Monday - October 23, 2017
Certainly nothing can so effectually humble us before the mercy of God as the multitude of his benefits. Nor can anything so much humble us before His justices as the enormity of our innumerable offences. Let us consider what He has done for us and what we have done against Him.
-- St. Francis de Sales
TODAY'S READINGS
October 23, 2017
Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 473
Reading 1ROM 4:20-25
Brothers and sisters:
Abraham did not doubt God's promise in unbelief;
rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God
and was fully convinced that what God had promised
he was also able to do.
That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.
But it was not for him alone that it was written
that it was credited to him;
it was also for us, to whom it will be credited,
who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
who was handed over for our transgressions
and was raised for our justification.
Abraham did not doubt God's promise in unbelief;
rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God
and was fully convinced that what God had promised
he was also able to do.
That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.
But it was not for him alone that it was written
that it was credited to him;
it was also for us, to whom it will be credited,
who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
who was handed over for our transgressions
and was raised for our justification.
Responsorial PsalmLUKE 1:69-70, 71-72, 73-75
R. (see 68) Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
He has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
He has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
AlleluiaMT 5:3
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are the poor in spirit;
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
"Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me."
He replied to him,
"Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?"
Then he said to the crowd,
"Take care to guard against all greed,
for though one may be rich,
one's life does not consist of possessions."
Then he told them a parable.
"There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, 'What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?'
And he said, 'This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!"'
But God said to him,
'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?'
Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself
but is not rich in what matters to God."
Blessed are the poor in spirit;
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelLK 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,"Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me."
He replied to him,
"Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?"
Then he said to the crowd,
"Take care to guard against all greed,
for though one may be rich,
one's life does not consist of possessions."
Then he told them a parable.
"There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, 'What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?'
And he said, 'This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!"'
But God said to him,
'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?'
Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself
but is not rich in what matters to God."
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Faith and righteousness
In a later chapter of Saint Paul's letter to the Romans, he says that all things (even the bad, even the frightening, even what seems destructive) can work together for the good of those who love the Lord (v. 8:28). How is that possible? How does it happen? The answer is found in our first reading today.
Like Abraham's faith, our faith in God is credited to us as righteousness. Unlike Abraham, who was a model of outstanding faith, you and I are not fully convinced that God will do everything that he has promised. Otherwise, we'd never despair or fear or lose hope. But the good news is this: Jesus was handed over to death for our sins and raised up by the Father for our justification. In other words, Jesus paid the price of our sins. Justice has been served, and if we have faith in the gift of his sacrifice, we are empowered to live righteously -- we are a holy people working diligently to become more and more like Jesus each day.
Our righteousness can only be truly understood in the context of God's salvation plan.
By having faith in Christ's ability and his desire to take upon himself the destruction that we've caused with our sins, and by having faith in the power of God the Father to raise Jesus from the dead for our redemption, we receive the redemption of our souls (giving us eternal life in heaven) and in our everyday circumstances (turning temptations into victories and bad situations into blessings).
By the mercy of God, what was bad is redeemed. Our sins, when we regret them, lead us to Christ's redemption. Our need for forgiveness becomes our path of holiness.
The same holds true in everything else that's bad. By letting Christ be the Redeemer of everything that's not heavenly in our lives, tragedies become opportunities for great triumphs as they strengthen us in compassion and endurance and other fruits of holy living.
Diseases and hardships become purificators that cleanse us of selfishness, increase our compassion, and teach us to offer our sufferings to Christ for the sake of the redemption of others.
Difficult relationships become lessons in learning how to love everyone unconditionally.
Hardships become ministries that reach out to others, enabling us to make a difference in ways that would otherwise be impossible.
Because we place our faith in Jesus as Redeemer, we are righteous. The more we rely on this truth, the more we're empowered by faith to live righteously.
Prayer
My Lord: Give me a clear conscience for being a steward of the properties You have entrusted to me. May this task be done with full generosity and a spirit of service, in Your divine Name. Amen.
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God Bless You.....
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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