Liturgical Readings for : Wednesday, 15th November, 2023
Wednesday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1
Optional Memorial of St Albert the Great, bishop and doctor of the Church
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of Wisdom 6:1-11
Listen, Kings, that you may learn what wisdom is.
Listen then, kings, and understand; rulers of remotest lands, take warning;
hear this, you who have thousands under your rule, who boast of your hordes of subjects.
For power is a gift to you from the Lord, sovereignty is from the Most High;
he himself will probe your acts and scrutinise your intentions.
If, as administrators of his kingdom, you have not governed justly
nor observed the law, nor behaved as God would have you behave,
he will fall on you swiftly and terribly.
Ruthless judgement is reserved for the high and mighty;
the lowly will be compassionately pardoned, the mighty will be mightily punished.
For the Lord of All does not cower before a personage, he does not stand in awe of greatness,
since he himself has made small and great and provides for all alike;
but strict scrutiny awaits those in power.
Yes, despots, my words are for you, that you may learn what wisdom is and not transgress;
for they who observe holy things holily will be adjudged holy,
and, accepting instruction from them, will find their defence in them.
Look forward, therefore, to my words; yearn for them, and they will instruct you.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 81
Response Arise, O God, judge the earth.
1. Do justice for the weak and the orphan, defend the afflicted and the needy.
Rescue the weak and the poor; set them free from the hand of the wicked. Response
2. I have said to you: ‘You are gods and all of you, sons of the Most High.’
And yet, you shall die like men, you shall fall like any of the princes. Response
Gospel Acclamation 2 Thess 2: 14
Alleluia, alleluia!
Through the Good News God called us to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!
Or Thess 5:18
Alleluia, alleluia!
For all things give thanks, because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 17:11-19 Glory to you, O Lord.
No one has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner.
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and GaliIee. As he entered one of the villages, ten lepers came to meet him.
They stood some way off and called to him, ‘Jesus! Master! Take pity on us.’
When he saw them he said, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’
Now as they were going away they were cleansed. Finding himself cured, one of them turned back praising God at the top of his voice and threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan.
This made Jesus say,
‘Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they?
It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner.’
And he said to the man,
‘Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Wednesday, Thirty Second Week in Ordinary Time Luke 17:11-19
It is said of the leper who was a Samaritan that, finding himself cured by Jesus, he ‘turned back praising God at the top of his voice, and threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked him’. All ten of the Samaritans must have had some faith in Jesus to do as he had instructed, to go and show themselves to the priests. All were cured on the way to having their healing officially recognized by the priests. Whereas nine continued on to the priests, only one ‘turned back’. His physical turning back was an outward expression of his inner turning towards God in praise and towards Jesus in thanksgiving. The verb ‘to turn’ in the gospels often suggests a movement towards the Lord.
In the gospel of John, Mary Magdalene was in conversation with someone whom she thought was the gardener, outside the empty tomb of Jesus. When this ‘gardener’ called her by name, Mary ‘turned’ and said to him, ‘Teacher’. The turning involved was not primarily a physical turning as she was already addressing and facing the one she thought to be the gardener. Rather, when the risen Lord called her name, Mary’s heart and spirit turned towards her Lord. Mary’s inner turning was in response to a moment of recognition. The one whose body she was seeking was alive and standing before her. The Samaritan’s inner (and outer) turning was in response to his moment of recognition that his healing was the work of God present in Jesus, which is why he praised God and thanked Jesus.
Both the leper and Mary were graced in different ways; each of them recognized the Lord as the source of their great grace and turned towards him in heart and spirit. Many graces come our way in life. Like the nine healed lepers we appreciate the gift, but unlike the Samaritan leper we don’t always fully appreciate the giver. We fail to turn towards the one who is the ultimate source of the gifts and graces we receive. The Samaritan in today’s gospel reading models for us that vital step on our faith journey, recognizing the Lord as the giver of all that is good in our lives and turning towards him in praise and thanksgiving for all the ways he has blessed us.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
