Thursday November 14, 2024
Weekday (32)
Office: Psalter Week 4
Mass and Preface of the Day
Vestment: Green
Today’s Rosary: The Luminous Mystery
Click HERE for the Previous Catholic Daily Reading
Death Anniversary of Bishop Michael Eneja of ENUGU 14/11/2008
Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 87: 3
Let my prayer come into your presence. Incline your ear to my cry for help, O Lord.
Collect
Almighty and merciful God, graciously keep from us all adversity, so that, unhindered in mind and body alike, we may pursue in freedom of heart the things that are yours. Through our Lord….
FIRST READING
Receive him, no longer as a slave, but as a beloved brother.
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to Philemon (Philemon 7-20)
Beloved: I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you — I, Paul, an ambassador and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus — I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but new he is indeed useful to you and to me.) I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own free will. Perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand, I will repay it — to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 146:6c-7.8-9a.9bc-10 (R. 5a)
R/. Blessed is he who is helped by Jacob’s God.
Or: Alleluia.
It is the Lord who preserves fidelity forever,
who does justice to those who are oppressed.
It is he who gives bread to the hungry,
the Lord who sets prisoners free. R/.
It is the Lord who opens the eyes of the blind,
the Lord who raises up those who are bowed down.
It is the Lord who loves the just,
the Lord who protects the stranger. R/.
R/. Blessed is he who is helped by Jacob’s God.
Or: Alleluia.
The Lord upholds the orphan and the widow,
but thwarts the path of the wicked.
The Lord will reign forever,
the God of Sion from age to age. R/.
ALLELUIA John 15:5
Alleluia. I am the vine, you are the branches says the Lord. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. Alleluia.
Gospel
“The kingdom of God is in your midst. ”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Luke 17:20-25)
At that time: Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, Jesus answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Behold, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Behold, there!’ or ‘B hold, here!’ Do not go, do not follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
TODAY’S REFLECTION
“The kingdom of God is in the midst of you,” says Jesus. The kingdom of God is the reign of God, and his loving and caring presence. Often we search for God’s comforting and consoling presence in the wrong places. We listen to wrong preachers, the type who mislead us about the kingdom of God. Jesus tells us: “and they will say to you, ‘Lo, there!’ or ‘Lo, here!’ do not go, do not follow them.” Jesus alone can tell us that God is in our midst, in fact within us, precisely because he alone is the incarnation of God. In order to find the true God we need to make an inward journey and allow the God within us to guide and rule our lives. It is then that our life becomes meaningful and happy. Where do I search for God?
PERSONAL DEVOTIONAL
“Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD. – Isaiah 54 1
Let us pray today for all families that are experiencing barrenness and infertility
Let Us Pray
I declare that there shall be no barrenness in the land, in the name of Jesus.
Lord, remove the evil effect of anything that is unclean or destructive that has entered into by any reproductive organs in the name of Jesus.
It is written, “By the stripes of Jesus Christ, we are healed,” (2 Peter 2:24) receive total healing and restoration upon our bodies and reproductive system in the name of Jesus.
