Today, October 20
Feast of the Day
No feast of the day
Saint of the Day
Readings of the Day
Letter to the Ephesians 2,12-22.
Brothers and sisters: You were at that time without Christ, alienated from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Psalms 85(84),9ab-10.11-12.13-14.
I will hear what God proclaims; the LORD –for he proclaims peace to his people. Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him, glory dwelling in our land. Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven. The LORD himself will give his benefits; our land shall yield its increase. Justice shall walk before him, and salvation, along the way of his steps.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12,35-38.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants."
Daily Reflection
These words mean : you are to be awake and vigilant because you do not know the hour when the Lord will come from the wedding… Because as soon as some feeling of pride, self-satisfaction or self-will enters a man, the Enemy is there cutting the precious bag of all his good works from him. Oh, children! How many of people like these will you see who have done great works… and thus gained great renown…, but presumption has stripped them of all… They will be placed after the poor and simple fellows whom no one values because of their outward appearance and work. Because they humbly take a lowly place these latter will be set above the others… So keep watch with vigilant soul and you will see the pure truth with open eyes… « Let your loins be girded and your lamps alight. » Here there are three points to notice. First: the loins are to be girded like someone firmly bound with a rope so as to be led against his will… Second: you are to carry lighted lamps in your hands, which is to say, works of love. Your hands should never stop doing the true, ardent work of charity… Third: you should wait for the Lord when he returns from the wedding… : “The Lord will set them over all his goods; he will gird himself and will serve them.” This wedding from which the Lord comes takes place in the most interior part of the soul, in its depths where the noble image is found. O what intimate contact the soul has with God and God with it in this depth, and what a marvellous work God does there! What rejoicing and joy he finds there! It surpasses all feeling and thought and yet man knows nothing and feels nothing of it.