagerness to seek out those whom others are tempted to look down on. Zacchaeus would have been lost in the crowd because of his small stature, had he not climbed the tree. He was also looked down upon because of his role as chief tax collector. But Jesus sought him out, not only by giving him attention but by dining at his house.

Jesus breaks down the false barriers we place between certain kinds of people and others; he goes first to those who are pushed aside by the crowd.

The Church, through which Jesus continues to carry out his mission today, does the same thing, and therefore speaks up for those pushed aside by the crowd, especially the smallest of the small, the unborn.

Their lives, like ours, are not just the handiwork of God, but a continuous proof of his love. The first reading reminds us that at every moment God is sustaining each one of us with the breath of life. We would fall back into nothingness at once if God did not have his love focused on us in an uninterrupted way. To snuff out a life, therefore, whether of the born or the unborn, is a direct contradiction to God’s loving will, which sustains all things in being.

On the other hand, we cooperate with the life-giving love of God each time we reach out to those around us who may be unsure about how to handle their pregnancy, and give them the strength to love their unborn child. We do likewise when we strengthen those who care for the vulnerable, the disabled, and the dying. By helping one another grow in love for the weakest in the human family, we and they literally become more like God, for “how could a thing remain unless you willed it, or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?’ (First Reading).