When will we realize that the Lord our God only wants us to live life to the full in Him? While sin, giving into temptations, thereby falling into greater sin separates us from Him and His love. How are we going to withstand the evil that comes as a result of our sinful ways?
In today’s first reading, the people realize how sinful they had become and how they had refused to listen to the Word of God. They saw the effects of their sinful life take a toll on them. But they repented, and as always, the Lord our God welcomed them back, ready with open arms.
In today’s Gospel, although a bit harsh, we hear Jesus shouting out the woes of how the cities refused to listen to Him, and the the call of God their Father. It was with great sadness He saw how the people suffered for their sins.
Let us always choose to be faithful and obedient to the Lord our God. Asking Him for the grace to overcome all sin and temptation, so that we may be free to love and live life to the full. Amen
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First reading
Baruch 1:15-22 ·
We have been disobedient to the Lord our God
Integrity belongs to the Lord our God; to us the look of shame we wear today, to us, the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem, to our kings and princes, our priests, our prophets, as to our ancestors, because we have sinned in the sight of the Lord, have disobeyed him, and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God telling us to follow the commandments which the Lord had ordained for us. From the day when the Lord brought our ancestors out of the land of Egypt until today we have been disobedient to the Lord our God, we have been disloyal, refusing to listen to his voice. And so the disasters, and the curse which the Lord pronounced through his servant Moses the day he brought our fathers out of Egypt to give us a land where milk and honey flow, have seized on us, disasters we experience today. Despite all the words of those prophets whom he sent us, we have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God, but, each following the dictates of his evil heart, we have taken to serving alien gods, and doing what is displeasing to the Lord our God.
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Gospel
Luke 10:13-16
Anyone who rejects me rejects the one who sent me
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. And still, it will not go as hard with Tyre and Sidon at the Judgement as with you. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell.
‘Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me, and those who reject me reject the one who sent me.’
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