Tag: evangelio del dia

“The Kingdom of God is yours.” | Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

From the Gospel acclamation: “Rejoice and leap for joy! Your reward will be great in heaven.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:20-26)

“Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

Every word of Jesus in the Gospel—whether Beatitudes or woes—enfolds those who experience hunger, poverty, sorrow, and persecution. And that is all of us. The experience of the Beatitudes is the way to the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God in its entirety.

What you promise, Lord, you don’t retract; in a world that leads to the empty promises of honor, pleasure, power, and wealth, the hope of your mercy in this life leads to the fulfillment of it in the next. Be with me today; help me live out the blessedness that the Beatitudes call me to.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“He called his disciples to himself.” | Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy upon their couches; Let the high praises of God be in their throats. This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia. The Lord takes delight in his people.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:12-19)

And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.

After Jesus spends a night in prayer on the mountain away from the disciples, he comes down and chooses the Twelve. As Luke says, he “called his disciples to himself,” including Judas, who would betray Jesus. In communion with his Father after a night of prayer, Jesus discerns the will of the Father to choose each of the apostles. From there, Jesus goes out to meet the great crowds that began following him and listening to his every word. Healing their diseases and curing those who had unclean spirits, Jesus brings the mountaintop power of unity with God to the crowd who seeks to touch the source of the power that heals them. What do we have in the Eucharist and in the sacraments but the very presence of Christ and his power to heal?

God, help me understand the power of your Son to draw people of all cultural backgrounds and faiths to go to Jesus to hear him and be healed. This is the story of the ages, and it is my story. The power of Jesus to teach and heal is in union with your will—the will of God the Father. Just as Jesus chose the apostles, the ones sent forth, he chooses me. Help me, Lord, be attentive and worthy of the call to discern and do your will. With your grace, help me in everyday matters judge justly the things of this world. “Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the Kingdom of God?” Paul asks. You, Lord, are just because you are justice itself. Help me in my shortcomings so that I respond to you, as Paul says, “justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” Let me hear and know the voice of the one who calls me to himself.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Stretch out your hand.” | Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest

From the responsorial psalm: “But let all who take refuge in you be glad and exult forever. Protect them, that you may be the joy of those who love your name. Lead me in your justice, Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:6-11)

But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up and stand before us.” And he rose and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Looking around at them all, he then said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so and his hand was restored. But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

Picking up where last week’s Gospel left off, we hear of another sabbath when Jesus taught in the synagogue under the scrutiny of the Pharisees. Knowing that they were seeking to trap him, Jesus performs a miracle on a day of sabbath rest. Jesus asks the Pharisees a question that silences them; they say nothing to him in reply. As the man stretches out his withered hand at the Lord’s command, the Pharisees do the work that their rage compels them to do—to find a way to do evil rather than good and bring destruction rather than salvation. What Paul says to the Corinthians, he might also have said to the Pharisees about the sacrifice of Christ, the Paschal Lamb: “Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

God, help me find courage in the words and actions of Jesus before his accusers. I want to be free to call on your name and give thanks to you for Jesus Christ your Son in the celebration of the Eucharist—the means of doing good on earth and the preparation for eternal life. I think of the Canticle of Zechariah, who praised you for setting us free in teaching us to worship you: “This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham,” Zechariah says, “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.” Free me, Lord, to serve you and love you in my words and actions; strengthen me through the Church, the sacrament of salvation. Saint Peter Claver, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Be opened!” | Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “The LORD gives sight to the blind; the LORD raises up those who were bowed down. The LORD loves the just; the LORD protects strangers. Praise the Lord, my soul!”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 7:31-37)

Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!”—that is, “Be opened!”—And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.

The people who bring the man to Jesus witness a miracle and then hear from Jesus that they are not to tell anyone what they have seen. Jesus then continues his earthly mission of proclaiming the Gospel and curing the sick. Astonished at his works, the people say, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” The first reading from Isaiah prophesies God coming to his people in this way: “Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.” And who does Jesus, the Son of God, come to the aid of. Saint Paul says it is those “who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom.”

