The Lord calls us in a gentle loving voice to come back with all our hearts to Him. For just as many of us long to be in His presence, so too does He want be present to us for all time. He our God and we His people, One in Holy Communion.
Yet many of us still struggle on a daily basis with sin, some habitual. Which in a sense is normal, because the evil one is never resting and always lurking. Hence we need to put on the helmet of salvation and arm ourselves with the word of God and through the power and grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we will overcome all that is evil.
For we are children of the light, and through the power of our Lord’s resurrection we live free as light for the world. Amen
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First reading
Jeremiah 7:23-28
Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God
These were my orders: Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Follow right to the end the way that I mark out for you, and you will prosper. But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face me, and turned their backs on me. From the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, day after day I have persistently sent you all my servants the prophets.
But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have grown stubborn and behaved worse than their ancestors. You may say all these words to them: they will not listen to you; you may call them: they will not answer. So tell them this, “Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God nor take correction. Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.”
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Gospel
Luke 11:14-23
Know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you
Jesus was casting out a devil and it was dumb; but when the devil had gone out the dumb man spoke, and the people were amazed. But some of them 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.’
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