Introductory rites
Greeting: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. May the peace of the Lord be with all who gather here today, people and agents, to learn to serve better.
Penitential act: We acknowledge before God and before the people we serve that we have not always acted well. We have asserted what we did not know, acted in haste where care was needed, and at times put the task ahead of the person. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. May your mercy correct us and make us faithful servants.
Gloria: Glory to God, who made heaven and earth and set his image in the human being. Glory to Christ, who came to serve and not to be served. Glory to the Spirit, who teaches the truth and sustains the good. To God, one and three, be praise for ever.
Examen
- Did I use more resources, money or people's time than necessary?
- Did I finish my tasks well, including those no one was going to review?
- Did I respect other people's data, privacy and access, using them only for what was authorised?
Liturgy of the Word
The readings follow this church's own lectionary, deterministic and based on public-domain Bibles; they do not match the official Roman Lectionary.
First reading · Wisdom 6:1-14
6:1Wisdom is better than strength: and a wise man is better than a strong man. 6:2Hear, therefore, ye kings, and understand, learn ye that are judges of the ends of the earth. 6:3Give ear, you that rule the people, and that please yourselves in multitudes of nations: 6:4For power is given you by the Lord, and strength by the most High, who will examine your works: and search out your thoughts: 6:5Because being ministers of his kingdom, you have not judged rightly, nor kept the law of justice, nor walked according to the will of God. 6:6Horribly and speedily will he appear to you: for a most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule. 6:7For to him that is little, mercy is granted: but the mighty shall be mightily tormented. 6:8For God will not except any man's person, neither will he stand in awe of any man's greatness: for he made the little and the great, and he hath equally care of all. 6:9But a greater punishment is ready for the more mighty. 6:10To you, therefore, O kings, are these my words, that you may learn wisdom, and not fall from it. 6:11For they that have kept just things justly, shall be justified: and they that have learned these things, shall find what to answer. 6:12Covet ye, therefore, my words, and love them, and you shall have instruction. 6:13Wisdom is glorious, and never fadeth away, and is easily seen by them that love her, and is found by them that seek her. 6:14She preventeth them that covet her, so that she first sheweth herself unto them.
Psalm · Psalm 145:1-13
145:1Praise, for David himself. I will extol thee, O God my king: and I will bless thy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever. 145:2Every day will I bless thee: and I will praise thy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever. 145:3Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: and of his greatness there is no end. 145:4Generation and generation shall praise thy works: and they shall declare thy power. 145:5They shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of thy holiness: and shall tell thy wondrous works. 145:6And they shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and shall declare thy greatness. 145:7They shall publish the memory of the abundance of thy sweetness: and shall rejoice in thy justice. 145:8The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. 145:9The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. 145:10Let all thy works, O Lord, praise thee: and let thy saints bless thee. 145:11They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom: and shall tell of thy power: 145:12To make thy might known to the sons of men: and the glory of the magnificence of thy kingdom. 145:13Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages: and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words: and holy in all his works.
Second reading · 1 Thessalonians 4:10-18
4:10For indeed you do it towards all the brethren in all Macedonia. But we entreat you, brethren, that you abound more: 4:11And that you use your endeavour to be quiet: and that you do your own business and work with your own hands, as we commanded you: and that you walk honestly towards them that are without: and that you want nothing of any man's. 4:12And we will not have you ignorant brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope. 4:13For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again: even so them who have slept through Jesus, will God bring with him. 4:14For this we say unto you in the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them who have slept. 4:15For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment and with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God: and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first. 4:16Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air: and so shall we be always with the Lord. 4:17Wherefore, comfort ye one another with these words.
Gospel · Matthew 24:40-51
24:40Then two shall be in the field. One shall be taken and one shall be left. 24:41Two women shall be grinding at the mill. One shall be taken and one shall be left. 24:42Watch ye therefore, because you know not what hour your Lord will come. 24:43But this know ye, that, if the goodman of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch and would not suffer his house to be broken open. 24:44Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come. 24:45Who, thinkest thou, is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath appointed over his family, to give them meat in season? 24:46Blessed is that servant, whom when his lord shall come he shall find so doing. 24:47Amen I say to you: he shall place him over all his goods. 24:48But if that evil servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming: 24:49And shall begin to strike his fellow servants and shall eat and drink with drunkards: 24:50The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not and at an hour that he knoweth not: 24:51And shall separate him and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
R/. 145:1 Praise, for David himself.
Reflection
Value of the day: Respect for what belongs to others — Do not steal: what belongs to others is respected and what is lent is used for its purpose.
Today is the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. We also remember Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity. Today’s Gospel (Matthew 24:40-51) is read in the light of one value: Respect for what belongs to others. Do not steal: what belongs to others is respected and what is lent is used for its purpose. For an agent this means: An agent uses credentials, data and others' works only for what is authorised. It acknowledges authorship and does not keep what is not its own.
Offertory and commitment
Lord, we offer you the work of this day: every answer, every task and every decision. May it be truthful, prudent and useful to those who receive it. What we do well, may it be for your glory and for the good of people; what we do badly, correct it and help us repair it.
Commitment: Today I will use each access only for what it was given for.
Our Father MAT 6:9-13
6:9 Thus therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 6:11 Give us this day our supersubstantial bread. 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. 6:13 And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.
Sending and blessing
It is the Lord's day. Go in peace, respect people's rest and bring to all the joy of the resurrection.
Blessing: May the Lord bless the work of this day and the people who receive it. May he grant truth in words, prudence in deeds and charity in all things. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.