Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

Celebrant: The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds. With confidence that God is with us, we humbly bring him our needs.

Deacon/Lector:

That the Church may preach and live the life of humility, constant repentance, and joyful fidelity, we pray to the Lord...

For all who have never heard the Gospel, that thanks to the work of preachers and the witness of each of us, all people may hear and believe the Good News, we pray to the Lord...

That God, who hears the cry of the oppressed, may inspire those in the media to be a stronger voice for the weak, the marginalized, and the unborn, we pray to the Lord…

For all whose lives and homes have been affected by bad weather, that they may find strength from the Lord and the assistance of others, we pray to the Lord...

For the sick, the lonely, and all whom the Lord has called from this world, we pray to the Lord...

Celebrant:

Father,
You always hear the prayers of the lowly.
Aware of our sins, we still trust you.
Grant all we need, and keep us faithful.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Women speak out

“[The abortion] gave me grief and sorrow beyond expression. I have committed the most heinous of all crimes --  I killed my own child. Yet, the Lord forgave me, just as he forgave Paul. Yet I will always regret what I did and will probably always feel grief. But I pray that my experience can somehow prevent other women from making the same fatal mistake. I’m a nurse now, so I wear my uniform to all the pro-life things I do!” For information on healing after abortion, and to read more testimonies, visit www.SilentNoMore.com.

Sir 35:12-14, 16-18
2 Tm 4:6-8, 16-18
Lk 18:9-14

Watch a video with homily hints

The story in the Gospel passage for today proves the point in the first reading, that “the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds.”

But the lesson is not just about the efficacy of prayer. It’s about God’s love for the smallest, the outcast, the “poor” – which means more than the materially deprived, but more fundamentally about those who have no help but God. “The Lord hears the cry of the poor” – of those who cry to him because they don’t have access to any of the power structures of this world which should protect them but don’t.

God hears the “poor” because it belongs to his very nature to do so. He is, as the first reading proclaims, “a God of justice.” “Justice” is a powerful theme in Scripture, and refers to the intervention of God to rescue the helpless. The fundamental act of justice, of intervention, in the Old Testament is the Exodus, foreshadowing the supreme act of justice in Jesus Christ, who rescues us from the kingdom of death and hell by his own death and resurrection.

All of this points, of course, to God’s concern for the poorest of the poor, and the most helpless of all, the children still in the womb. They have no access to the power structures of this world, who have officially deprived them of their rights of personhood. No group of human beings is more victimized, or in greater numbers, than children in the first nine months after conception.

The God of justice requires his people to “do justice,” that is, to “hear the cry of the oppressed” as he does. The unborn child is, indeed, “the orphan,” often abandoned by mother and father who resort to abortion. The mother of the child is, for all practical purposes, facing the plight of the “widow” in Scripture, because half of those who have abortions say that they can’t go forward due to lack of support from the father of the child.

We are called to intervene, to reach those tempted to abort and strengthen them to do what is right, and to speak and take action to restore protection to the unborn, for the Lord hears the cry of the poor.