WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH 2024.

TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B.

FIRST READING   
“So faith, hope, love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.”
1ST CORINTHIANS 12: 31 – 13: 13

Brethren: Earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burnt, but have not love, I gain nothing.  Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The Word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 33: 2 – 3, 4 – 5, 12 and 22 (R.) 12b.

R/. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen as his heritage.

Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp;
with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.
O sing him a song that is new;
play skilfully, with shouts of joy. R/.

For the word of the Lord is faithful,
and all his works to be trusted.
The Lord loves justice and right,
and his merciful love fills the earth. R/.

Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen as his heritage.
May your merciful love be upon us,
as we hope in you, O Lord. R/.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION  
John 6: 63c, 68c

Alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of eternal life.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL        
“We piped to you, and you did not dance, we wailed, and you did not weep.”
LUKE 7: 31 – 35

At that time: Jesus said, “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market place and calling to one another, ‘We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners! Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

*Chitatu 18 Gunyana -**September; Vhiki 24 regore**Chiverengo chechiposhi* _1 VaKorinde 12,31—13,13__Inzwai chiverengo chinobva mutsamba yokutanga yaPauro kuvaKorinde_31 Hama dzangu, disisai kuva nezvipo zvikuru. Ini ndichakuratidzai nzira yakatonyanyonakisisa.1 Kunyange zvangu ndikataura nendimi dzavanhu, kana dzavatumwa asi ini ndisina rudo, ndinongova dare rinorira, kana makwakwakwa esimbi anorira. 2 Kunyange ndiine chipo chokuporofita ndichinzwisisa zvakavandika zvose, ndiine ruzivo rwose; kunyange dai ndiine chitendero chakaperera chinosudurudza makomo, asi ndisina rudo hapana zvandiri. 3 Kunyange dai ndikagovera zvose zvandinazvo, uye kunyange ndikapa muviri wangu kuti upiswe asi ndisina rudo hapana chandinowana.4 Rudo runo mwoyo murefu, rune mutsa;rudo haruna shanje uye haruzvitutumadzi, haruzvikudzi.5 Haruiti zvisina hunhu.Rudo harungongwarira zvarwo bedzi;rudo harungoshatirwa shatirwa nhando,haruna pfundepfunde.6 Rudo harufariri zvisakarurama,asi runofarira zviri pachokwadi.7 Rudo runotakura zvose.Runoramba ruine chitendero.Runoramba ruine chitarisiro,harurasi mwoyo,runotirira zvose.8 Rudo harumboperi.Kuporofita kuchapera;kutaura nendimi kuchaguma.Ruzivo ruchapfuura,9 nokuti ruzivo rwedu haruna kuzara.Kuporofita kwedu hakuna kuzara.10 Zvino kana chakazara chouya,chisina kuzara chiya chinobva chapera basa.11 Pandakanga ndichiri mwana mudiki ndaitaura somwana mudiki; ndaifunga somwana mudiki, ndairangarira somwana muduku asi pandakazova murume mukuru, ndakakanda pasi zvohwana hudiki. 12 Pari zvino tinoona muchiringiriro zvamadzerere. Asi mune ramangwana tichaonanazve uso nouso. Iye zvino ndinoziva zvishoma asi mune ramangwana, ndichanyatsoziva sokunyatsozivikanwa kwandakaitwa. 13 Saka chitendero, nechitarisiro norudo zviripo zviri zvitatu, asi chikuru chazvo rudo.*Shoko raTenzi.**Rwiyo rwokutsinhira:* _Nziyo 33,2-3.4-5.12+22. (D – 12)_*(D) – Vakakomborerwa vanhu vakasarudzwa kuva nhaka yaTenzi.*2 Rumbidzai TENZI nechipendani,muimbirei nedimbwa rine waya gumi,3 muimbirei rumbo rutsva,mumuridzirei zvakanaka, muchipururudza.*(D) – Vakakomborerwa vanhu vakasarudzwa kuva nhaka yaTenzi.*4 Shoko raTENZI rakatendeka,uye basa rake rose rinoitwa muchokwadi.5 Anoda ururami noruenzaniso,nyika izere nemwoyochena, waTENZI.*(D) – Vakakomborerwa vanhu vakasarudzwa kuva nhaka yaTenzi.*12 Rwakakomborerwa rudzi rwakaita TENZI Mwari warwo;vanhu vaakasarudza kuva nhaka yake.22 Mwoyochena wenyu ngauve patiri TENZI,sokutarisira kwatinoita kwamuri.*(D) – Vakakomborerwa vanhu vakasarudzwa kuva nhaka yaTenzi.**Kupemberera Shoko Rakanaka:*_Johani 6,63c+68c_*Areruya, Areruya.* Mazwi enyu Tenzi, mweya noupenyu.Imi ndimi muna mazwi oupenyu husingaperi. *Areruya.**Shoko Rakanaka:* _Ruka 7,31-35__Inzwai Shoko Rakanaka rakanyorwa naRuka_Jesu akati: 31 “Ko, vanhu vechizvarwa chino ndingavaenzanise neiko? Uye vakafanana neiko? 32 Vakafanana navana vagere pamusika vachidaidzirana vachiti,‘Takakuridzirai nyere asi hamuna kutamba,takaungudza asi hamuna kuchema.’33 “Nokuti Johani Muombeki akauya asingadyi chingwa kana kunwa waini, imi mukati, ‘Ane mweya wakaipa.’ 34 Mwanakomana womunhu akauya achidya uye achinwa, moti munhu uyu ane nhafu, uye chidhakwa, neshamwari yavateresi navatadzi.” 35 Kudaro ungwaru hunoratidzwa kuti ndohwechokwadi navose vanohugamuchira.*Shoko Rakanaka raTenzi.

