06/17/2026
Nativity Adult
This coming Sunday we will celebrate the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the Gospel from Matthew, we will hear Jesus encourage his apostles to not be intimidated or afraid. He assures them that in God’s eyes their worth exceeds a flock of sparrows. God knows them intimately and cares for them. In our opening hymn This Day God Gives Me #628 we will sing praise to the Father as we begin Mass. In verse two, we acknowledge that God is not some far off deity, but rather a God of compassion who is with us in every moment: “Your eyes are watchful; your ears are listening; your lips are speaking; friend at my side.”
In the Gospel reading Jesus proclaims that “everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.” In our presentation hymn In Every Age #528 we sing the words of Psalm 90. In the refrain we acknowledge God as “our refuge” and “our hope”. We ask God to “teach us to embrace every joy and pain; to sleep peacefully and to rise up strong.”
In our Communion hymn We Remember #486 we echo the words previously sung in the Memorial Acclamation during the Eucharistic prayer. This beautiful refrain gives us a pithy explanation of the Eucharistic celebration. We remember how Christ loved us unto death. We celebrate as Christ becomes present to us in the Blessed Sacrament. Finally, we profess our belief that we will see Him when he comes again in glory - “we remember, we celebrate, we believe.”
As we go forth from Mass on Father’s Day we will sing Faith Of Our Fathers #481. The text particularly reflects the meaning of the readings at this Mass - we hold fast to our faith and trust in God despite fear, opposition, and even death. Our faith is rooted in a legacy of sacrifice shown by our Lord and the martyrs who have gone before us.
*Recordings of all hymns can be found on YouTube by typing the name of the hymn followed by OCP.
