Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C
Jeremiah 38: 4-8, 8-10
Ps. 40
Hebrews 12: 1-4
Luke 12: 49-53

Do you pay attention to the short sentences printed in little letters before the readings in the Lectionary? These are intended to give pointers on the rationale of the choice of readings. Today’s First Reading is prefaced by “You bore me to be a man of strife for the whole world,” which is not from this reading at all; it is a quote from the “prayer of Jeremiah” (15:10). The caption helps us see that Jeremiah’s divisiveness is paralleled for us today in the Gospel, where Jesus describes His mission in the starkest terms: “Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth? I assure you, the contrary is true; I have come for division.” This is one Sunday when the Psalm responds to something in the First Reading (to Jeremiah’s deliverance from the cistern, with the Psalm’s “[God] drew me out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud of the swamp”), but not to the connection between the First Reading and the Gospel. The Gospel envisions the Christian as one who is part and parcel of the sufferings of Jesus, which may include rejection and being shunned by one’s family for His sake.

The Second Reading continues our exploration of the Letter to the Hebrews. Last week, we heard about some of the great men and women of the Old Testament; today, we get the “moral” of the story. The ancestors are like spectators at a track meet, urging us (those running the race today) on to final victory in Christ. Jesus is the one “who inspires and perfects our faith.” Because of His example, we neither give up nor give in!

This hymn is based on today’s Scriptures:
When he proclaimed the Word of God
To those who wandered from the way,
Upon himself the prophet brought
The curse of those who'd gone astray.

Christ, like the prophets long before
Gave warning of the coming strife
And told that truth would bring us pain,
That death precedes the light of life.

Should opposition wear us down,
Let eyes be fixed on Jesus' Cross
Which gives protection to our faith,
Safeguarding us from ev'ry loss.

LM
No suggested tune

Propers from the Roman Gradual

Introit: Protector noster (Ps. 84:8-9a, 1)
Behold, O God our defender, and look upon the face of your Anointed.
For one day within your courts is more wonderful
than a thousand elsewhere.
How dear to me is your dwelling, O Lord of hosts!
My soul has a desire and longing for the courts of the Lord.

Offertory: Immitet angelus (Ps. 34:8-9)
The angel of the Lord shall encamp around those who fear him,
and shall deliver them; taste and see who good the Lord is.

Communion: Qui manducat (Jn. 6:56)
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood,
abides in me and I in him, says the Lord.

alternate: Ego sum panis vivus (Jn. 6:51-52)
(matches the Gospel for Year B)
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever,
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.

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 230 (You, Lord, have become my defender . . . )
Response: BFW 647 (Taste and see) or alleluia psalm BFW 646
Communion: BFW 210 (I am the living bread . . . )
or BFW 246 (Seek first God’s kingdom . . . )