We Are Unprofitable Servants (27TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME - C)

OCTOBER 02, 2022, SUNDAY
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Green)
CYCLE C - YEAR II
Lectionary: 141

Reading 1
Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4

How long, O LORD?  I cry for help
 but you do not listen!
 I cry out to you, "Violence!"
 but you do not intervene.
 Why do you let me see ruin;
 why must I look at misery?
 Destruction and violence are before me;
 there is strife, and clamorous discord.
 Then the LORD answered me and said:
 Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets,
 so that one can read it readily.
 For the vision still has its time,
 presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint;
 if it delays, wait for it,
 it will surely come, it will not be late.
 The rash one has no integrity;
 but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9

R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
 let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
 let us joyfully sing psalms to him.

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us bow down in worship;
 let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
 and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
 "Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
 as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
 they tested me though they had seen my works."

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Reading 2
2 Tm 1:6-8, 13-14

Beloved:
I remind you, to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the gospel
with the strength that comes from God.

Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me,
in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit
that dwells within us.

Alleluia
1 Pt 1:25

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The word of the Lord remains forever.
This is the word that has been proclaimed to you.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Lk 17:5-10

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."
The Lord replied,
"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

"Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
'Come here immediately and take your place at table'?
Would he not rather say to him,
'Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished'?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, 'We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'"


GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Jesus draws attention to the greatness hidden in something tiny. We too are tiny, but God empowers those who truly follow him to do great things. God can work through us, beyond all our hopes and dreams, when we do not get in the way.

I join the apostles and pray insistently, 'Increase my faith'. I listen with the same openness and wonder to Jesus' encouraging reply as I look at the quality of my faith: it's enough for my faith to be as small as a mustard seed!

PRAYER

Lord, you fill me with your unlimited love, and you invite me to share that love with a needy world. Let it be my joy to do that. That is my greatness, to serve in love. And the opportunities are endless.


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