Liturgical Readings for : Tuesday, 5th November, 2024
Tuesday of 3the Thirty-First week of Ordinary Time, Year 2
Optional memorial of St Martin de Porres, religious, 1579-1639
Martin was a a Dominican lay brother who spent his nights in prayer and penance,
his days caring for the sick and poor and had a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament
FIRST READING
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Philippians 2:5-11
Christ emptied himself of his Divine glory to assume the condition of a slave, but God raised him high
In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus:
His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God
but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave,
and became as men are; and being as all men are,
he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.
But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names
so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld,
should bend the knee at the name of Jesus
and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 21
Response You are my praise, O Lord, in the great assembly.
1. My vows I will pay before those who fear the Lord. The poor shall eat and shall have their fill.
They shall praise the Lord, those who seek him. their hearts live for ever and ever! Response
2. All the earth shall remember and return to the Lord, all families of the nations worship before him
for the kingdom is the Lord’s; he is ruler of the nations. They shall worship him, all the mighty of the earth. Response
3. And my soul shall live for him, my children serve him. They shall tell of the Lord to generations yet to come,
declare his faithfulness to peoples yet unborn: These things the Lord has done.’ Response
Gospel Acclamation Eph 1: 17
Alleluia, Alleluia!
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.
Alleluia !
Or Mt 11: 28
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
Alleluia !
GOSPEL
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke 14:15 – 24
Go to the open roads and the hedgerows and force people to come in to make sure my house is full.
One of those gathered round the table said to Jesus,
‘Happy the man who will be at the feast in the kingdom of God!’
But he said to him,
‘There was a man who gave a great banquet, and he invited a large number of people. When the time for the banquet came, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited,
“Come along: everything is ready now“.
But all alike started to make excuses. The first said,
“I have bought a piece of land and must go and see it. Please accept my apologies.”
Another said,
“I have bought five yoke of oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please accept my apologies.“
Yet another said, “I have just got married and so am unable to come”.
‘The servant returned and reported this to his master.
Then the householder, in a rage, said to his servant,
“Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame”.
“Sir” said the servant “your orders have been carried out and there is still room.”
Then the master said to his servant,
“Go to the open roads and the hedgerows and force people to come in to make sure my house is full; because,
I tell you, not one of those who were invited shall have a taste of my banquet”.’
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Tuesday, Thirty First Week in Ordinary Time Luke 14:15-24
The beatitude spoken by one of the guests at the meal where Jesus is present looks ahead to the banquet of eternal life, ‘Happy the one who will be at the feast in the kingdom of God!’ However, the parable Jesus speaks in response to this beatitude shows that, whereas the banquet in the heavenly kingdom is future, the invitation to that banquet is a present reality. God is inviting people to that future banquet of life through Jesus. The parable suggests that God is a very persistent host. When those originally invited did not come, a new invitation went out at short notice to people in the town who rarely got an invitation to anything. Then when they responded and there was still room another invitation at short notice went out to another group beyond the streets and alleys of the town, until the banquet was full.
Jesus is suggesting that God’s call to the banquet of life is not in doubt; it is persistent. What is in doubt is our response. We can get so attached to the things of this world that God’s call gets drowned out. Reading a biography of John Henry Newman recently, it was said of him that he always had a sense of God present to him. He lived his life every day before God. Yet, he lived an extremely busy life, between his pastoral work and his lectures and writing. It is not busyness itself that prevents us from attending to God’s presence and call. We are to live our lives before the Lord in all we do; we are to be present to his presence to us. Then we are more likely to notice his call, when it comes.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
