DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

OCTOBER 23, 2023

MONDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

(OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF SAINT JOHN OF CAPISTRANO, PRIEST)

FIRST READING

ROMANS 4:20-25 OR (2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-20 / WISDOM 10:10-14)

20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was "reckoned to him as righteousness." 23 But the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

LUKE 1:69-75 OR (PSALMS 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 11 / PSALMS 34:8-9, 16-20, 23)

Response: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.

“Blessed be the LORD God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people,
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David."

R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.

"As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies,
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to perform the mercy promised to our fathers,
and to remember his holy covenant."

R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.

"The oath which he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life."

R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
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GOSPEL

Storing up true riches

LUKE 12:13-21 OR (LUKE 9:57-62 / LUKE 9:1-6)

13 One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me." 14 But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?" 15 And he said to them, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; 17 and he thought to himself, `What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' 18 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. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 But God said to him, `Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

Surrounded by wealth, blind to charity, by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD)

"'What does the rich man do, surrounded by a great supply of many blessings beyond all numbering? In distress and anxiety, he speaks the words of poverty. He says, 'What should I do?' ... He does not look to the future. He does not raise his eyes to God. He does not count it worth his while to gain for the mind those treasures that are above in heaven. He does not cherish love for the poor or desire the esteem it gains. He does not sympathize with suffering. It gives him no pain nor awakens his pity. Still more irrational, he settles for himself the length of his life, as if he would also reap this from the ground. He says, 'I will say to myself, "Self, you have goods laid up for many years. Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself." 'O rich man,' one may say, "You have storehouses for your fruits, but where will you receive your many years? By the decree of God, your life is shortened." 'God,' it tells us, 'said to him, "You fool, this night they will require of you your soul. Whose will these things be that you have prepared?"

(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 89)
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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.