CATHOLIC MASS VIDEO: Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time 11.4.18 – Heart of the Nation (Wisconsin)
[featured image is file photo from another time and location]
by Faith Central & Steve Welsh
[featured image is file photo from another time and location]
[featured image is file photo]
“… “Which is the first of all the Commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘The first is this: Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other Commandment greater than these.'”
[featured image adapted from image at Creative Commons Wikimedia Commons Pjposullivan,
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loretto_Abbey_chapel_interior,_Toronto.JPG, with additional conditions stated at that link and in the alt-tag here]
[The Divine Office, or Liturgy of the Hours, begins the Liturgical Day with “A Call to Praise God” in the form of the Invitatory Psalm, usually Psalm 95, in stanzas, or strophes, interspersed with an antiphon. For the Office For the Dead, used for the The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day) on Nov. 2, the antiphon is “Come, Let Us Worship the Lord, All Things Live For Him.“]
[Prior to the Psalm is an introductory phrase taken from Psalm 51 and a quote from the Letter to the Hebrews]
Lord, open my lips.
— And my mouth will proclaim Your Praise.
Encourage each other daily, while it is still today (Hebrews 3:13)
Come, Let Us Worship the Lord, All Things Live For Him.
Come, let us sing to the Lord
and shout with joy to the Rock Who Saves us.
Let us approach Him with Praise and Thanksgiving
and sing joyful songs to the Lord.
Come, Let Us Worship the Lord, All Things Live For Him.
The Lord is God, the Mighty God,
the Great King over all the gods,
He holds in His Hands the depths of the earth
and the highest mountains as well.
He made the sea; it belongs to Him,
the dry land, too, for it was formed by His Hands.
Come, Let Us Worship the Lord, All Things Live For Him.
Come then, let us bow down and worship,
bending the knee before the Lord, our Maker.
For He is our God, and we are His People,
the Flock He Shepherds.
Today, listen to the Voice of the Lord:
Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did
in the wilderness,
when at Meribah and Massah
they challenged me and provoked me,
Although they had seen all of my works.
Come, Let Us Worship the Lord, All Things Live For Him.
Forty years I endured that generation.
I said, “They are a People whose hearts go astray
and they do not know My Ways.”
So I swore in my anger,
“The shall not enter into my rest.”
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.
Amen.
Come, Let Us Worship the Lord, All Things Live For Him.
[The Divine Office also indicates that Psalm 100, Psalm 67 or Psalm 24 may be used, and indicates that the psalm may be omitted when the Invitatory precedes Morning Prayer. An added note provides that, in individual recitation, the antiphon may be said once, at the beginning, rather than with each strophe.]
[As can be seen, the psalm presents a a wide-ranging encounter with God’s Greatness and our Relationship to Him. We are exhorted to approach God, to sing and shout with joy, praise and thanksgiving. God is Almighty and our Creator, indeed holding creation in His Hands.
We are to worship and follow Him in His Greatness. Yet He also is a Person Whose Voice we are to listen to and follow, Who Shepherds us as His Flock. At times, there are those who stubbornly failed to follow him, challenging Him and provoking His Wrath. In particular, with the reference to Meribah and Massah, the psalm recalls the Israelites grumbling and challenging God at points during their exodus in the desert.]
“… this is the Will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have Eternal Life, and I shall Raise him on the Last Day.'”
“… [Jesus] began to teach them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you. …'”
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