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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading (Prov 30:5-9): Every word of God is tested; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Add nothing to his words, lest he reprove you, and you will be exposed as a deceiver. Two things I ask of you, deny them not to me before I die: Put falsehood and lying far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; provide me only with the food I need; lest, being full, I deny you, saying, «Who is the LORD?». Or, being in want, I steal, and profane the name of my God.
Responsorial Psalm: 118
R/. Your word, o Lord, is a lamp for my feet.
Remove from me the way of falsehood, and favor me with your law.

The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Your word, o Lord, endures forever; it is firm as the heavens.

From every evil way I withhold my feet, that I may keep your words.

Through your precepts I gain discernment; therefore I hate every false way.

Falsehood I hate and abhor; your law I love.
Versicle before the Gospel (Mk 1:5): Alleluia. The Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Lk 9:1-6): Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them." Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

“Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases”

Fr. Jordi CASTELLET i Sala (Vic, Barcelona, Spain)

Today, we are given to live in times when new mental diseases are reaching unsuspected levels never ever known before. At present, our rhythm of life is impelling us towards a stressing race to consume and misrepresent more than our neighbor next door, the whole dragnet being seasoned with a strong dosage of individualism, that is customizing persons isolated from the rest of the world. This loneliness, that many of us are forced to put up with because of social conveniences, job pressure or enslaving practices, is responsible for quite a few of us buckling under depression, neurosis, hysterics, schizophrenia, or some other mental disorders, that may severely endanger a person's future.

“Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases” (Lk 9:1). Diseases we can identify in the same Gospel as mental diseases.

Meeting Christ, the perfect Person, brings about a state of equilibrium and peace that soothes our mood and allows us to rediscover ourselves while providing light and lucidity to our lives and to our approach to the future. The Gospels are the criteria to clarify any doubts; they are good to teach and mentor, to educate both young and older, and to lead persons through the path of life, that path that never has to shrivel.

“Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news.” (Lk 9:6). This is our mission too: to live and ponder over the Gospel, the very word of Jesus, so that it can be imbued into us. Thus, by and by, we shall be able to find the path to follow and the freedom to accomplish. As Saint John Paul II wrote, “Peace has to be accomplished through truth… ; it has to be built in freedom.”

Let Jesus Christ —who called us to faith and eternal joy— overfill us with his hope and love, He who has given us a new life and an inexhaustible future.

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “I can't rest as long as there are souls to be saved” (Saint Thérèse of Lisieux)

  • “Those who have come into genuine contact with Christ cannot keep him for themselves, they must proclaim him” (Sant Joan Pau II)

  • “Since, like all the faithful, lay Christians are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and Confirmation, they have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n 900)

December 9th
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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December 8th
Second Sunday of Advent (C)

Gospel and commentary video