Spiritual Mass for The Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B.
✠ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Throughout these summer months, trees, plants and grasses flourish,
and in Church the green vestments worn today reflect the hope for a continuing
growth in faith. When our faith is less-than-flourishing, let us acknowledge the sins that hinder such growth, and so prepare ourselves to meet Jesus in this special way.
I confess to almighty God
that I have greatly sinned,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,
through my fault,
through my fault,
through my most grievous fault;
therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
and all the Angels and Saints,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.
May almighty God have mercy on us,
✠ forgive us our sins,
and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
The Collect
O God, strength of those who hope in you, graciously hear our pleas, and, since without you mortal frailty can do nothing, grant us always the help of your grace, that in following your commands we may please you by our resolve and our deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Psalm 91 (92)
It is good to give you thanks, O Lord, to give you thanks, O Lord
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to make music to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning
and your truth in the watches of the night.
It is good to give you thanks, O Lord.
The just will flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a Lebanon cedar.
Planted in the house of the Lord
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
It is good to give you thanks, O Lord.
Still bearing fruit when they are old,
still full of sap, still green,
they will proclaim that the Lord is just.
In him, my rock, there is no wrong.
It is good to give you thanks, O Lord.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark.
Glory to you, O Lord.
Jesus said to the crowds: ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like.
A man throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps,
when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does
not know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot,
then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is
ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has
come.’
He also said, ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What
parable can we find for it? It is like a mustard seed which at the time
of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet
once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts
out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.
Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as
they were capable of understanding it. He would not speak to them
except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when
they were alone.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
The Homily
“What is the Kingdom of God like?
It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil
is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;
yet once it is sown
it grows into the biggest shrub of them all,
and puts out big branches
so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.”
This parable is disarmingly simple.
Unlike the parable of the sower,
there are no weeds
nor stony, unfertile surfaces to complicate this story.
All we mortals have to do is plant the seed God gives us,
and wait for God to make it grow.
We cannot build the kingdom of God
by laying brick upon brick,
or indeed by tearing churches down
to turn them into Diocesan Offices
to perpetuate the myth that the answer to falling attendances
is to create yet another Officer for Mission and Evangelism,
and demanding ever-increasing funds from individual parishes
to fund an Empire rather than the Kingdom.
God built the Kingdom upon humble and small beginnings:
from the manger in Bethlehem
to the carpenter’s shop in Nazareth
and to the cross on Calvary;
from twelve unlettered disciples in Galilee,
to the great forums of Rome and throughout the whole world.
This parable teaches us the lesson on humility and littleness.
Humanity aspires to become big, rich, famous, and powerful,
to leave behind a memorable legacy of building or organisation.
The mustard seed is a reminder that being little
does not mean being powerless or insignificant.
In fact, as shown by the example of God,
it takes a lot of greatness to become little,
and a lot of patience.
So how best can we at Holy Trinity use the seeds of faith
that The Lord has given us to sow?
As we begin to emerge from the Pandemic,
where does He want us to sow?
We must wait with patience and with prayer.
How best can we allow the Kingdom to grow fruitfully within us?
Would any of us here benefit from looking together at
deepening our Christian faith and practice?
Are there things about Catholic Christian faith and practice
that puzzle you?
Think, pray, and tell us……….
THE APOSTLES' CREED
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
He descended into hell;
on the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Catholic Church,
the communion of Saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
The Prayer of the Faithful (Bidding Prayers)
Jesus, out of your compassion for us, you invite us to come away with you to a place of rest and quiet. Help us to say yes and then to be able to come away with you.
Lord in your mercy, Have compassion for us.
Lord, out of your compassion you care for those who are harassed, helpless, and lost. Sometimes we feel that way ourselves; Lord in your mercy,
Have compassion for us.
Lord in your compassion teach us to follow you, to trust you, to love you and to love as you love. Lord in your compassion feed us who are hungry; Physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Lord in your compassion heal us in the places we need healed. Lord in your mercy, Have compassion for us.
And Lord in your having compassion for us; Teach us to have compassion for others as you do. Help us to show compassion in action the way you did. And remind us when it is time to come away with you for quiet and rest.
Lord in your mercy, Have compassion for us.
Mother of Compassion, we ask you to pray with us for those in need through injustice, pandemic, bereavement,
loss of opportunity, redundancy, lack of self-worth......
Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
Eternal God, comfort of the afflicted and healer of the broken, you feed us at the table of life and hope: teach us the ways of gentleness and peace,
that all the world may acknowledge
the kingdom of your Son Jesus Christ.
At the Saviour’s command
and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
Lord,
you stand at the door of my heart
and knock.
You wait for me
and only I can let you in.
I believe and trust in you
and ask you now
to fill me with presence.
Feed me with your body
and unite me in your blood,
that I may be your blessing
to a world in need.
Amen.
Silent prayer
In union, O Dear Lord, with the faithful at every Altar of Your Church,
where Your blessed Body and Blood
are being offered to the Father,
I desire to offer You praise and thanksgiving. I present to You my soul and body, with the earnest wish that I may ever be united to You. And since I cannot now receive You sacramentally,
I beseech You to come spiritually into my heart. I unite myself to You, and embrace You with all the affections of my soul. O let nothing ever separate me from You. Let me live and die in Your love. Amen.
Grant, O Lord Jesus Christ, that as the hem of Your garment,
touched in faith, healed the woman who could not touch Your Body,
so the soul of Your servant may be healed by like faith in You,
Whom I cannot now sacramentally receive;
through Your tender mercy,
Who lives and reigns with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit
ever one God. Amen.
Silent Prayer
May the God of hope
fill us with all joy and peace in believing,
through the power of the Holy Spirit;
and may the blessing of Almighty God,
the Father, the Son, ✠ and the Holy Spirit
come down upon and remain with us for ever. Amen.
The angel of the Lord brought tidings unto Mary.And she conceived by the Holy Ghost.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary. Holy Mary.
And the Word was made flesh. And dwelt amongst us.
Hail Mary. Holy Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts,
that as we have known the Incarnation
of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel,
so by his Cross and Passion
we may be brought unto the glory of his Resurrection;
through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us go in peace.
Thanks be to God.
