31ST WEDNESDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Luke 14:25-33) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

“Everyone of you who does not renounce all of his possessions cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14:33)

FIRST READING - Rom 13:8-10

"Love is the fulfillment of the law."

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans

⁸ Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, [namely] “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Lk 14:25-33

"Everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple."

✠From the Gospel according to Luke

²⁵ Great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and addressed them, ²⁶ “If any one comes to me without hating his father^[a] and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? ²⁹ Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him ³⁰ and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? ³² But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. ³³ In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

31ST WEDNESDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Luke 14:25-33)

THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

Dear people of God,

In today’s Word of God, God the Father calls all who desire to follow Jesus Christ and to inherit the happiness of the Kingdom of Heaven, to renounce all things that belong to this world, so that we may freely take up our cross — the cross of suffering, sacrifice, and dying with Christ.

God the Father wants His children to be watchful of these things. For if we are still attached to worldly passions, passionate about the pleasures and material wealth of this world, how can we have the strength to resist and fight against Satan?

How can we receive the grace of God the Father to carry the cross that He has entrusted?

This is what God the Father warns His children: once we have resolved to follow Him, we must cast aside all those worldly attachments.

Just as Jesus once taught, before undertaking any task, we must first sit down and calculate whether we can accomplish it.

So now God the Father also teaches His children: when He calls us and we respond to His invitation to live a consecrated life for Him, we must take up our cross and follow Jesus Christ up to Calvary — to die and to rise with Him.

And to enter and inherit the happiness of the Kingdom of Heaven, we must cast aside all that belongs to the world from both soul and body.

We must put on a holy self and clothe ourselves with the light of God the Father so that we may have sufficient strength to resist Satan's temptations.

This is what God the Father teaches His children: When following Jesus Christ in order to die and rise with Him, we must cast aside all dark deeds, renounce all that is greed, wrath, or delusion, and abandon all worldly glory, honor, and pleasures so as to put on a new, holy self, complete and perfect as God the Father desires.

Thanks be to God. Amen.