Presider: Fr. James Kubicki S.J.
Parish: St. Francis de Sales Seminary
Choir: St. Charles Schola Cantorum

TEXT FROM THE GOSPEL & HOMILY ~ November 5, 2023

The Lord be with you. And with your spirit.

A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, o Lord.

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called, 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one father in heaven. Do not be called 'master'; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

Well in our first reading from the prophet Malachi and also in our gospel Jesus and God speaking through the prophets say that we have one father and that one father is our father in heaven. God. So when Jesus in the gospel says, “call no one on earth your father”, are we disobeying him when we celebrate in the month of June, Father's Day? Or when we call priests father? We have to read the scripture not one verse at a time but as a whole in order to really understand passages like the one we have in today's gospel. We have to look at it in its context. And we have to read the whole of the scripture. And so St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians says "you" to the people he's writing “have me as your father.” And Jesus himself told us to follow the commandment. Remember what the 4th commandment is? Honor your father and your mother. So Jesus uses the word father for our human relationships and he refers to Abraham as "Father Abraham." So we read the scripture as a whole and see that we do refer to others as father. And the point of our gospel and of our first reading is very simple, don't seek honors. Don't seek titles. Don't use your position if you are in authority in order to serve yourself. You're to serve others. And don't expect others to look up at you as you look down at them. Jesus challenges us to be humble. And he gives us the example of himself. Who is the greatest? He is the greatest. He is the king of kings, the Lord of Lords but he says while the kings of this world lorded over their subjects, it must not be like that among us. But the greatest among us must be like Jesus. Must be the servant of all. Our responsorial psalm from 131, Psalm 131 has a beautiful childlike trust to it. That we are like children and God is like a loving mother who holds us close to himself. And what that psalm tells us is we should find our sense of worth, our lovableness, not in honors. We should not find our identity in seeking to be above others in seeking earthly glory or even a physical appearance that we feel might make us more lovable to others. Our readings invite us and challenge us to find our self-worth, our dignity in one thing. That we are beloved daughters and sons of our father in heaven who loves us with that same infinite love with which he loved his son, Jesus.

Entrance: 10,000 Reasons
(c) 2011 SHOUT! Publishing, SAID AND DONE MUSIC (ASCAP) Admin EMI CMG Pub.
Contributors: Matt Redman, Matt Redman

Psalm 131: In You O Lord I Have Found My Peace
Text © 1969, 1981, 1997, ICEL. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Music © 2021, Trevor Thomson. Published by OCP. All rights reserved.

Preparation: Give Me Jesus
Text: African American spiritual
Tune: GIVE ME JESUS, 666 4 with refrain; African American spiritual; arr.

Communion: The Body of Christ
© 2019, 2020, Sarah Hart. Published by Spirit & Song®, a division of OCP. All rights reserved.

Sending Forth: In Christ Alone
©2001 Words and Music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend

Mass Setting: Mass of Renewal
Text © 2010, ICEL. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Music © 2009, Curtis Stephan. Published by OCP. All rights reserved.

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