Father in heaven, in reflecting on your Son’s miraculous healings, help me understand that his miracles are not limited to the time of his earthly ministry but occur today in the lives of those who are rich in faith. Give me the strength and courage to continue to speak up about “our glorious Lord Jesus Christ,” that he has done all things well. Lord of all, you have time and space in your hands. Be present to me in the events of the day, in the people I meet, and in the Body of Christ you make present—body and blood, soul and divinity—in the Church.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.” | Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “The LORD is just in all his ways and holy in all his works. The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:1-5)

While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

As Jesus and his disciples walk through a grain field on the sabbath, the disciples begin to pluck the heads of grain and eat them. The Pharisees are critical of this, believing that any form of work, including harvesting grain, was prohibited on the sabbath. In response, Jesus refers to David, making clear that human needs can take precedence over strict interpretation of the law and that mercy and necessity are more important. “The Son of Man,” Jesus says, speaking of himself, “is lord of the sabbath.” It is God’s right to interpret the meaning and purpose of the sabbath.

God, thank you for this day and for every good gift! Finding quiet time to be with you today may turn out to be challenging, but I want to trust in the companionship of Jesus Christ your Son. Help me be aware that as I desire to walk with him, he is present with me in the midst of the day’s events. Help me find the sabbath rest in knowing that when I call on him, he is near. Lord of the sabbath, give me the food that sustains me in this life and prepares me for the life of the world to come. “No one comes to the Father,” Jesus said, “except through me.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Then they will fast in those days.” | Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “The salvation of the just is from the LORD; he is their refuge in time of distress. And the LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (5:33-39)

The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus addresses a question about why his disciples do not fast like the Pharisees and like the disciples of John the Baptist. Using the comparison of a wedding feast, Jesus tells the scribes and Pharisees that just as wedding guests do not fast while the bridegroom is with them, neither do his disciples. He goes on to tell them the parable of new wine poured into old wineskins. Poured into old wineskins, the new wine will burst the skins. New wine, he tells them, must be put into new wineskins. Jesus is the new wine, the new covenant, and his presence as he does his Father’s will brings new life to his followers.

God of mercy, let me consider the feast and the fast. Christ is present always. In recognizing the gift of his presence, there is the joy of counting myself as one of the wedding guests. At times of fasting, whether from within or without, I long for Christ to return so that I can, as the psalmist says, “dwell in the land and be fed in security.” Your mercy, Lord, doubly provides for those you love. In joy, I have Christ truly present in the sacraments, and in fasting I wait for the one who puts to rest all the restlessness of longing for the peace of his presence. “I am the light of the world, says the Lord,” I hear in the Gospel acclamation, “whoever follows me will have the light of life.” Give me the grace to receive the new wine, whether feasting or fasting, with a spirit of gratitude.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Put out into deep water.” | Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it. For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 5:1-11)

After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

Luke describes a scene that takes place by the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus is teaching a crowd. After borrowing Simon’s boat to speak to the crowds pressing in on him, he instructs Simon Peter to put out into the deep water and let down his nets for a catch. Simon is skeptical because he has caught nothing all night. But Peter obeys Jesus’ command, and they catch such a large number of fish that their nets begin to break. Recognizing Jesus’ divine authority, Peter falls at Jesus’ feet, expressing his unworthiness. At the end of the passage, Peter, James, and John leave everything behind to follow Jesus. He says to Simon Peter, the rock on which Jesus will build his Church, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When we hear Jesus instructing our hearts, to what depth are we willing to respond and do what he commands?

