Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
490

FIRST READING

Rom 16:3-9, 16, 22-27

Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you. Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

PSALM

145:2-3, 4-5, 10-11

Response: I will praise your name for ever, Lord.

Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.

Generation after generation praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.

Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.

GOSPEL

Lk 16:9-15

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

Daily Reflection

Today’s first reading tells of a widow (a non-Jew), who in the middle of a famine, shares the last of her meagre resources with the prophet Elijah and is blessed by God for her faith and generosity.

The Gospel parallels this with the story of Jesus praising the widow for giving from her nothingness. But should Jesus have been praising the widow’s action, because in reality her contribution was reducing her to a state of deprivation?

Surely our God doesn’t take delight in our suffering; nor would He want us to encourage injustice! Jesus was in no way condoning the heartless religious exploitation by the Jewish religious establishment that propagated a kind of anaesthetic religiosity. What Jesus praised however, was the widow’s boundless generosity and self-sacrifice, which express complete dependence on God even in the midst of nothingness! This is the focus of the story... in love there is no half measure.

What do I hold back when I’m giving?