DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

WEDNESDAY OF THE THIRTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

FIRST READING

ROMANS 13:8-10

8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor 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 any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALMS 11(112):1-2, 4-5, 9

Response: Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
Or
R. Alleluia.

Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commandments!
His descendants will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.

R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
Or
R. Alleluia.

Light rises in the darkness for the upright;
the LORD is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with the man who deals generously and lends,
who conducts his affairs with justice.

R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
Or
R. Alleluia.

He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures for ever;
his horn is exalted in honor.

R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
Or
R. Alleluia.
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GOSPEL

The true cost of discipleship

LUKE 14:25-33

25 Now great multitudes accompanied him; and he turned and said to them, 26 "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. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, `This man began to build, and was not able to finish.' 31 Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace. 33 So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

Jesus permits us to love family but not more than God, by Cyril of Alexandria, 375-444 A.D.

"He says, 'He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me' (Matthew 10:37). By adding 'more than me,' it is plain that he permits us to love, but not more than we love him. He demands our highest affection for himself and that very correctly. The love of God in those who are perfect in mind has something in it superior both to the honor due to parents and to the natural affection felt for children."

(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 105)
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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.