Liturgical Readings for : Monday, 30th October, 2023
Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1
FIRST READING
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans 8:12-17
The spirit you received is is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!
My brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives.
If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live.
Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’
The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 67
Response This God of ours is a God who saves.
1. Let God arise, let his foes be scattered. Let those who hate him flee before him.
But the just shall rejoice at the presence of God, they shall exult and dance for joy. Response
2. Father of the orphan, defender of the widow, such is God in his holy place.
God gives the lonely a home to live in; he leads the prisoners forth into freedom. Response
3. May the Lord be blessed day after day. He bears our burdens, God our saviour.
This God of ours is a God who saves.The Lord our God holds the keys of death. Response
Gospel Acclamation Jn 17: 17
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Your word is truth, O Lord, consecrate us in the truth .
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 13:10-17 Glory to you, O Lord.
And this woman, a daughter of Abraham was it not right to untie her bonds on the sabbath day?
One sabbath day Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who for eighteen years had been possessed by a spirit that left her enfeebled; she was bent double and quite unable to stand upright. When Jesus saw her he called her over and said,
‘Woman, you are rid of your infirmity’
and he laid his hands on her. And at once she straightened up, and she glorified God.
But the synagogue official was indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, and he addressed the people present. ‘There are six days’ he said ‘when work is to be done. Come and be healed on one of those days and not on the sabbath.’
But the Lord answered him.
‘Hypocrites!’ he said
‘Is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the sabbath and take it out for watering? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound these eighteen years – was it not right to untie her bonds on the sabbath day?’
When he said this, all his adversaries were covered with confusion, and all the people were overjoyed at all the wonders he worked.
The Word of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Monday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time Luke 13:10-17
How do we respond to the unexpected activity of God among us? In today’s gospel reading, Jesus released a woman from a physical condition that left her bent over. For the first time in eighteen years, she was able to stand up straight and look people in the eye. How did people respond to this unexpected activity of God among them? It is said of the woman herself that ‘she glorified God’. Her focus was on God and giving God the glory for what God had done for her through Jesus. In the last line of the gospel reading, we read that ‘all the people were overjoyed at all the wonders he (Jesus) worked’. They rejoiced at this unexpected activity of God among them. However, in contrast to the woman and all the people, it is said of the synagogue official that he was ‘indignant because Jesus healed on the Sabbath’. In his indignation he told the people not to be coming on the Sabbath to be healed; there were six other days when they could come for healing.
What a very different response to that of the woman and all the people! The synagogue official had a certain understanding of how God works and when some event is in conflict with that understanding, no matter how much it benefits someone, he becomes indignant. His God was too small and when faced with the true God present and active in Jesus, he resisted with great emotional force. There can be something of the synagogue official in us all. Our understanding and expectation of how God is at work in our church and in our world today can be too narrow and limited. We need to keep opening ourselves up to the expansiveness of God’s ways, what Saint Paul calls, ‘all the fullness of God’. As Jesus says in the gospel of John, ‘the Spirit blows where it chooses’. We are called to keep surrendering to the wonderfully creative ways of God which always surpass all that we could ever ask for or imagine.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible,
