The Daily Gospel 22 October 2009

October 22, 2009December 14, 2009 / Michael J. Cunningham / Leave a comment

Letter to the Romans 6:19-23.
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 lawless ness, 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.

Psalms 1:1-2.3.4.6.
Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, Nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.
Rather, the law of the LORD is their joy; God’s law they study day and night.
They are like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers.
But not the wicked! They are like chaff driven by the wind.
The LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12:49-53.
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.”

Commentary of the day : Saint Ambrose
“Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother… for the sake of my name, will receive a hundred times more » (Mt 19,29)

The Daily Gospel 21 October 2009

October 21, 2009December 14, 2009 / Michael J. Cunningham / Leave a comment

Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth week in Ordinary Time

Letter to the Romans 6:12-18.
Therefore, 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.

Psalms 124(123):1-3.4-6.7-8.
A song of ascents. Of David. I Had not the LORD been with us, let Israel say,
Had not the LORD been with us, when people rose against us,
They would have swallowed us alive, for their fury blazed against us.
The waters would have engulfed us, the torrent overwhelmed us;
seething waters would have drowned us.
Blessed be the LORD, who did not leave us to be torn by their fangs.
We escaped with our lives like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare was broken and we escaped.
Our help is the name of the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12:39-48.
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 him 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.

Commentary of the day : Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe
« Servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries » (1Cor 4,1)

The Daily Gospel 20 October 2009

October 20, 2009December 14, 2009 / Michael J. Cunningham / Leave a comment

Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth week in Ordinary Time

Letter to the Romans 5:12.15.17-19.20-21.
Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned —
But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by that one person’s transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow for the many.
For if, by the transgression of one person, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so through one righteous act acquittal and life came to all.
For just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous.
The law entered in so that transgression might increase but, where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more,
so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalms 40(39):7-10.17.
Sacrifice and offering you do not want; but ears open to obedience you gave me. Holocausts and sin-offerings you do not require;
so I said, “Here I am; your commands for me are written in the scroll.
To do your will is my delight; my God, your law is in my heart!”
I announced your deed to a great assembly; I did not restrain my lips; you, LORD, are my witness.
But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who long for your help always say, “The LORD be glorified.”

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12:35-38.
Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.

Commentary of the day : Saint Ambrose
“Ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks”