Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Friday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
495

FIRST READING

2 Jn 4-9

I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady— not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning— that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

PSALM

PS 119:1, 2, 10, 11, 17, 18

Response: Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.

Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.

With all my heart I seek you;
let me not stray from your commands.

Within my heart I treasure your promise,
that I may not sin against you.

Be good to your servant, that I may live
and keep your words.

Open my eyes, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.

GOSPEL

Lk 17:26-37

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot— they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”

Daily Reflection

Today’s Gospel message does not seem to come from a merciful God. But it is truly out of love for us that Christ tells us what will become of us if we choose a path that leads away from God.

Each of us has been given our own time and place on this earth and the free will to make choices. We are also given the signs that tell us when we need to repent and return to God. How will we recognise them? Just as we understand that vultures only gather where there is dead flesh, just as we now understand the consequences of environmental degradation, so too we should be able to read the signs that point us back to God: an unexplained restlessness, the prompting of conscience, incidents that make us pause and think, chance encounters, reaching rock bottom.

But why wait for this to happen when we have the choice of always remaining in God’s love as John tells us in today’s first reading.