Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection November 12, 2024
Thirty-Second Week of Ordinary Time
12th November 2024 (Tuesday)
Psalter: Week 4
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Titus 2:1-8, 11-14
Beloved: Teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be selfcontrolled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Psalm 37:3-4, 18 and 23, 27 and 29 (R. 39a)
R/. From the Lord comes the salvation of the just
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, says the Lord; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel: Luke 17:7-10
At that time: Jesus said, “Will any one of you who has a servant ploughing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterwards you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Tuesday – Thirty-Second Week of Ordinary Time
Guidelines: Our faith is God’s grace. All the blessings that we enjoy are God’s gratuitous benevolence. No one can claim rights!
1. Seeking recognition and applause, desire to create impressions and making a show of one’s goodness and greatness, boasting and blowing one’s trumpet before others – all these are clearly the trademarks of today’s society. This malaise has so much infected our world that a person’s quality is rated on the basis of publicity.
2. More importance is given to the tactics for marketing the product rather than the sincere efforts to ensure its quality and use of it. In such a context, doing good has become a rare commodity, and doing it without any ulterior motive has become a rare happening.
3. But Jesus makes it crystal clear that doing good and serving is essential to our human nature and our Christian vocation. Service is not a favour but a binding duty. Good is to be done not at one’s choice and convenience but as devoted dutifulness.
4. Dutifulness is a master check for our faith and faithfulness. That is why Jesus declares, “When you have done all, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
5. This dutifulness is essentially a matter of bearing witness to our call as the children of God and the followers of Christ. As we see in the first reading, our ages and stages may be different. It may be older men or older women or young women or younger men. But a life of witness is a bounden duty.
6. Such a duty-bound, faithful, and witnessing life trains us to renounce ungodliness, lawlessness, and worldly passions. We are summoned to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. We should be zealous models of good works. That is the most fitting way to put evil opponents to shame and defeat them.
Practice: Only the spirit of a humble servant and dutiful service can heal the widespread sickness of domination and manipulation
