Liturgical Readings for : Wednesday, 16th October, 2024
Wednesday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Optional memorial of Ss Hedwig, religious
Margaret Mary Alacoque, visionary, ascetic
and Gall, abbot and missionary
FIRST READING
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Galatians 5:18-25
You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires.
If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you. When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious:
fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility; idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy,
bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things.|
I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
What the Spirit brings is very different:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control.
There can be no law against things like that, of course. You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 1
Response Anyone who follows you, O Lord, will have the light of life.
1. Happy indeed is the man, who follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders his law day and night. Response
2. He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper. Response
3. Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind.
For the Lord guards the way of the just but the way of the wicked leads to doom. Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 26:16
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Instruct me, in your way; on an even path lead me .
Alleluia!
or Jn 10: 27
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the lord,
I know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 11:42-46 Glory to you, O Lord
Alas for you Pharisees! Alas for you lawyers also.
The Lord said to the Pharisees:
But alas for you Pharisees!
You who pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and overlook justice
and the love of God! These you should have practised, without leaving the others undone.
Alas for you Pharisees who like taking the seats of honour in the synagogues and being greeted obsequiously in the market squares!
Alas for you, because you are like the unmarked tombs that men walk on without knowing it!
A lawyer then spoke up. ‘Master,’ he said ‘when you speak like this you insult us too.’
‘Alas for you lawyers also,’ he replied ‘because you load on men burdens that are unendurable,
burdens that you yourselves do not move a finger to lift.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Wednesday Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time Luke 11:42-46
In the first reading, Saint Paul lists what the Holy Spirit brings, or in a more literal translation, ‘the fruit of the Spirit’. We tend to speak about the ‘fruits’ of the Spirit, but the singular ‘fruit’ suggests that all the qualities Paul lists are not to be separated out but are interconnected. It is as if this fruit of the Spirit is so rich that it needs to be spoken of in a variety of ways, as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. Paul is portraying the richly human life that the Holy Spirit creates in us when we give ourselves over to the Spirit. At the head of the list of these interconnected qualities is ‘love’, perhaps suggesting that all the other qualities are expressions of love.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God’s love and a life shaped by the Holy Spirit will be a life that reflects God’s love, which was fully revealed in Jesus. Our calling from baptism is to open ourselves in faith to God’s gift of the Holy Spirit and to allow the Spirit to bear the fruit of love in our lives. This comes before all else. In the gospel reading, Jesus says to the Pharisees and the experts in the Jewish Law that what comes before all else is justice and the love of God, a loving relationship with God which overflows into a just and loving relationship with all of God’s people. We need to be reminded every so often what is at the heart of our faith, and both of today’s readings put before us what matters most to God.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
