Daily Readings for October 25, 2018

1st READING

Our faith must always be rooted in God’s love for us, and in our love for Him and our neighbor. May our actions be motivated by love. If we are tempted to be angry or to seek revenge, we should stop and think again. When we have strayed from His will, the way back to God is through reconciliation and forgiveness.

Ephesians 3:14-21

14 Brothers and sisters: I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

P S A L M 

Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 11-12, 18-19

R: The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

1 Exult, you just, in the Lord; praise from the upright is fitting. 2 Give thanks to the Lord on the harp; with the ten- stringed lyre chant his praises. (R) 4 For upright is the word of the Lord, and all his works are trustworthy. 5 He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full. (R) 11 But the plan of the Lord stands forever; the design of his heart, through all generations. 12 Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen for his own inheritance. (R) 18 But see, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness, 19 to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine. (R) 

GOSPEL

The  fire Jesus speaks of today is His love working for our salvation. The baptism He mentions is His death on the cross — the way to salvation. Jesus wants us to be saved. It is rare to find people who are willing to die for others, like Jesus. Let us love Him and one another the way He loves us.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION 

I consider all things so much rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him. 

Luke 12:49-53

49 Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! 50 There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”