Tuesday 33rd week in ordinary time "Lk 19:1-10" He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay...

Monday 33rd week in ordinary time "Lk 18:35-43" As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging and hearing a multitude going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." And he cried, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" This blind man was probably there every day. But that day...

Saturday 32nd week in ordinary time "Lk 18:1-8" Jesus told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Vindicate me against my adversary'...And he added, "will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily....

Friday 32nd week in ordinary time "Lk 17:26-37" Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other left." A paradox is a statement that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a truth. Jesus explains that those who are concerned...

Thursday 32nd week in ordinary time "Lk 17:20-25" "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Lo, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." And he said to the disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, 'Lo, there!' or 'Lo, here!' Do not go, do not follow them...But first he must suffer many things and be...

Wednesday 32nd week in ordinary time "Lk 17:11-19" As Jesus entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed. "Show yourselves to the priests." We all have sins and we can all be made clean by going to Jesus. All the saints (except Our Lady) had to be forgiven. All of them had...

Tuesday 32nd week in ordinary time "Lk 17:7-10" "Will any one of you, who has a servant ploughing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down at table? Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy...

Monday 32nd week in ordinary time "Lk 17:1-6" Jesus said to his disciples, "Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." Fraternal correction' is an obligation of charity: to help someone to be holier by pointing out some mistake or defect they may have. A good athlete always wants to improve. If by changing the...

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica "Jn 2:13-22" Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade." We are...

Friday 31st week in ordinary time "Lk 16:1-8" Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward'...So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' He said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to...

Thursday 31st week in ordinary time "Lk 15:1-10" The Pharisees and the Scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? ...I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." The Pharisees were surprised that Jesus "received...

Wednesday 31st week in ordinary time "Lk 14:25-33" Now great multitudes accompanied him; and he turned and said to them, "If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple ... So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. To follow You, Lord, is...

Tuesday 31st week in ordinary time "Lk 14:15-24" Jesus said, "A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many; and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for all is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses...Then the householder in anger said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.' And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been...

Monday 31st week in ordinary time "Lk 14:12-14" Jesus said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbours, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." Generosity is giving without...

All Saints "Mt 5:1-12a" Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth...Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad,...

Wednesday 30th week in ordinary time "Lk 13:22-30" Someone said to Jesus, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" And he said to them, "Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us.' He will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your...

Tuesday 30th week in ordinary time "Lk 13:18-21" He said therefore, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches." A mustard seed grows very slowly. During the first months tiny roots are growing but you can't see anything. After a long time a couple of green leaves sprout but you can't really tell if they...

Sts Simon and Jude, Apostles "Lk 6:12–19" Jesus went out to the mountain to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles; Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor....

Thursday 29th week in ordinary time "Lk 12:49-53" "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptised with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!" The fire of God's Love, like any big fire, spreads on contact: one tree ignites the next one and that sets the next ablaze. A tiny spark can set a whole forest alight. That's what a soul in love with God can do and what Jesus is longing for. But those who want to set the...

Wednesday 29th week in ordinary time "Lk 12:39-48" Jesus said to his disciples: "that servant who knew his master's will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more." This is the same as saying: "Do not compare yourself with anyone...

Tuesday 29th week in ordinary time "Lk 12:35-38" "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them so,...

Monday 29th week in ordinary time "Lk 12:13-21" Jesus told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him,...

St Luke, Evangelist "Lk 10:1-9" After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come. And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest." These 72 disciples couldn't be more different from one another. They weren't a set of apostles in uniforms with written speeches to be read in a...

Thursday 28th week in ordinary time "Lk 11:47-54" "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering." These 'lawyers' shouldn't be confused with modern-day solicitors or barristers. They were called 'lawyers' because they were in charge of teaching the 'Law of Moses'. They studied the Bible and knew everything about it; but apparently they weren't practising it or teaching it properly to the...