The phrase "we should not take God's mercy for granted"

It suggests a call to live with gratitude and a continued commitment to faith,

avoiding the temptation to sin or become negligent in one's spiritual duties

because of the belief that God will always be forgiving. 

 

Blessed Virgin Mary

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Romans 8:1-11

 This contradiction

No longer exists for those who are in Jesus Christ. For, in Jesus Christ,

the law of the spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death.

The law was without effect, because flesh was not responding.

Then God, planning to destroy sin, sent his own Son,

in the likeness of those subject to the sinful human condition;

 

by doing this, he condemned the sin, in this human condition.

Since then, the perfection intended by the law would be fulfilled,

in those not walking in the way of the flesh, but in the way of the spirit.

 

Those walking according to the flesh tend toward what is flesh;

those led by the spirit, to what is spirit. Flesh tends toward death,

while spirit aims at life and peace. What the flesh seeks is against God:

it does not agree; it cannot even submit to the law of God. So,

those walking according to the flesh cannot please God.

 

Yet, your existence is not in the flesh, but in the spirit, because the Spirit of God is within you.

If you did not have the Spirit of Christ, you would not belong to him.

But Christ is within you; though the body is branded by death, as a consequence of sin,

the spirit is life and holiness. And, if the Spirit of him, who raised Jesus from the dead, is within you,

he, who raised Jesus Christ from among the dead, will also give life to your mortal bodies.

Yes, he will do it, through his Spirit, who dwells within you.

 

Ps 24:1b-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

 Luke 13:1-9

 One day, some people told Jesus what had occurred in the temple:

Pilate had had Galileans killed, and their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.

Jesus asked them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans,

because they suffered this? No, I tell you. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish, as they did.

 

And those eighteen persons in Siloah, who were crushed when the tower fell,

do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem? I tell you:

no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish, as they did."

 

And Jesus continued, "A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it,

but found none. Then he said to the gardener, 'Look here, for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree,

and I have found none. Cut it down, why should it continue to deplete the soil?'

The gardener replied, 'Leave it one more year, so that I may dig around it and add some fertilizer;

perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it doesn't, you can cut it down."

 

 Gospel Reflection ：

"We should not take God's mercy for granted."

The human condition has its share of sorrows. We all have our limitations and frailties,

and life can be cut short by all sorts of tragedies, such as illness or accidents.

Jesus describes two such events, a brutal quelling of a crowd by the Roman army,

and the fatal collapse of a tower under construction. Jesus does not deny that

"all have sinned and all fall short of the Glory of God" (Rom 3:23-24).

 

That is why he came to save us. But he makes it clear that these incidents and similar tragedies in people's lives

do not imply that they were greater sinners than other people. In other words,

the accident did not happen because of their sin. It's not a curse from God.

However, the uncertainty and brevity of life reminds us that we should not take God's mercy for granted.

 

Therefore, Christ calls people to repentance. We are to use our live for love and justice, to serve the Lord and one another.

Therefore, rather than being stuck in the rut of sin, Christ calls us to seize the opportunity of renewal,

so that "[we] will sing praise to God while [we] live" (Ps 146:2).