Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
28TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 4 / (Green/Red)
St. Callistus I, pope & martyr
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 113: 1b-2, 3-4, 5a, 6-7: Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.
1st Reading: Galatians 4: 22-24, 26-27, 31 – 5: 1
It says, that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, the other by the free woman, his wife. The son of the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but the son of the free woman was born in fulfilment of God’s promise.
Here we have an allegory and the figures of two Covenants. The first is the one from Mount Sinai, represented through Hagar: her children have slavery for their lot.
But the Jerusalem above, who is our mother, is free. And Scripture says of her: Rejoice, barren woman without children, break forth in shouts of joy, you who do not know the pains of childbirth, for many shall be the children of the forsaken mother, more than of the married woman.
Brethren, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Christ freed us, to make us really free. So remain firm, and do not submit, again, to the yoke of slavery.
Gospel: Luke 11: 19-32
As the crowd increased, Jesus spoke the following words: “People of the present time are troubled people. They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation.
The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here, there is greater than Solomon.
The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah’s preaching made them turn from their sins, and here, there is greater than Jonah.
REFLECTION:
“Forgiving our enemies.”
One of the twelve minor prophets in the Old Testament is Prophet Jonah. Jonah was sent by the Lord to Nineveh to preach about conversion.
However, Jonah tried to flee to Tarshish. In the end, the Ninevites were all converted but Jonah was not happy.
Why was Jonah not happy with the Ninevites being converted and forgiven? It is because the Ninevites were the enemies of the people of Jonah. Jonah could not forgive the people who caused them unbearable pains and sufferings.
In today’s Gospel Jesus told those who seek for a sign that there would be no sign except that of Jonah. Through Jonah’s preaching, the Ninevites were converted.
However, Jonah himself needed to be converted. He must forgive his enemies. Jesus taught his followers to love their enemies (cf. Lk. 6:27) and he practiced what he taught: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” (Lk. 23:34) Indeed, Jesus is greater than Jonah.
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