In the Holy Land, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa,

is calling for a day of fasting, abstinence and prayer for peace and reconciliation.

Cardinal Pizzaballa,  has urged all parishes and religious communities to mark this day of prayer on Tuesday, October 17.

He went on to warn that the long-standing hatred

in the region will increase even more and the ensuing spiral of violence will create more destruction.

 

St. Ignatius of Antioch, bishop & martyr

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

Romans 1:16-25

For I am not ashamed

At all of this Good News; it is God's power saving those who believe, first the Jews, and then the Greeks. This Good News shows us the saving justice of God; a Justice that saves exclusively by faith, as the Scripture says: The upright one shall live by faith.

For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those who have silenced the truth by their wicked ways. For everything that could have been known about God was clear to them: God himself made it plain. Because his invisible attributes – his everlasting power and divinity – are made visible to reason by means of his works since the creation of the world.

 

So they have no excuse, for they knew God and did not glorify him as was fitting, nor did they give thanks to him. On the contrary, they lost themselves in their reasoning and darkness filled their minds.

 

Believing themselves wise, they became foolish: they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likes of mortal human beings, birds, animals and reptiles. Because of this God gave them up to their inner cravings; they did shameful things and dishonored their bodies. 

They exchanged God's truth for a lie; they honored and worshiped created things instead of the Creator, to whom be praise for ever, Amen!

 

Ps 19:2-3, 4-5 The heavens proclaim the glory of God.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 11:37-41

As Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to have a meal with him. So he went and sat at table. The Pharisee then wondered why Jesus did not first wash his hands before dinner. But the Lord said to him, "So then, you Pharisees, you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside yourselves you are full of greed and evil. Fools! He who made the outside, also made the inside. But according to you, by the mere giving of alms everything is made clean.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"Let us never be ashamed of the Gospel."

Paul begins his Letter to the Romans with a statement that could serve as the motto of his preaching mission: I am not ashamed of the Gospel. Paul never refrained from preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. He preached to his fellow Jews, proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah.

 

He preached to the gentiles, even debating with their philosophers and those who worshiped other gods. Even though he experienced suffering and imprisonment, he never stopped preaching the truth of Christ and calling people to faith and conversion.

Are we ashamed to preach the Gospel by our words and actions? Do we avoid sharing our faith when others challenge what we believe? Do we speak up when social conditions or attitudes do not align with what we believe? Too often in our world, people worship things that are not God. Their vision is limited to the things of this world and they refuse to see the truth of God. Let us never be ashamed of the Gospel, sharing the truth of God's goodness with all those we meet.