Mass Readings for : Thursday, 10th October, 2024

Liturgical Readings for : Thursday, 10th October, 2024

Thursday of the Twenty Seventh week in Ordinary Time, Cycle 2
The more we do good the freer we become.

FIRST READING

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Galatians 3:1-5
Does God give you the Spirit because you practice Law, or because you believed what was preached to you?

Are you people in Galatia mad? Has someone put a spell on you, in spite of the plain explanation you have had of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?

Let me ask you one question:
was it because you practised the Law that you received the Spirit,
or because you believed what was preached to you?
Are you foolish enough to end in outward observances
what you began in the Spirit?

Have all the favours you received been wasted? And if this were so, they would most certainly have been wasted.
Does God give you the Spirit so freely and work miracles among you because you practice Law, or because you believed what was preached to you?

The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Lk 1:69-75
Response Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!. He has visited his people.

1. God has raised up for us a mighty saviour in the house of David his servant,
as he promised by the lips of holy men, those who were his prophets from of old. Response

2. A saviour who would free us from our foes, from the hands of all who hate us.
So his love for our fathers is fulfilled’ and his holy covenant remembered. Response

3. He swore to Abraham our father to grant us, that free from fear,
and saved from the hands of our foes,
we might serve him in holiness and justice all the days of our life in his presence. Response

Gospel Acclamation Jn 14: 6
Alleluia, Alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
no one can come to the Father except through me .
Alleluia!

or Rom 8:15
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord, to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 11:5-13 Glory to you, O Lord
Ask, and it will be given to you.

Jesus said to his disciples,
‘Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say,
“My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him”;
and the man answers from inside the house,
“Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it you”.
I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it him for friendship’s sake,
persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants

‘So I say to you:
Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find;
knock, and the door will be opened to you.
For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds;
the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him.

What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread?
Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg?
If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’

The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

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Gospel Reflection Thursday Twenty Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Luke 11:5-13

There are various forms of prayer,
such as the prayer of petition,
the prayer of thanksgiving,
the prayer of praise, the prayer of contrition,
the prayer of surrender.
It is probably true to say that the prayer that comes most naturally to us is the prayer of petition. If we reflect on our prayer life, we will likely find that the prayer of petition, the prayer of asking God for help of some kind, is very much to the fore.

There is a prayer book in the Bible, the book of psalms, composed long before the coming of Jesus, and the dominant prayer in that collection of prayers is the prayer of ‘petition‘. Jesus was aware of the significance of the prayer of petition in the life of believers and today’s gospel reading suggests that he encouraged his disciples to pray that form of prayer,
‘Ask (keep on asking)… search (keep on searching)… knock (keep on knocking)…’. He promises that our prayer of petition will always be answered, ‘It will be given to you… you will find… the door will be opened to you’.

It often seems to us as if our prayers of petition are not answered. We ask for healing for someone, and they don’t get better. Yet, the Lord assures us in the gospel reading that no prayer of petition goes unanswered. Our prayer may not be answered in the way that we had hoped, but Jesus assures us that God is never deaf to our cries for help. At the end of the gospel reading, Jesus says, ‘How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?’ Our prayer of petition will always create a space for the Holy Spirit to work more powerfully in our lives. Saint Paul once wrote, in his letter to the Romans, ‘the Spirit helps us in our weakness’. In response to our prayer of petition we can be assured of receiving the help of the Spirit to strengthen us in our need.