LITURGICAL PLANNING

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year B / Sunday, November 7, 2021

This Sunday’s Readings: 

1 Kings 17:10–16

Psalm 146:7, 8–9, 9–10 (1b or Alleluia)

Hebrews 9:24–28

Mark 12:38–44 or 12:41–44

TODAY’S GOSPEL PAIRED WITH THE STORY OF THE DESTITUTE WIDOW WHO SHOWED HOSPITALITY TO ELIJAH highlights God’s care for the poor and the total trust they have in God. But there’s a more difficult message in Mark’s Gospel today. To hear that, we need to proclaim the longer version of the lectionary passage.

After last Sunday’s congenial dialogue between Jesus and the lone agreeable scribe, things quickly intensify. Jesus warns the crowds about scribes who display their self-importance and false public piety while exploiting widows into poverty. Jesus’s condemnation gives us the lens through which we observe the temple activity.

Mark contrasts the rich—now seen in connection with the arrogant scribes—with the lowly widow. (We wonder if she is among those mistreated by the scribes.) Jesus notices that the rich put in only a portion of their excess. But what Jesus draws to our attention to is why they give anything at all. Like the scribes, they do it for show, to elevate themselves among the community. However, the widow, here and in the first reading, gives everything she has for the sake of the community. In this sense, she is an image of Jesus.

The hard question we must ask ourselves is this: Is our motivation for the good that we do in line with the scribes or in line with Christ?

–Diana Macalintal

Suggested Music

GIA Hymnal Suggestions
WLP Resource Suggestions

Choral Suggestions:

Two Communion Antiphons

James Biery

G-5935 · SATB, assembly, organ

MYSTAGOGY MOMENT:

“We taste in you our living bread, and long to feast upon you still. We drink of you, the fountainhead, our thirsting souls to quench and fill.”

This communion antiphon captures the longing we have for the real presence of Christ. When we believe what the Eucharist is, we literally hunger for it. This has been felt so profoundly by so many during months of being away from Mass and away from receiving communion during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, may we recognize all the ways we are blessed when we can hold Jesus close and be truly grateful for the life his body and blood give the world.

–Jennifer Odegard

O Food of Exiles

Edited by Richard Proulx

G-4983 · SAB

The Love of the Lord

Michael Joncas

G-3220 · SAB, cantor, assembly, keyboard, guitar, opt. woodwinds

O Living Bread from Heaven

Arr. Gary Matheny

G-2960 · Two-part mixed voices, organ

The Temple Rang with Golden Coins 

Words by Herman G. Stuempfle, Jr. / Music by Randall K. Sensmeier

G-5584 · Two-part mixed voices, solo, keyboard

More choral suggestions for the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time…

 

Abundant Life  Marty Haugen SATB, assembly, piano, guitar, opt. C instrument, cello  G-4281

Abundant Life  Rob Glover SATB, assembly, piano, guitar, opt. instruments  G-3952

Al Partir el Pan / When We Break This Bread  Pedro Rubalcava  Two- or three-part choir, cantor, assembly, keyboard, guitar, 2 trumpets, 2 violins 012642

Awake to the Day  Ed Bolduc & John Barker  Two-part choir, cantor, assembly, keyboard, guitar  008207

El Amor de Dios / God’s Love Is Everlasting  Lourdes Montgomery  Two-pt choir, cantor, assembly, keyboard, guitar 012649

Praise the Lord, My Soul: Psalm 146  Rudy T. Borkowski  SATB, cantor, assembly, keyboard, guitar, flute, percussion 006286

Tesoros Ocultos / Treasures Out of Darkness  Alan Revering, Arr. Peter Kolar  SATB, cantor, assembly, keyboard, guitar, opt. flute, oboe, French horn 012671

The Good Shepherd  M. Roger Holland II  SAT, male solo, assembly, keyboard, guitar 001295

The Morning Trumpet  Arr. Alan J. Hommerding SATB a cappella, trumpet 005876

To the Poor a Lasting Treasure  Francis Patrick O’Brien  SATB, assembly, piano, guitar, opt. string quartet  G-4523

Two Copper Coins  Dolores M. Hruby  Two-part children’s choir, keyboard 007119

Your Sacrifice  Thomas Lucas  SATB, assembly, keyboard, guitar 001210