OCTOBER 14, 2021, Thursday
Thursday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Green)
(Opt. Mem) Saint Callistus I, Pope and Martyr (Red)
CYCLE B - YEAR I
Lectionary: 470
Reading I
Rom 3:21-30
Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law,
though testified to by the law and the prophets,
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ
for all who believe.
For there is no distinction;
all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.
They are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption in Christ Jesus,
whom God set forth as an expiation,
through faith, by his Blood, to prove his righteousness
because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed,
through the forbearance of God–
to prove his righteousness in the present time,
that he might be righteous
and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out.
On what principle, that of works?
No, rather on the principle of faith.
For we consider that a person is justified by faith
apart from works of the law.
Does God belong to Jews alone?
Does he not belong to Gentiles, too?
Yes, also to Gentiles, for God is one
and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith
and the uncircumcised through faith.
Responsorial Psalm
130:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6ab
R. (7) With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
R. With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.
Lord, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
R. With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the LORD
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
R. With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.
Alleluia
Jn 14:6
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
no one comes to the Father except through me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GOSPEL
Lk 11:47-54
“Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets
whom your fathers killed.
Consequently, you bear witness and give consent
to the deeds of your ancestors,
for they killed them and you do the building.
Therefore, the wisdom of God said,
‘I will send to them prophets and Apostles;
some of them they will kill and persecute’
in order that this generation might be charged
with the blood of all the prophets
shed since the foundation of the world,
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah
who died between the altar and the temple building.
Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!
Woe to you, scholars of the law!
You have taken away the key of knowledge.
You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.”
When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees
began to act with hostility toward him
and to interrogate him about many things,
for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.
REFLECTION:
One of the things we find so difficult to understand is the powerful presence of evil in our midst. Yet it is most certainly there. The chosen people had killed God’s prophets, and the contemporaries of Jesus ratify this by attacking him furiously, and finally kill him too. Our generation too commits unspeakable acts of cruelty and oppression against innocent persons and peoples. I pray for help to see this great battle between good and evil around me, and in my own heart too. I pray to be able to choose to be always on the side of good, truth and justice.
PRAYER:
Jesus, you are the key of knowledge. By contemplating you in this time of prayer each day, may I grow in wisdom. May I, like you, serve others in your name.
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