Gospel for August 25, 2013 , Sunday, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. Posted at 08/25/2013 12:09 AM | Updated as of 08/25/2013 Ps 117:1, 2 Go to all the world and tell the Good News. 1st Reading: Is 66:18–21 Now I am going to gather the nations of every tongue, and they will witness my glory, for I will perform a wonderful thing among them. Then I will send some of their survivors to the nations – Tarshish, Put, Lud, Moscheck, Rosh, Tubal, and Javan – to the distant islands where no one has ever heard of me or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. They will bring your kindred from all the nations as an offering to Yahweh on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, on camels to my holy mountain in Jerusalem, says Yahweh, just as the Israelites bring oblations in clean vessels to the house of Yahweh. Then I will choose priests and Levites even from them, says Yahweh. 2nd Reading: Heb 12:5–7, 11–13 Do not forget the comforting words that Wisdom addresses to you as children: My son, pay attention when the Lord corrects you and do not be discouraged when he punishes you. For the Lord corrects those he loves and chastises everyone he accepts as a son. What you endure is in order to correct you. God treats you like sons and what son is not corrected by his father? All correction is painful at the moment, rather than pleasant; later it brings the fruit of peace, that is, holiness to those who have been trained by it. Lift up, then, your drooping hands, and strengthen your trembling knees; make level the ways for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but healed. Gospel: Lk 13:22–30 Jesus went through towns and villages teaching and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, is it true that few people will be saved?” And Jesus answered, “Do your best to enter by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you will stand outside; then you will knock at the door calling: ‘Lord, open to us.’ But he will say to you: ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will say: We ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets! But he will reply: ‘I don’t know where you come from. Away from me all you workers of evil.’ You will weep and grind your teeth when you see Abraham and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves left outside. Others will sit at table in the kingdom of God, people coming from east and west, from north and south. Some who are among the last will be the first, and others who were first will be last!” Reflection: Read: We have the theme of God’s judgment and the revelation of His glory through the redemption of His people. He will gather His people from every nation on earth. Jesus cautions us that at this gathering many who thought they were insiders will find themselves ousted, and many others who were considered to be outcasts will enter the Kingdom and dine with him. The second reading invites us to take God’s corrections and occasional punishments as a sign of His love that keeps us on the path of holiness so that we would not be counted among the lost and the outcast in the Kingdom. Reflect: What does Jesus mean by the narrow door? What does it take “to enter through the narrow door?” If I want to dine with Jesus in the Kingdom, what are the changes I must make in my life? Do I recognize God’s corrections in my life and receive them with gratitude? Pray: Pray for the wisdom to recognize God’s gentle (and not-so-gentle) reminders and correctives on our path towards the Kingdom. Listen: How does Jesus define the narrow door for you? Act: On this week, read a saint’s (auto)biography and reflect on how God led him/her in God’s path. admin chiz
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 06:59:15 +0000
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