St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, priest & martyr,

St. Paul Chong Ha-sang, martyr & Companions

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊ 

Ezra 1:1-6

 In the first year of Cyrus,

King of Persia, Yahweh wil­led to ful­fill the word he had said through the prophet Jere­miah, so he moved the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, to issue the following command and send it out in writing to be read aloud everywhere in his kingdom,  “Thus speaks Cyrus, king of Persia: Yahweh, the God of heavens, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has ordered me to build him a Temple in Jerusalem, in the land of Judah.

To everyone belonging to his people, may his God be with him! Let them go up to Jerusalem with the help of their God and there build the House of Yahweh, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem.

In every place where the rest of the people of Yahweh live, let the people of those places help them for their journey with silver, gold and all kinds of goods and livestock. Let them also give them voluntary offerings for the House of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem.”

Then they rose up – the heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and the Levites, and all those whose spirit God had stirred up – and they decided to go and build the House of Yahweh. And all their neighbors gave them all kinds of help: gold, silver, livestock and precious ob­jects in great quantity, besides every kind of voluntary offering.

 

Ps 126:1b-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6

The Lord has done marvels for us.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊     

Luke 8:16-18

 No one, after lighting a lamp covers it with a bowl or puts it under the bed; rather he puts it on a lamp­stand so that people coming in may see the light.   In the same way, there is nothing hidden that shall not be uncovered; nothing kept secret that shall not be known clearly.  

 Now, take care how well you listen, for whoever produces will be given more, but from those who do not produce, even what they seem to have will be taken away from them.”

 

 Gospel Reflection：

Things are good if they live up to their function. If not, then they are useless. That is why Jesus says that you do not light a lamp just to hide it. You render it useless by doing this. In the same way, all that we have done will be brought to light.

Why do it if you want it unknown by others. What we do leaves footprints behind. It cannot stay hidden forever. Even if we die, our works will outlive us. And so we must ponder on what legacies we will leave behind, even those that we wish are kept hidden forever.

For sooner or later, they will be brought to light. And so we cannot fake things forever. If we produce, we procuce. Others may hide it because of envy or jealousy. They may delay what you justly earn, but they cannot stop it altogether. In the same way, we cannot fool people forever with our pretensions to skills and abilities we don’t have. We will be unmasked.

And so, light your lamp. Make others see your lamp, that in seeing your good works, they may give praise to the Father who is the source of the light we transmit.