Saturday, October 22, 2011 {St. Peter of Alcantara, Priest (Optional Memorial)}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
We ought to deal kindly with all, and to manifest those qualities which spring naturally from a heart tender and full of Christian charity; such as affability, love and humility. These virtues serve wonderfully to gain the hearts of men, and to encourage them to embrace things that are more repugnant to nature.
 -- St Vincent de Paul

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Romans 8:1-11
1  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 
2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. 
3  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

4  in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 
5  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 
6  To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 
7  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot; 
8  and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 
9  But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 
10  But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. 
11  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you. 
Psalms: Psalm 24:1-6
1  The earth is the LORD's and the fulness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein; 
2  for he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers. 
3  Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? 
4  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully. 
5  He will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of his salvation. 
6  Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. [Selah] 
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9
1  There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 
2  And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? 
3  I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 
4  Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo'am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? 
5  I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." 
6  And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 
7  And he said to the vinedresser, `Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?' 
8  And he answered him, `Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. 
9  And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"