St. John XXIII, pope

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Galatians 3:7-14

Understand, then,

That those who follow the way of faith are sons and daughters of Abraham.

The Scriptures foresaw that, by the way of faith, God would give true righteousness to the non-Jewish nations. For God's promise to Abraham was this: In you shall all the nations be blessed. So, now, those who take the way of faith receive the same blessing as Abraham, who believed; but those who rely on the practice of the law are under a curse, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not always fulfill everything written in the law.

 

It is plainly written that no one becomes righteous in God's way, by the law: by faith the righteous shall live. Yet the law gives no place to faith, for according to it: the one who fulfills the commandments shall have life through them.

 

Now Christ rescued us from the curse of the law, by becoming cursed himself, for our sake, as it is written: there is a curse on everyone who is hanged on a tree. So the blessing granted to Abraham, reached the pagan nations in, and with Christ, and we received the promised Spirit, through faith.

 

Ps 111:16-2, 3-4,5-6 The Lord will remember his covenant forever.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 11:15-26

U let some of them said, "He drives out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the chief of the demons." Others wanted to put him to the test, by asking him for a heavenly sign.

 

But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them, "Every nation divided by civil war is on the road to ruin, and will fall. If Satan also is divided, his empire is coming to an end. How can you say that I drive out demons by calling upon Beelzebul? If I drive them out by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive out demons? They will be your judges, then.

 

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God; would not this mean that the kingdom of God has come upon you? As long as a man, strong and well armed, guards his house, his goods are safe. But when a stronger man attacks and overcomes him, the challenger takes away all the weapons he relied on, and disposes of his spoils.

 

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.

When the evil spirit goes out of a person, it wanders through dry lands, looking for a resting place; and finding none, it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'

When it comes, it finds the house swept and everything in order. Then it goes to fetch seven other spirits, even worse than itself. They move in and settle there, so that the last state of that person is worse than the first."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"True unity."

To be persistent in prayer requires commitment. We cannot be committed to anything unless we have a sense of wholeness, an internal unity. True unity starts from within, which in turn helps us grow in our sense of commitment. Today's Gospel contains two parts. The first part tells of Jesus and Beelzebul (vv. 15-23).

 

The second part tells of the return of the unclean spirit (vv. 24-26). In the first part, some thought that it was by the power of Beelzebul that Jesus was driving out demons. Jesus pointed out that any kingdom could only remain standing if not divided against itself. The second part speaks of the possibility of the return of the unclean spirit. Unclean spirit may represent our own sinfulness.

 

The Gospel challenges us to grow in terms of internal unity, gathering our inner resources in order to align ourselves with Jesus. The verbal form used in v. 23 is skorpizel  "he scatters" may refer to anyone who lacks internal unity and commitment to Jesus. When we are committed to Jesus, we can always say no to evil. Jesus is always ready to put order in our life. We must always be ready to commit ourselves to him.