“INCREASE OUR FAITH.”

The Little seeds of Faith planted within us. And let us plant these little seeds of fate in others by our words and actions.

 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.

If he listens to you, you have won your brother over." (Matthew 18:15)

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, virgin

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 Wisdom of Solomon 1:1-7

Love justice, you who rule over the world!

 “WHOEVER DOES NOT FOLLOW ME, CARRYING HIS OWN CROSS, CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE.”

there are many of us who strive to follow Jesus get weakened in the face of our life’s crosses.

God won’t give us what we can’t bear. Besides, are the sacrifices demanded of us more than his,

who gave up everything for our sake?

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Romans 13:8-10

Do not be in debt to anyone.

 “Maranatha” – come Lord Jesus.

The wise wait in joyful anticipation, with great longing, for the advent of the Bridegroom, our Lord.

Jesus will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

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Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16 

Wisdom is luminous and

 “HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO EAT AT THE BAQUET IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD!”

One after another, the guests made excuses for not coming.

When the master of the house heard these flimsy excuses, he was angry.

He told his servant to forget the guest list and go into the back streets and alleyways of the town

and invite “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame”

All are invited do this celebration where they can enjoy the King’s generosity.

This is the Good News proclaimed by Jesus.

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Romans 12:5-16ab

The same with us;

 When the master becomes aware of what the sly servant has done, he commends him for his “shrewdness.”

Jesus encourages His followers to be generous with their wealth in this life

so that in the life to come their new friends will receive them “into eternal dwellings.”

This corresponds to Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount to lay up treasures in heaven.

St. Martin of Tours, bishop

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Romans 16:3-9, 16, 22-27

Greetings to Prisca and Aquilas,

 Love means giving without expectations, that there is more happiness in giving than in receiving.

we receive from the heavens above are not really meant just for us.

The blessings that we receive shall be shared to those who are in need.

We are just the instruments of God.

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Romans 11:29-36 

The call of God, and his gifts,

 The master commended the steward in the gospel. This was not, for sure,

an approval of the fraudulent nature of his dealings with others.

“No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other,

or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money”

 St. Leo the Great, pope and doctor

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

Romans 15:14-21

As for me,

 Jesus' disciples are not to seek honourable titles like 'father' and 'teacher' and 'rabbi'.

Our teacher is God, and the true disciples learns only from God.

Jesus calls on his followers to be humble. Our church is to be a humble church. 

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Malachi 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10 

Cursed be the cheater,

 Jeremiah predicted accurately in 587 BC the first destruction of the Temple.

Jesus made a whip out of cords and drove merchants and money changers with their stalls out of the Temple.

For him, it had become “a den of robbers” and unworthy of God.

Some scholars suggest that Jesus' action is a prophetic sign of the Temple's imminent destruction.

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Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

The man brought me

 The jockeying for the position of honor is evident.

This preoccupation for the choice seats happens too with Jesus’ own disciples, James and John.

Their mother tries to intervene for them so they would have the preferred places in seating order in the kingdom of Jesus,

one on his right and the other on his left.

We must not boast our position and must always settle

at the bottom which will in turn protect our dignity and nourish the humbleness inside us.

St. Charles Borromeo, bishop

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊ 

 Romans 11:1-2a, 11-12, 25-29

And so I ask: