Sunday 5th SEPTEMBER 2010

TWENTY THIRD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (YEAR C)

 

NEW MISSAL TRANSLATION 

“Some of you might be aware that during 2011 a new, revised third translation of the Roman missal will start to be used in all English-speaking churches. As we know at Vatican Council II in the early 1960s, a major change brought about the use of the vernacular in the liturgy; previously the language had been in Latin, but after the Council to make the worship of God more meaningful to the congregation, the liturgical language reflected that of the country in which it was celebrated. This has proved to be a great success. Now, over forty years later, a better translation of the old Latin missal will be introduced. ICEL (International Commission on English in the Liturgy) have been looking again at the Latin texts and have offered a more careful translation to reflect the sacredness and beauty of the liturgy. Small but important changes will be advanced. 

For example, during the Gloria instead of the present ‘peace to his people on earth’ we will say or sing ‘peace on earth to people of good will’. Not only is this a more accurate translation of the original Latin, but it offers a more inclusive address to all women and men of good will throughout the world. There will be a number of guides published near to the launch date to explain the background to the translation. More generally, the new translation is intended to be true to the historical liturgical tradition of the Church and at the same time to bring about sensible change rooted in excellent theology and precise linguistic translation. The result should be a more uplifting experience of worship for us all, which reflects the glory of the One whom we serve and to whom we give praise.”

David Torevell (Dr)

Department of Theology,Philosophy & Religious Studies,Liverpool Hope University.

 

FIRST READING:Wisdom 9:13-18 

'What man can know the intentions of God? Who can divine the will of the Lord? The reasonings of mortals are unsure and our intentions unstable; for a perishable body presses down the soul, and this tent of day weighs down the teeming mind. It is hard enough for us to work out what is on earth, laborious to know what lies within our reach; who, then, can discover what is in the heavens? As for your intention, who could have learnt it, had you not granted Wisdom and sent your holy spirit from above? Thus have the paths of those on earth been straightened and men been taught what pleases you, and saved, by Wisdom.'

 

PSALM:PSALM 89 

You turn men back into dust and say: 'Go back, sons of men.' To your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch in the night.  

You sweep men away like a dream, like grass which springs up in the morning.  In the morning it springs up and flowers: by evening it withers and fades.  

Make us know the shortness of our life  that we may gain wisdom of heart.  

Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever. Show pity to your servants.  

In the morning, fill us with your love; we shall exult and rejoice all our days.  Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:  give success to the work of our hands.

 

SECOND READING: Philemon 9-17 

This is Paul writing, an old man now and, what is more, still a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for a child of mine, whose father I became while wearing these chains: I mean Onesimus. I am sending him back to you, and with him - I could say - a part of my own self. I should have liked to keep him with me; he could have been a substitute for you, to help me while I am in the chains that the Good News has brought me. However, I did not want to do anything without your consent; it would have been forcing your act of kindness, which should be spontaneous. I know you have been deprived of Onesimus for a time, but it was only so that you could have him back for ever, not as a slave any more, but something much better than a slave, a dear brother; especially dear to me, but how much more to you, as a blood-brother as well as a brother in the Lord. So if all that we have in common means anything to you, welcome him as you would me.

 

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION:

Alleluia, alleluia!

I call you friends, says the Lord,

because I have made known to you

everything I have learnt

from my Father.

Alleluia!

 

GOSPEL:Luke 14:25-33 

Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. 'If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 

'And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, "Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish." Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who advanced against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.'