Daily Readings for October 3, 2018

1st READING

There is a  fine line between extreme humility and despair. The difference is the state of our hearts. The saints exercised extreme humility to express their unworthiness before God. This comes from the truth of who we are in front of God’s majesty. Despair originates in our distrust in God. Let us maintain a positive view towards His works, no matter how we may feel about them.

Job 9:1-12, 14-16

1 Job answered his friends and said: 2 I know well that it is so; but how can a man be justified before God? 3 Should one wish to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times. 4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed? 5 He removes the mountains before they know it; he overturns them in his anger. 6 He shakes the earth out of its place, and the pillars beneath it tremble. 7 He commands the sun, and it rises not; he seals up the stars. 8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea. 9 He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south; 10 He does great things past finding out, marvelous things beyond reckoning. 11 Should he come near me, I see him not; should he pass by, I am not aware of him; 12 should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay? Who can say to him, “What are you doing?” 14 How much less shall I give him any answer, or choose out arguments against him! 15 Even though I were right, I could not answer him, but should rather beg for what was due me. 16 If I appealed to him and he answered my call, I could not believe that he would hearken to my words.

P S A L M 

Psalm 88:10-11, 12-13, 14-15

R: Let my prayer come before you, Lord.

9 [10] Daily I call upon you, O Lord; to you I stretch out my hands. 10 [11] Will you work wonders for the dead? Will the shades arise to give you thanks? (R) 11 [12] Do they declare your mercy in the grave, your faithfulness among those who have perished? 12 [13] Are your wonders made known in the darkness, or your justice in the land of oblivion? (R) 13 [14] But I, O Lord, cry out to you; with my morning prayer I wait upon you. 14 [15] Why, O Lord, do you reject me; why hide from me your face? (R)

GOSPEL 

We live in this life as mortal beings. We can never be sure of the next moment. But with God, everything is absolute and without contingency. Let us stand before Him and acknowledge our indebtedness to His love. Let us pray for the courage and strength to use our gifts and talents. Humility is not a sign of weakness — through it, we can become the pillars of the Church. 

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

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

Luke 9:57-62

57 As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” 59 And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” 60 But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” 61 And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” 62 Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”