The Word every day: 13-19 October, 2024
Commentary on the Readings of the Day by Father Giordano Favillini
Sunday 13/10
Mark 10: 26-27
The disciples said among themselves, ‘And who can be saved?’ But Jesus looking them in the face said: ‘Impossible to men but not to God, for all things are possible to God’. Looking at ourselves and seeing our own limitedness and tendency to sin, we think that it is not possible to live the Gospel, but with God’s grace, with his constant help, it is possible to live it and also become holy.
Monday 14/10
Luke 11:30
For as Jonah was a sign to those of Nineveh, so shall the Son of Man be to this generation. Jonah was the sign of tender mercy for all, even for the Gentiles. Jesus is mercy itself made person who annihilates himself so that all, even his enemies, may obtain forgiveness and mercy and eternal salvation.
Tuesday 15/10
Luke 11:41
Then the Lord said, ‘Rather give in alms what is in it, and behold, all will be pure for you. Purity of heart and mind is not achieved by any kind of effort or psycho-spiritual exercise, but by the continuous exercise of charity and generosity in love done in gratuitousness and with the spirit of prayer.
Wednesday 16/10
Luke 11:46
The Lord said: ‘Woe to you also, teachers of the law, who load men with unbearable burdens, and those burdens you do not even touch with a finger’. The rigidity with which we relate to others is a mask that conceals the inconsistencies and contradictions we keep hidden in order to assert ourselves and have dominion over others.
Thursday 17/10
Luke 11: 50-51
The Lord said: ‘Let this generation be asked to account for the blood of all the prophets, shed since the beginning of the world: from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah.
The victims of violence and the massacres caused by wars demand reparation, made by asking these souls and God for forgiveness with the determination to become builders of peace and forgiveness.
Friday 18/10
Luke 10: 5-6
Whichever house you enter first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ If there is a child of peace, your peace will descend upon him, if not, it will return to you. He can receive the peace of God who practices keeping his heart free from resentment, the spirit of vengeance, greed and hatred. Only then can it abide in us and we will become peacemakers.
Saturday 19/10
Luke 12:10
Whoever speaks against the son of man will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. To presume to be able to realise one’s earthly and otherworldly existence without God’s grace, and to consider God incapable of always being able to use mercy and salvation, this distrust is blasphemy, not uttered with the voice but with the heart.