Thursday, October 06, 2011 (Weekday)

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
Stop entertaining those vain fears. Remember it is not feeling which constitutes guilt but the consent to such feelings. Only the free will is capable of good or evil. But when the will sighs under the trial of the tempter and does not will what is presented to it, there is not only no fault but there is virtue.
-- Saint Pio of Pietrelcina


READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Malachi 3:13-18
(God's Promise of Mercy)
13 “You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘What have we said about you?’ 
14 You have said, ‘It's useless to serve God. What's the use of doing what he says or of trying to show the Lord Almighty that we are sorry for what we have done? 
15 As we see it, proud people are the ones who are happy. Evil people not only prosper, but they test God's patience with their evil deeds and get away with it.’”

16 Then the people who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard what they said. In his presence, there was written down in a book a record of those who feared the Lord and respected him. 
17 “They will be my people,” says the Lord Almighty. “On the day when I act, they will be my very own. I will be merciful to them as parents are merciful to the children who serve them. 
18 Once again my people will see the difference between what happens to the righteous and to the wicked, to the person who serves me and the one who does not.” 
Psalms: Psalm 1:1-4, 6
(True Happiness)
1 Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God.
2 Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord, and they study it day and night.
3 They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do.
4 But evil people are not like this at all; they are like straw that the wind blows away.
6 The righteous are guided and protected by the Lord, but the evil are on the way to their doom. 
Gospel: Luke 11:5-13
5 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Suppose one of you should go to a friend's house at midnight and say, ‘Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. 
6 A friend of mine who is on a trip has just come to my house, and I don't have any food for him!’ 
7 And suppose your friend should answer from inside, ‘Don't bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.’ 
8 Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking. 
9 And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. 
10 For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. 
11 Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish? 
12 Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? 
13 As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”