Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C
I Kgs 17: 17-24
Ps. 30
Gal. 1:11-19
Lk 7: 11-17

The Scriptures find their meeting today in the power of God to restore the dead to life. In the First Reading, the prophet Elijah restores life to the son of the widow who had offered him hospitality. The Responsorial Psalm--in its Sitz-im-Leben-- was sung by someone who had been cured of a life-threatening illness; in the context of today’s lectionary appointments, it is the song of those who had lost their life and received it back from God. Truly, both widows today could sing to God, “You have changed my mourning into dancing; O Lord, my God, forever I will give you thanks.” The Gospel which parallels the First Reading is the story of the raising of the son of the widow from Naim. As the widow in the First Reading testified “Now indeed I know that you are man of God—the word of the Lord comes truly from your mouth.” The crowd in the Gospel acclaimed, “A great prophet has risen among us,” and went even further, to say “God has visited his people!”

The in-course reading of the Letter to the Galatians continues today, with Paul giving testimony from his own personal experiences to affirm that the Gospel which he preached in Galatia was no human invention. In doing so, he affirms the necessity of remaining faithful to the Good News as it had been originally preached to them.

This hymn is based on today’s Scriptures:
When death had claimed the widow's son,
Elijah's faith was sorely tried;
Moved by the mother's grief, he prayed,
And God gave life to him who died.

When passing by the town of Naim
The Lord was moved by mother's pain;
Christ called her son back into life
And gave him back to her again.

In Christ, our God has come to earth
And bought us back from death and sin;
No human wit has this devised--
God came in Christ our life to win!

LM
No suggested tune
Propers from the Roman Gradual

Introit: Si iniquitates (Ps. 130: 3,4,1)
If you, O Lord, were to take into account our iniquities,
who would withstand the test?
But forgiveness abides with you, O God of Israel.
Out of the depths have I cried to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice.

Offertory: Illumina oculos meos (Ps. 13:4-5)
Enlighten my eyes lest I sleep in death;
lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him.”

Communion: Quicumque fecerit (Mt 12:50)
(parallels the Gospel in Year B)
Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven
is my brother, my sister, and my mother, says the Lord.

Propers from the Simple Gradual

The suite of antiphons and psalms from Ordinary Time II (BFW 230–238) —
trust and hope in God — is especially appropriate.

Entrance: BFW 79 (The Lord is my light and my salvation)
Response: BFW 84 (Lord, listen to my voice)
Offertory: BFW 265 (Give light, O Lord, to my eyes . . .)
Communion: BFW 470 (If you do the will of my Father . . .)