First reading
Genesis 18:1–10
‘Next year your wife Sarah will have a son.’
Responsorial psalm
Psalm 14(15):2–5
R. The just will live in the presence of the Lord.
Second reading
Colossians 1:24–28
A mystery hidden for generations has been revealed to God’s saints.
Gospel acclamation
cf. Luke 8:15
Happy are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.
Gospel
Luke 10:38–42
Martha works; Mary listens.
Images from the Word
- Welcomed
- Distracted
- Few are needed
- Visit you again
- Christ among us
Liturgical notes
For in the celebration of Mass, in which the Sacrifice of the Cross is perpetuated, Christ is really present in the very assembly gathered in his name, in the person of the minister, in his word, and indeed substantially and continuously under the Eucharistic species.
—General Instruction of the Roman Missal, §27
When we gather for Sunday Mass, there is much more happening than meets the eye. To recognise the depth of what we are doing, we need attentive faith. Sunday after Sunday, we come to church—it is so easy to let it become routine or empty ritual. Yet we are in the very presence of God in the sacred assembly of God’s beloved people, to whom God speaks through Word and sacrament.
‘O God, who in the one perfect sacrifice brought to completion varied offerings of the law, accept, we pray, this sacrifice from your faithful servants and make it holy, as you blessed the gifts of Abel, so that what each has offered to the honour of your majesty may benefit the salvation of all.’
—prayer over the offerings