12th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Prayer
Loving Father,
Through Your Son, our Divine Physician, we are reconciled to You and brought to wholeness of mind, body, and spirit. Help us to celebrate your healing and forgiving love in our lives; especially through the Sacraments of the Anointing of the Sick and Reconciliation. Amen.
Commentary
1st Reading: Zechariah 12:10-11, 13:1
Our First Reading and Gospel today strike a penitential note. However, as we read them, we recognize a promise of joy that lies beyond their somber tone.
The Prophet Zechariah, for example, presents a “spirit of grace and petition” to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but only after they have looked upon the Son of Man “whom they have pierced.”
For Christians, this reading is obviously a foretelling of Christ who would be pierced on the cross for our offenses.
The reference to “a fountain to purify from sin and uncleanness” is also a foreshadowing of the fountain of water that would flow from the wounded side of Jesus Christ to make us clean.
As we continue in our six-week theme on “Healing and Forgiveness,” we should remember that our forgiveness comes at a price. Just look at him who is pierced for offenses.
Question:
In your mind, is there any other way for our sins to be forgiven apart from Christ who died on the cross?
2nd Reading: Galatians 3:26-29
The “fountain to purify from sin” — as remembered in our 1st Reading — is the baptismal waters flowing from the side of Christ. When we are baptized in Christ, our sins (even original sin) are forgiven.
However, Baptism is more than the forgiveness of sins. Baptism is also a “born again” reality where we radically depart from the world of division and embrace a world of perfect communion. In this new world of grace, Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, male and female, are “all one in Christ.”
The Oneness of the Blessed Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — is extended to us who have been clothed in Christ. We share a communion with our Triune God and with all of His holy people. It is for this reason that Paul urges us to remember that we “are children of God,” and that we must abandon our old way of thinking; a thinking that belongs to those who are not clothed in Christ.
Question:
What does it mean to clothe yourself in Christ?
Gospel: Luke 9:18-24
Our Gospel fits well with our 1st Reading as we consider Christ on the cross. Jesus is that long awaited servant who would be “pierced for offenses.”
Peter’s answer to Jesus’ question, Who do you say that I am,” is met with a rebuke. Peter’s answer is correct. Jesus is the “Christ of God.” But the Christ (the word means king) is to suffer, be rejected by the leaders, be killed, and then be raised on the third day.
Our king accepted the cross to forgive us our sins. However, He did not do this to spare our lives, but to give us a new life in Him.
A new life in Him means that where He goes, we must follow. Abandoning our former way of life, we deny ourselves, take up our own cross, and follow Him.
As Christians, we are not on this planet to save our old lives. Instead, we lose our old life for Christ’s sake that that our new life in Christ will be saved and preserved.
Question:
What does it mean to lose your old life?
This Week’s Task
Over the last two weeks, the group prayed the Act of Contrition together. Consider committing this prayer to memory and using it as way to close your examination of conscience each night:
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins, because of Your just
punishments, but most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.
Group Prayer
The group prays together this prayer of forgiveness:
O Lord, Jesus Christ, Redeemer and Saviour, forgive my sins,
just as You forgave Peter’s denial
and those who crucified You. Count not my transgressions, but, rather, my tears of repentance.
Remember not my iniquities, but, more especially,
my sorrow for the offenses I have committed against You.
I promise to give You praise and glory in love and in service all the days of my life.
The prayer continues with Psalm 63.
Psalm
Response: My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless
and without water.
R: My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
R: My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
R: My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
My soul clings fast to you;
your right hand upholds me.