Daily Readings for October 6, 2017

1ST READING

One great source of inspiration to live the Gospel has to be how the Lord has been faithful to His people through the ages. Whether we are sinners or saints, God remains faithful to His promises to us. How faithful are we to our commitments to God? To others? It would be good to ask ourselves these questions every now and then.

Baruch 1:15-22

15 During the Babylonian captivity, the exiles prayed: “Justice is with the Lord, our God; and we today are flushed with shame, we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem, 16 that we, with our kings and rulers and priests and prophets, and with our ancestors, 17 have sinned in the Lord’s sight 18 and disobeyed him. We have neither heeded the voice of the Lord, our God, nor followed the precepts which the Lord set before us. 19 From the time the Lord led our ancestors out of the land of Egypt until the present day, we have been disobedient to the Lord, our God, and only too ready to disregard his voice. 20 And the evils and the curse that the Lord enjoined upon Moses, his servant, at the time he led our ancestors forth from the land of Egypt to give us the land flowing with milk and honey, cling to us even today. 21 For we did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God, in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us, 22 but each one of us went off after the devices of his own wicked heart, served other gods, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.”

P S A L M

Psalm 79:1-2, 3-5, 8, 9

R: For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.

1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. 2 They have given the corpses of your servants as food to the birds of heaven, the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the earth. (R) 3 They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury them. 4 We have become the reproach of our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us. 5 O Lord, how long? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? (R) 8 Remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low. (R) 9 Help us, O God our savior, because of the glory of your name; deliver us and pardon our sins for your name’s sake. (R)

GOSPEL

God’s mercy is infinite. This is one of the greatest truths the Scriptures reveal to us. It is evident in the lives of many prophets and most forcefully in the life of Jesus, the Son of God Himself. Why do we seem to forget this truth so easily? Don’t we feel beholden to God for anything? We need to throw away our pride and admit that we owe everything that is good in our lives to the mercy and love of God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Luke 10:13-16

13 Jesus said to them, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ 16 Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me.  And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”