GOSPEL REFLECTION: A Well-Ordered Soul

September 18, 2024__“‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’ John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” (Luke 7:32–35)_Ecclesiastes 3 is a very popular reading for funerals. It says, “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to give birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant…A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” This reading is consoling to those who are mourning at a funeral because life is filled with many different emotions and experiences. When those at a funeral think about their loved one, they will recall both the good times and the bad, the sorrows and the joys. Doing so helps remind them that even though the funeral is a time of sorrow, joys will follow in the future. This is the natural rhythm of life.In our Gospel today, Jesus challenged those who failed to have the proper human response at the right time. “We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.” The image of playing a flute and singing a dirge and the subsequent failure to dance and weep reveals a certain disconnect that many people had to John the Baptist and to Jesus Himself during their ministries. In commenting upon this passage, Saint Augustine says that John the Baptist’s preaching was like a dirge that called people to the “weeping” of repentance. However, when he preached, there were many who failed to respond with the appropriate repentance. When Jesus came, He preached and gave witness to the new life of grace that He came to bestow. Though some listened and responded to Him, there were many who did not. Jesus’ message was like the music of the flute that was to inspire people to “dance.” But many failed to respond with the joy that they were invited to experience and live through His transforming message and grace.There is, indeed, an appointed time for everything and for every affair under Heaven. The mission we have been given is to be attentive to that which God is speaking to us at each and every moment of our lives. At times we must “weep” by looking at our sins honestly, experience the horror of those sins, and passionately reject them. At other times we will “dance” when God invites us into His consoling grace and asks us to see clearly His merciful love. At those moments we are invited to be deeply grateful and to express that gratitude with our whole souls.https://youtu.be/Tsw5hrrYwTA?si=d3BgpyPdO3M6vArz*Reflect,* today, upon the calling you have been given to live in a well-ordered way. Do so by considering how attentive you are to the people around you. Does the attentiveness of your charity help you to see the hurt within the hearts of those who are suffering? Are you compelled to offer them a compassionate ear and merciful heart? When others are experiencing the joys of life, are you able to share that joy with them? Can you do so fully, without jealousy or envy of any kind? When God inspires you to some act of conversion and bestows some grace, do you listen and promptly obey, responding in the most appropriate way? Our souls must become sensitive to the promptings of grace and must respond accordingly. Seek to have a well-ordered soul so that you will live and experience the life that God places before you each day in accord with His perfect will.*PRAYER:*_Lord, Your soul was perfectly ordered, always responding to the will of the Father with perfection. You were firm when love demanded it, courageous in the face of hardship, merciful to the repentant sinner, and joyful at the conversion of all. Please help me to always be attentive to the promptings of Your grace and to always respond to You in the way I am called. Jesus, I trust in You.