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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

View saints: Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels
Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
View 1st Reading and Psalm
1st Reading (Job 38:1.12-21; 40:3-5): The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said: «Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place for taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface? The earth is changed as is clay by the seal, and dyed as though it were a garment; but from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm of pride is shattered. Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked about in the depths of the abyss?

»Have the gates of death been shown to you, or have you seen the gates of darkness? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all: Which is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness, that you may take them to their boundaries and set them on their homeward paths? You know, because you were born before them, and the number of your years is great!».

Then Job answered the Lord and said: «Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will do so no more».
Responsorial Psalm: 138
R/. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
O Lord, you have probed me and you know me; you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar.

Where can I go from your spirit? From your presence where can I flee? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.

If I take the wings of the dawn, if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall guide me, and your right hand hold me fast.

Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works.
Versicle before the Gospel (Cf. Ps 94:8): Alleluia. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Lk 10:13-16): Jesus said to them, "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, 'Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.' Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

“Whoever listens to you listens to me”

Fr. Jordi SOTORRA i Garriga (Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain)

Today, we contemplate Jesus addressing His speech to some towns of Galilee where He had preached and carried out the works by His Father and that had been the cause of His preoccupation. Nowhere had He preached and made miracles as He did in Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. The sowing had been plentiful, but the harvest had been meager. Not even Jesus could persuade them...! What a mystery human freedom is! We can say “no” to God... The evangelic message is not imposed upon us by force: it is offered to me but I can refuse it; I can accept it or reject it. Our Lord's respect for my freedom is total. What a responsibility for me!

Jesus' language: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!” (Lk 10:13) when his apostolic mission was over, is more indicative of suffering than of condemnation. The nearness of the Kingdom of God was not a call for penance and conversion for those towns. Jesus recognizes that Tyre and Sidon would have taken more advantage of all the graces granted to the Galileans.

But Jesus' frustration is even greater when He refers to Capernaum. “'Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.'” (Lk 10:15). It was in Capernaum where Peter had his home and Jesus had centered His preaching. Once again, we can detect in these words a feeling of sadness rather than a threat. We could, just as well, say the same thing about many cities and persons of our time. They believe they are being lifted, but in fact, they are being thrown down.

“Whoever listens to you listens to me” (Lk 10:16). These words ending today's Gospel are a call to conversion and are bearers of hope. If we listen to Jesus' voice, we still have time. Conversion happens when love banishes selfishness from our life, which is a permanent unfinished task. St. Maximus will tell us: “Nothing is more pleasant and loved by God, than men convert to him with sincere contrition.”

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • "It is true that our faith is not palpable and that it does not depend on the senses. It is a gift from God that He instills in the humble soul, because faith does not dwell in those who are full of pride” (St. Francis de Sales)

  • "Only the Word of God, the Word of Jesus, saves us" (Francis)

  • "Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions..." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1431)

November 17th
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Gospel and commentary video