Friday 14 th october 2022

Pope St. Callistus I

(- 222)

From a weakened ex-slave in receipt of an invalidity pension, Callistus rose to be archdeacon, had charge of the Roman catacomb which now bears his name, and ended up as Pope. He lived in a time of peace under the emperor Alexander Severus, whose mother was a Christian, He may have been killed in a riot.

Entrance Antiphon : Ps 129: 3-4

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But with you is found forgiveness, O God of Israel.

Collect

May your grace, O Lord, we pray, at all times go before us and follow after and make us always determined to carry out good works. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

First reading : Ephesians 1:11-14

It is in Christ that we were claimed as God’s own, chosen from the beginning, under the predetermined plan of the one who guides all things as he decides by his own will; chosen to be, for his greater glory, the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came. Now you too, in him, have heard the message of the truth and the Good News of your salvation, and have believed it; and you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise, the pledge of our inheritance which brings freedom for those whom God has taken for his own, to make his glory praised.

Psalm 32:1-2,4-5,12-13

R/ Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

1. Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just; for praise is fitting for loyal hearts. Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp, with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.
2. For the word of the Lord is faithful and all his works to be trusted. The Lord loves justice and right and fills the earth with his love.
3. They are happy, whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own. From the heavens the Lord looks forth, he sees all the children of men. Ring out your joy, all you upright of heart.

Gospel Acclamation : cf.Ps18:9

Alleluia, alleluia! Your words gladden the heart, O Lord, they give light to the eyes. Alleluia!

Gospel : Luke 12:1-7

The people had gathered in their thousands so that they were treading on one another. And Jesus began to speak, first of all to his disciples. ‘Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees – that is, their hypocrisy. Everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaimed on the housetops. ‘To you my friends I say: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. I will tell you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one is forgotten in God’s sight. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.’

Prayer over the Offerings

Accept, O Lord, the prayers of your faithful with the sacrificial offerings, that, through these acts of devotedness, we may pass over to the glory of heaven. Through Christ our Lord.

Communion Antiphon : Cf. Ps 33: 11

The rich suffer want and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no blessing.

Prayer after Communion

We entreat your majesty most humbly, O Lord, that, as you feed us with the nourishment which comes from the most holy Body and Blood of your Son, so you may make us sharers of his divine nature. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Meditation

In Today’s gospel, Jesus once again reproaches the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. The Jews considered leaven as a sign of evil and associated fermentation with putrefaction. Jesus warns His disciples against the ways of the Jews who publicly project themselves to be religious but harbour evil intentions. They are full of pretence but the Good News exposes the darkness of evil. The fear that Jesus talks about today is not that which pushes us to panic but that which motivates us to undertake actions that will increase our faith and spiritual maturity- healthy fear, that is. Jesus also lets us know that the greatest harm is not bodily or physical, but spiritual harm that can cause us to lose our soul.