God, help me hear the voice of your Son today. By day’s end, I will have made hundreds of little decision or course corrections. Guide me, Lord, as I strive to understand and do your will and give me presence of mind to listen out for you throughout the day. In receiving the Eucharist, may I be fully aware of the person of Christ that dwells within me. Thank you for the opportunities you present to me today; for the sake of your glory, let me be unafraid to put out into the deep to realize your gifts.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Call of the Apostles” flickr photo by Lawrence OP https://flickr.com/photos/paullew/53476593527 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license

“For this purpose I have been sent.” | Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “Our soul waits for the LORD, who is our help and our shield, For in him our hearts rejoice; in his holy name we trust. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 4:38-44)

At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Luke describes a day in the life of Jesus as he heals and preaches, curing people who are sick with various diseases and proclaiming the message of the kingdom of God. Simon’s mother-in-law suffers from a severe fever. Jesus rebukes the fever, and she rises to serve Jesus and the disciples. Demonstrating authority over illness, Jesus shows compassion for those in need closest to him. Following this, as the sun sets, people bring to Jesus all who are sick or possessed by demons, and he lays hands on them, bringing immediate healing. The gathering of people shows the growing recognition Jesus received for his ability to heal people. The passage concludes as Jesus leaves at daybreak, telling the people that he must go to other towns to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.

Father in heaven, thank you for sending your Son to heal and to teach. In the Gospel, he reveals the relationship he has with you. It is one of obedience to your will and dedication to the mission for which you sent him. People approached him constantly, from dawn to dusk. In the midst of the day, help me remember to pause and reflect on the times I have seen him pass by in the many opportunities you present to me. Help me also hear and do your will, bringing glad tidings to those who most need that and to proclaim liberty to captives through the saving work of your Son.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

From the responsorial psalm: “The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. The Lord is just in all his ways.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 4:31-37)

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. They were all amazed and said to one another, “What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.

While teaching in the synagogue, Jesus encounters a man possessed by a demon who recognizes immediately the authority of Jesus as the “Holy One of God.” The scribes and Pharisees, and even people in Jesus’ hometown, did not recognize his divinity. The demon, or many demons, identifying itself as “we,” asks Jesus what he has do with them and knows also that Jesus comes to destroy sin and death. Jesus expels the demons and frees the man oppressed by them. In today’s Gospel, Luke describes Jesus’ divine authority through his teaching and exorcism, further establishing his identity as the Messiah and his power over evil, sin, and death. Unlike the demons who possessed the man, how many among us in our daily lives fail to immediately see Jesus as the Son of God? God, help us in the spiritual warfare we face every day.

God, help me see and understand the spiritual realities that pertain to everyday, ordinary experiences. Saint Paul speaks of this, saying, we are “taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.” To have the mind of Christ means to be able to see reality as you see it. Free me, Lord, from anything that would prevent me from seeing Christ in the faces of others so that I can love them as you love them. Show me how to be Christ to others so I can be a means of your love. Strengthen my conviction that the reality of evil and its oppression have been overcome through the liberating triumph of it in the passion, death, and resurrection of your Son. Saint Gregory, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “How I love your law, O LORD! It is my meditation all the day. Lord, I love your commands.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (LK 4:16-30)

They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?” He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’” And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.”

As Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth, the people who watched him grow up under the care of Mary and Joseph hear him read the passage from Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. After Jesus tells them that this passage is fulfilled in their hearing, they question in amazement where he gets, as they say, “the gracious words that came from his mouth.” Then, citing examples from the Old Testament, he tells his fellow townspeople that the message of salvation is for all, not just the Israelites. The people become furious and drive him out of the town and attempt to throw him off a cliff. Taking place at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, this foreshadows the rejection he would face in proclaiming the Gospel as God’s own Son.

God, help me hear the Gospel acclamation and reflect on it in two ways: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” it reads, and “he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor.” These are the words Jesus chose to read to his own people. The Spirit of the Lord is the Holy Spirit, the love between you and your Son. Saint Paul says something similar in his letter to the Corinthians: “with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” It is also the same Spirit upon your Son, the same Spirit of power that Paul demonstrated, you also give to me through baptism and the sacraments. When I stand before others today—even ones who know me well in my ordinariness—help me through your supernatural grace step aside to allow myself to be a means of your mercy and joy. Glory to you, Lord!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.