October 10th, 2018

Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
463

FIRST READING
GAL 2:1-2, 7-14

Brothers and sisters:
After fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas,
taking Titus along also.
I went up in accord with a revelation,
and I presented to them the Gospel that I preach to the Gentiles–
but privately to those of repute–
so that I might not be running, or have run, in vain.
On the contrary,
when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Gospel to the uncircumcised,
just as Peter to the circumcised,
for the one who worked in Peter for an apostolate to the circumcised
worked also in me for the Gentiles,
and when they recognized the grace bestowed upon me,
James and Cephas and John,
who were reputed to be pillars,
gave me and Barnabas their right hands in partnership,
that we should go to the Gentiles
and they to the circumcised.
Only, we were to be mindful of the poor,
which is the very thing I was eager to do.

And when Cephas came to Antioch,
I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong.
For, until some people came from James,
he used to eat with the Gentiles;
but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself,
because he was afraid of the circumcised.
And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him,
with the result that even Barnabas
was carried away by their hypocrisy.
But when I saw that they were not on the right road
in line with the truth of the Gospel,
I said to Cephas in front of all,
“If you, though a Jew,
are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew,
how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

PSALM
PS 117:1BC, 2

Response: Go out to all the world, and tell the Good News.

Praise the LORD, all you nations,
glorify him, all you peoples!

For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.

GOSPEL
LK 11:1-4

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”

Daily Reflection

10th October 2018

In today’s Gospel, we are introduced to the Lord’s Prayer recorded by Luke. This prayer is more than just a formula to address God; it also points to an attitude and our disposition while we pray.

This prayer encourages us to talk to God as both parent and friend. It is grounded in our very ordinary daily needs: the need to earn a living and the need to get along with other people. And God is an integral part of these essential, mundane aspects of life.

Through the ‘Our Father’, we are reminded that our prayer should link us to community; we cannot separate our relationship with God from our relationships with other people. Listen as you pray:

‘You cannot pray the Lord’s prayer, and even once say ‘I’
You cannot pray the Lord’s prayer, and even once say ‘my’!
Nor can you pray the Lord’s prayer and not pray for another,
For when you ask for daily bread, you must include your brother.
For others are included in each and every plea:
From the beginning to the very end, it does not once say ‘me’.