Liturgical Readings for : Saturday, 16th November, 2024
Saturday of the Thirty Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Optional memorials of St Margaret of Scotland, helped in the reform of the Scotish Church.
also of St Gertrude, a religious who cultivated devotion to the Sacred Heart.
FIRST READING
A reading from the third letter of St John 5-8
It is our duty to welcome people of this sort and contribute our share to their work for the truth.
My friend, you have done faithful work in looking after these brothers, even though they were complete strangers to you. They are a proof to the whole Church of your charity and it would be a very good thing if you could help them on their journey in a way that God would approve.
It was entirely for the sake of the name that they set out, without depending on the pagans for anything;
it is our duty to welcome men of this sort and contribute our share to their work for the truth.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 111
Response Happy the man who fears the Lord.
Or Alleluia!
1. Happy the man who fears the Lord, who takes delight in all his commands.
His sons will be powerful on earth; the children of the upright are blessed. Response
2. Riches and wealth are in his house; his justice stands firm for ever.
He is a light in the darkness for the upright: he is generous, merciful and just. Response
3. The good man takes pity and lends, he conducts his affairs with honour.
The just man will never waver: he will be remembered for ever. Response
Gospel Acclamation Js 1: 21
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Accept and submit to the word, which has been planted in you and can save your souls.
Alleluia!
Or 2 Thess 2: 14
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Through the Good News God called us to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 18:1-8 Glory to you, O Lord
God will see justice done to his chosen who cry to him.
Jesus told his disciples a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart.
‘There was a judge in a certain town’ he said ‘who had neither fear of God nor respect for man. In the same town there was a widow who kept on coming to him and saying,
“I want justice from you against my enemy!”
For a long time he refused, but at last he said to himself,
“Maybe I have neither fear of God nor respect for man, but since she keeps pestering me I must give this widow her just rights, or she will persist in coming and worry me to death”.’
And the Lord said
‘You notice what the unjust judge has to say?
Now will not God see justice done to his chosen who cry to him day and night even when he delays to help them?
I promise you, he will see justice done to them, and done speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Saturday Thirty Second Week in Ordinary Time Luke 18:1-8
According to today’s gospel reading, Jesus spoke the parable of the judge and the widow to encourage his disciples not to lose heart but to keep on praying, to pray continuously, even in times of great darkness. By means of this parable Jesus is encouraging us to have a persistent faith. The widow is an example of such persistent faith. When an injustice was done to her, she did not lose heart. She kept hammering away at the judge who alone could grant her justice until he caved in to her demands, fearful perhaps that she would resort to violence if he didn’t respond to her. Jesus is encouraging us to have something of the gutsy determination of the widow. Our persistent prayer is not to an unjust judge who couldn’t care less about God or his fellow human beings. We pray to a God who is passionately concerned about us. All the more reason why we should have a persistent faith that finds expression in continual prayer.
Having spoken the parable, Jesus asks the question, ‘When the Son of Man comes will he find any faith on earth?’ When he comes at the end of time, will he find people of the kind of persistent faith displayed by the widow, or will his disciples have lost heart by then, worn down by the trials of life. It is a question that puts it up to us, in the words of the letter to the Hebrew, ‘to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith’ (Heb 12:1-2).
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
