28TH THURSDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Luke 11:47-54) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
- NHA CHUA CHA
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
FIRST READING - Rom 3:21-30
"A person is justified by faith apart from works of the law."
A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans
21 But now[a] the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets, 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; 23 all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. 24 They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as an expiation,[b] through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, 26 through the forbearance of God—to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 What occasion is there then for boasting?[c] It is ruled out. On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith.[d] 28 For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Does God belong to Jews alone? Does he not belong to Gentiles, too? Yes, also to Gentiles, 30 for God is one and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Lk 11:47-54
"This generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah."
✠From the Gospel according to Luke
47 Woe to you! You build the memorials of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. 48 Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building. 49 Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles;[a] some of them they will kill and persecute’ 50 in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah[b] who died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood! 52 Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.” 53 When he left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, 54 for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.
28TH THURSDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Luke 11:47-54)
THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
Dear people of God,
Today's Word of God calls on everyone to be vigilant in every word, action, and deed. God bestows upon each person the grace of understanding and wisdom to comprehend God's mystery. He bestows and engraves in the soul of each person a loving heart, an understanding of the law of love. Every soul graced by God has the responsibility to bestow those graces upon others. No one in this world is useless in God's sight, so He bestows upon each person a different task, a different mission.
When everyone is born into this world, from the young to the old, from the healthy to the sick, God bestows upon each person a loving heart, which is the natural law of love engraved by God Himself in each soul, but the heart in each soul expresses love differently, for no one is perfect in God's sight.
Furthermore, God sends prophets and messengers to this world to bring God's word to humanity to guide and help each person know how to live in a way that pleases God.
More than two thousand years ago, the Son of God came into the world as a human, bringing humanity the law of love, manifested through His very person. He is love itself; He bestows love upon all humanity without distinction between good and bad people, and upon all who know how to receive God's love and mercy; God came to teach and awaken humanity to recognize Satan's temptations.
In particular, today's Word of God warns the leaders in the Church. He says: “Woe to you, scholars of the law!
You have taken away the key of knowledge to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; you yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter." He states that this is a very great sin in God's sight. God loves scholars of the law, those who understand the Scriptures, who understand the law of love. Therefore, today, God calls upon them not to fall into Satan's trap, not to fall into the trap of the lifestyle of the Pharisees and the scribes in Jesus' time.
Today, there are proud, selfish, arrogant, and conceited individuals, who believe they understand and hold the law, and thus use their authority to impose it on others. God continues to call on everyone to be modest and humble, and look up to God, the Most High. Only God is the Lawgiver and Judge while the messengers, scholars of the law, and leaders in the Church are merely instruments used by God.
Therefore, He calls upon them to fulfill their duties as faithful, capable, and wise servants, to know how to give precisely what God has bestowed upon them, and to fulfill their duties as leaders in the Church, always knowing how to share, support, and help their brothers and sisters, and knowing how to live oriented towards the eternal Kingdom of Heaven hereafter, which is the goal humanity must achieve to attain the happiness of the Kingdom of Heaven.
God calls upon scholars of the law, those who are knowledgeable in the Scriptures, knowledgeable in the law:
to live and act in accordance with what God calls for;
not to observe the law as a mere formality, do not observe the law theoretically, but to live according to the example of Jesus: to practice the law of love on oneself, through words, deeds, and way of life, that is, to live with love, altruism, knowing how to give all that God has bestowed upon oneself.
Only by living in such a way can one please God.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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