Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Faith, Like Abraham’s
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. Abraham, our Father in the faith, was a man who lived according to the gospel before Jesus proclaimed his Good News. He trusted God; he followed God’s call without questioning God and demanding proofs. All he got was a promise to believe in, and of that promise he himself – as God told him – would never see the fulfilment.
Gospel. In sharp contrast to Abraham, the people of the promise in Jesus’ time challenged and questioned him, especially the religious leaders. Even the signs of liberation from evil that Jesus gave them did not impress them as signs to believe in. What is our attitude toward the signs of God’s care in our lives?
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
faith is all that matters to save us.
We know it, and yet we seek proofs.
Help us to believe in you
on seeing your works:
your creation, your power,
your goodness that we encounter in people.
Grant us to live in trust
with the uncertain certainty of faith,
believing, hoping, loving
and trusting that you have set us free
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
First Reading
Understand, then, that those who follow the way of faith are sons and daughters of Abraham.
The Scriptures predicted that through faith, God would grant true righteousness to the Gentiles. For God’s promise to Abraham was this:
In you, all the nations
shall be blessed.
So now those who walk by faith receive the same blessing as Abraham, who believed;
but those who depend on following the law are under a curse, for it is written:
Cursed is everyone who does not always
fulfill everything written in the law.
It is clearly written that no one becomes righteous in God’s way through the law: by faith, the righteous shall live.
Yet the law does not depend on faith, because according to it: whoever does the works of the law will live by them.
Christ rescued us from the curse of the law by becoming cursed himself, for our sake, as it is written:
Cursed be everyone
who hangs on a tree.
The blessing given to Abraham reached the Gentiles through Christ Jesus so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (5) The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart
in the company and assembly of the just.
Great are the works of the LORD,
exquisite in all their delights.
R. The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
Majesty and glory are his work,
and his justice endures forever.
He has won renown for his wondrous deeds;
gracious and merciful is the LORD.
R. The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
He has given food to those who fear him;
he will forever be mindful of his covenant.
He has made known to his people the power of his works,
giving them the inheritance of the nations.
R. The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The prince of this world will now be cast out,
and when I am lifted up from the earth
I will draw all to myself, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
But some of them said:
“He drives out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”
Others wanted to test him by asking for a sign from heaven.
But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every nation divided by civil war is on the road to ruin and will fall.
If Satan is also divided, his empire is coming to an end. How can you say that I drive out demons by calling upon Beelzebub?
If I drive them out by Beelzebul, then by whom do your sons drive out demons? They will be your judges, then.
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, does this not mean that the kingdom of God has come upon you?
As long as a man, strong and well-armed, guards his house, his possessions are safe.
But when a stronger man attacks and overpowers him, the challenger takes away all the weapons he relied on and confiscates his possessions.
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.
When the evil spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry lands looking for a place to rest; and when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’
When it arrives, it finds the house swept and everything in order.
Then it goes to fetch seven other spirits that are even worse than itself. They move in and settle there, so that the final state of that person is worse than the first.
Prayers of the Faithful
– That like Abraham, our Father in the faith, Christians may put themselves trustingly into God’s hands, we pray:
– That by the grace of God we may be good people who are a blessing to others, we pray:
– That our hearts may not be divided, but that we try to live the way of the gospel sincerely, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
our faith reassures us
that Jesus your Son,
already present in this community of faith,
will give himself to us in person
in these signs of bread and wine.
Strengthen our faith,
that we may sow and gather
on the side of your Son
and with him live in your love
now and forever.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God, we thank you
for nourishing our hesitant faith
with the word of your Son
and with his bread of strength.
Engrave his message in our hearts
that it can never be erased
and keep us going without any need
of proofs and signs,
in the certainty that you love us
and that, even in trials and challenges,
you will lead us home to you
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
“Lord, make our faith grow!” That should be our cry from the heart. We ask the Lord for a deep faith that accepts him on his word, and that lets his message and his person guide our lives. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Luke 11: 15-26
Household Tasks
The things Jesus does are impossibilities... if they aren't, then he is mastering dark arts, and if they aren't, then he is a master of magic. The Gospels frequently portray Jesus in two different situations; one of them is when he faces the powers of the world, in particular, those of religion. There, Jesus is under scrutiny, disdain or, like today, direct attack: a disciple of Beelzebub, as the son of the prince of darkness.
Secondly, there is a similar example where Jesus meets people who are searching for him, sinners, those who have been cast out, and he often seems at ease, openhearted, and happy to share the good news of the coming Kingdom with them.
Jesus was viewed by many within the religious establishment as a nuisance, an encroachment on the wonderful and pristine fabric that was organised religion, something threatening to upset the order and sense that had been so well achieved and maintained for so long. They will resort to rationalisation rather than surrender to the love of God; they willprefer to harden their hearts rather than keep their hearts open to God's surprises.
Jesus uses no violence to retaliate against the people. Wielding the values of the Kingdom, he just reveals in front of their eyes and ears the thoughts of their own hearts: what is your true motivation behind your faith? He showed them, and their disciples, and us the dangers of self-righteousness.
It is evident from the first reading that they have a temple, a so-called “house of God,” but the temple has become dead as a rock because sacrifice and libation have been cut off from the house of God. Keeping our house, the temple of the Holy Spirit, clean and vibrant with life, warm and ready to welcome the Lord whenever he comes to our door and calls, is the key question here.
How do you maintain your house on an everyday basis? When Jesus and others pass by, how do you make sure it is ready to welcome them?