Catholic scripture readings and reflections for today

Catholic Ireland

Liturgical Readings for : Saturday, 8th October, 2022
Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday's Readings

Saturday of 27th week of Ordinary Time, Year 2

FIRST READING

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Galatians         3:22-29
Theme: You are all sons of God through faith.

Scripture makes no exceptions when it says that sin is master everywhere. In this way the promise can only be given through faith in Jesus Christ and can only be given to those who have this faith.

All baptised in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Merely by belonging to Christ you are the posterity of Abraham, the heirs he was promised.

The Word of the Lord.            Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm          Ps 104
Response                               The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
Or                                           Alleluia!

1. O sing to the Lord, sing his praise;
tell all his wonderful works!
Be proud of his holy name,
let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.     Response

2.Consider the Lord and his strength;
constantly seek his face.
Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, the judgements he spoke.       Response

3. O children of Abraham, his servant,
O sons of the Jacob he chose.
He, the Lord, is our God:
his judgements prevail in all the earth.        Response

Gospel  Acclamation         Jn 14: 23
Alleluia, Alleluia!
If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him.
Alleluia!

or                                               Lk 11: 28
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Happy are those who hear the word of God, and keep it!
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you.                        And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke   11:27-28      Glory to you, O Lord
Theme: Happy the womb that bore you.  Still happier those who hear the word of God. 

As Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said,
‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’
But he replied,
‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Gospel Reflection      Saturday       Twenty Seventh Week in Ordinary Time       Luke 11:27-28

Paul says something very striking in today’s first reading. He declares that baptism into Christ has collapsed some of the distinctions that were so evident in the ancient world, the distinction between Jew and pagan, between slave and free, and between male and female. He declares that through baptism, we are all one in Christ Jesus. Regardless of our state in life, in virtue of our baptism and our faith, we are all equally sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters of Christ and of one another in Christ. What Paul writes would have been revolutionary in certain quarters in its time, and it remains a powerful reminder of our fundamental equality and unity in Christ today. We find something similar at play in today’s gospel reading. A woman in the crowd singles out Jesus’ mother for praise, pronouncing a beatitude upon her: ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ The woman, who was probably a mother herself, considered Jesus’ mother to be uniquely blessed because of the unique son that she bore. Of course, she was right in a sense.

Mary is uniquely blessed; we honour her in a way we don’t honour any other woman. Yet, in his reply to the woman in the crowd, Jesus moves the focus away from his mother to all his disciples, to all of us here today, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it’. Jesus gives us there the essence of what it is to be a disciple, hearing the word of God as Jesus proclaims it, and keeping that word in our lives. If we do that, Jesus declares, we will be as blessed as the physical mother of Jesus, whoever we are, whatever our distinctive nature, our background or our social status. Mary, of course, was not only the physical mother of Jesus. She was also the ideal disciple, who heard the word of God, surrendered to it, and lived it to the full. We can all be like Mary in that regard, and, in so far as we are, Jesus declares that we will be as blessed as she is.

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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, 1966/7/8 published 1966/7/8 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and used with the permission of the publishers.  http://dltbooks.com/
The Gospel Reflectionis available with our thanks from Reflections on the Weekday Readings 2021-2022: My Words Will Not Pass Away by Martin Hoganand published by Messenger Publications  c/f www.messenger.ie/bookstore

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