Brothers and Sisters,
Today’s Mass readings are taken from Wednesday of the 29th week in Ordinary time. Today is also the Memorial of St. Paul of the Cross and readings for that Mass are at:Optional Memorial of Saint Paul of the Cross, priest | USCCB They are beautiful readings as is every word spoken by God, but they are especially appropritate at this time of year when we listen to the Lord’s Words towards the end of the Church Year. It is also good to keep in mind what the The Catechism of the Catholic Church, teaches us in the following paragraphs:
Today's Mass Readings:
Come Holy Spirit, fill us as you filled Mary with the fullness of Truth, Who is Jesus! Let us empty ourselves as Jesus did for us on His Cross.
Today’s Mass readings are taken from Wednesday of the 29th week in Ordinary time. Today is also the Memorial of St. Paul of the Cross and readings for that Mass are at:Optional Memorial of Saint Paul of the Cross, priest | USCCB They are beautiful readings as is every word spoken by God, but they are especially appropritate at this time of year when we listen to the Lord’s Words towards the end of the Church Year. It is also good to keep in mind what the The Catechism of the Catholic Church, teaches us in the following paragraphs:
The Church’s ultimate trial
CCC 667 - Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of His Messiah come in the flesh.
CCC 676 The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism.
CCC 677 The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgement after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.
Today's Mass Readings:
Reading I (Rom 6:12-18)
Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness.
For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted. Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.
For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted. Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.
Responsorial (Ps 124: 1-7) “Our Help is in the name of the Lord”
Alleluia (Mt 24:42a, 44) - Stay awake! For you do not know when the Son of Man will come.
Gospel (Lk 12:39-48)
Jesus said to His disciples: “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
Come Holy Spirit, fill us as you filled Mary with the fullness of Truth, Who is Jesus! Let us empty ourselves as Jesus did for us on His Cross.
