Thursday - October 26, 2017
"The Blessed Virgin, like a good Mother, seeing danger threatening Her children, hurries to their rescue. Do you want to please your Heavenly Mother? Practice the virtue dearest to Her – chastity."
- St. Don Bosco
TODAY'S READINGS
October 26, 2017
Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 476
Reading 1ROM 6:19-23
Brothers and sisters:
I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature.
For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity
and to lawlessness for lawlessness,
so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.
But what profit did you get then
from the things of which you are now ashamed?
For the end of those things is death.
But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God,
the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,
and its end is eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature.
For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity
and to lawlessness for lawlessness,
so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.
But what profit did you get then
from the things of which you are now ashamed?
For the end of those things is death.
But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God,
the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,
and its end is eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Responsorial PsalmPS 1:1-2, 3, 4 AND 6
R. (Ps 40:5) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
AlleluiaPHIL 3:8-9
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I consider all things so much rubbish
that I may gain Christ and be found in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
"I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father,
a mother against her daughter
and a daughter against her mother,
a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."
I consider all things so much rubbish
that I may gain Christ and be found in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelLK 12:49-53
Jesus said to his disciples:"I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father,
a mother against her daughter
and a daughter against her mother,
a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."
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The peace of Christ, the fire of the Spirit
In today's Gospel passage, Jesus says that he did not come to bring peace to earth. And yet elsewhere in scripture (plenty of elsewheres!) he says, "My peace I give to you." Is that a contradiction?
Consider to whom Jesus was talking and what kind of peace they were expecting. They hoped for a political peace, but Jesus came to bring us peace in our souls, which only happens through conversion and letting God take charge of our lives every moment of every day.
People were looking for a Messiah who would bring peace to Israel by defeating the Romans. Instead, they got a Messiah who divided those who learned true inner peace from those who were looking for worldly peace.
At Mass and in our private prayers, we often pray for world peace and for our soldiers to come home. But there is never a time when all wars have ceased and all danger is gone -- not before the Second Coming of Christ. It's certainly right to pray for an end to war, and popes have asked us to pray the Rosary for this very purpose.
However, the more important prayer is to ask for the inner peace that only Christ can provide. War against terrorists and wars between nations will only end if both sides discover the peace of Christ. This is the new evangelization that Blessed John Paul II repeatedly called for. Evangelization is our greatest weapon. However, most Catholics do not yet see themselves as evangelists! Many parishes don't even have evangelization programs!
Jesus came to light a fire on the earth. Evangelization spreads that fire. The blaze for which he was longing with great anguish was the fire of the Holy Spirit, who empowers holiness in all who receive him and peace in all who trust him.
Jesus provided his Holy Spirit to the world after his baptism of death and resurrection. It was at that time that the Reign of Peace began. Since then, anyone who wants true peace can have it, whether the world is at war or not, whether we're enduring personal battles or not.
Do you feel passionate about peace? The fire that burns within us, impassioning us to spread the peace of Christ, is the Holy Spirit's presence. The purpose of this passion is to change the world around us by distributing Christ's peace to those who are ready to receive it.
The anguish of Jesus is the same anguish that we feel when we see a need for the Holy Spirit to burn evil out of a person or a situation. Jesus had to put his whole heart and soul and body into the mission. What does God want you to do so that the holy fire of his Spirit can descend upon your world and overshadow the evil that you've been yearning to stop?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, Today I choose to let Your Spirit work inside me, doing the work He wants to do. In Your glorious Name, I leave before Your cross any conscious or unconscious ways of resistance. Thank You for taking my life in Your hands. 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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