Saturday of the Twenty-seventh week in Ordinary Time

Book of Joel 4:12-21.
Let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit in judgment upon all the neighboring nations.
Apply the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; Come and tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for great is their malice.
Crowd upon crowd in the valley of decision; For near is the day of the LORD in the valley of decision.
Sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withhold their brightness.
The LORD roars from Zion, and from Jerusalem raises his voice; The heavens and the earth quake, but the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the men of Israel.
Then shall you know that I, the LORD, am your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain; Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall pass through her no more.
And then, on that day, the mountains shall drip new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk; And the channels of Judah shall flow with water: A fountain shall issue from the house of the LORD, to water the Valley of Shittim.
Egypt shall be a waste, and Edom a desert waste, Because of violence done to the people of Judah, because they shed innocent blood in their land.
But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem for all generations.
I will avenge their blood, and not leave it unpunished. The LORD dwells in Zion.

Psalms 97(96):1-2.5-6.11-12.
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad.
Cloud and darkness surround the Lord; justice and right are the foundation of his throne.
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim God’s justice; all peoples see his glory.
Light dawns for the just; gladness, for the honest of heart.
Rejoice in the LORD, you just, and praise his holy name.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11:27-28.
While he was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.”
He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

Commentary of the day : Saint Peter Damian
Blessed are they who welcome the Word of God

Friday of the Twenty-seventh week in Ordinary Time

Book of Joel 1:13-15.2:1-2.
Gird yourselves and weep, O priests! wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! The house of your God is deprived of offering and libation.
Proclaim a fast, call an assembly; Gather the elders, all who dwell in the land, Into the house of the LORD, your God, and cry to the LORD!
Alas, the day! for near is the day of the LORD, and it comes as ruin from the Almighty.
Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming;
Yes, it is near, a day of darkness and of gloom, a day of clouds and somberness! Like dawn spreading over the mountains, a people numerous and mighty! Their like has not been from of old, nor will it be after them, even to the years of distant generations.

Psalms 9(9A):2-3.6.16.8-9.
I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous deeds.
I will delight and rejoice in you; I will sing hymns to your name, Most High.
You rebuked the nations, you destroyed the wicked; their name you blotted out for all time
The nations fall into the pit they dig; in the snare they hide, their own foot is caught.
The LORD rules forever, has set up a throne for judgment.
It is God who governs the world with justice, who judges the peoples with fairness.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11:15-26.
Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that (I) drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first.”

Commentary of the day : Saint [Padre] Pio of Pietrelcina
The field of spiritual combat

Thursday, 08 October 2009

Thursday of the Twenty-seventh week in Ordinary Time

Today the Church celebrates : St. Pelagia

See commentary below or click here
Saint Hilary : “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find”

Book of Malachi 3:13-20.

You have defied me in word, says the LORD, yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?” You have said, “It is vain to serve God, and what do we profit by keeping his command, And going about in penitential dress in awe of the LORD of hosts? Rather must we call the proud blessed; for indeed evildoers prosper, and even tempt God with impunity.” Then they who fear the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened attentively; And a record book was written before him of those who fear the LORD and trust in his name. And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, my own special possession, on the day I take action. And I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. Then you will again see the distinction between the just and the wicked; Between him who serves God, and him who does not serve him. For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts. But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays; And you will gambol like calves out of the stall

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 11:5-13.

And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB

Commentary of the day :

Saint Hilary (c.315-367), Bishop of Poitiers and Doctor of the Church
The Trinity, I, 37-38

“Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find”

How well I know, O God, all-powerful Father, that to offer myself to you in such a way that everything within me… speaks of you is the chief object of my life. You have granted me the gift of speech and it can bring me no greater reward than the honor of serving you and showing the world that ignores it and the heretic who denies it who you are, O Father of God’s only Son. Yes, that is indeed my only wish! However, I am in great need of begging for the help of your mercy so that you may swell the sails of my faith, spread out for you, with the breath of your Spirit and may prompt me to preach everywhere your holy name. For it is was not in vain that you made this promise: «Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you».

Poor, we beg for what we lack. We will zealously apply ourselves to studying your prophets and apostles. We will knock at all the doors our minds find closed. But you alone can answer our prayer…; you alone can open this door we are knocking at. You will give encouragement to difficult beginnings, affirm our progress, and call us to share in the Spirit who guided your prophets and apostles. In this way we won’t give their words a meaning different to the one they intended.

So grant us true understanding of the words, the light of intelligence, beauty of expression and faith in the truth. Grant us to speak what we believe…: that there is only one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.