Yes we all should look on the bright side of things but the only bright side that we should be looking upon is in the hope that is to be found in the light of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! For truly darkness has overcome many parts and will continue to do so if the world does not repent and turn to our Lord.
As is stands many facing the pandemic are dying because their leaders are doing nothing or not enough! Often times it is greed rather than hopelessness in doing what is right! Then we have the advocacy of abortion by pro choice movements, advocacy for same sex marriages while human trafficking, prostitution and child labour continue to thrive. What about genocide? Or simply the abandonment of those in dire poverty!
Let pray fervently for the conversion of sinners but most of all that our very own sinful hearts be changed from within, so that we may live pious lives fully alive in His light and love. For the sake of Your Son’s sorrowful passion dearest Heavenly Father, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen
First reading
Joel 1:13-15,2:1-2 ·
Let all tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming
Priests, put on sackcloth and lament.
Ministers of the altar, wail.
Come, pass the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God.
For the house of our God has been deprived of oblation and libation.
Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly; elders, call together all the inhabitants of the country to the house of the Lord your God.
Cry out to the Lord, ‘Oh, what a day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
it comes as a devastation from Shaddai.’
Sound the trumpet in Zion, give the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the country tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming,
yes, it is near.
Day of darkness and gloom, day of cloud and blackness.
Like the dawn there spreads across the mountains a vast and mighty host,
such as has never been before, such as will never be again
to the remotest ages.
Gospel
Luke 11:15-26
The finger of God has overtaken you
When Jesus had cast out a devil, some of the people said, ‘It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils.’ Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? – since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils. Now if it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out? Let them be your judges then. But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.
‘He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.
‘When an unclean spirit goes out of a man it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and not finding one it says, “I will go back to the home I came from.” But on arrival, finding it swept and tidied, it then goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and set up house there, so that the man ends up by being worse than he was before.’
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