November
6, 2015
Friday
of the Thirty-first week in Ordinary Time
Saint of the day : Saint Leonard (c.550)
14I myself am convinced about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of
goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another.[1][2]
15But I have written to you rather boldly in some respects to remind you, because
of the grace given me by God 16to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in performing the priestly
service of the gospel of God, so that the offering up of the Gentiles may be
acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast in what pertains to God. 18For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished
through me to lead the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, 19by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit (of God), so that
from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum I have finished preaching the
gospel of Christ.[3]
20Thus I aspire to proclaim the gospel not where Christ has already been named,
so that I do not build on another's foundation,[4] 21but as it is written: "Those who have never been told of him shall see,
and those who have never heard of him shall understand."[5]
1Sing
a new song to the LORD, for he has done marvelous deeds. His right hand and
holy arm have won the victory. 2The LORD has made His victory known; has
revealed His triumph in the sight of the nations, 3He has remembered His mercy
and faithfulness toward the house of Israel.
All
the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God. 4Shout with joy to
the LORD, all the earth; break into song; sing praise.
1Then He also said to His disciples, "A rich man had a steward who was
reported to him for squandering his property.[6] 2He summoned him and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full
account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.'
3The steward said to himself, 'What shall I do, now that my master is taking the
position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am
ashamed to beg. 4I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they
may welcome me into their homes.'
5He called in his master's debtors one by one. To the first he said, 'How much
do you owe my master?' 6
He replied, 'One hundred measures of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Here is
your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.'[7]
7Then to another he said, 'And you, how much do you owe?' He replied, 'One
hundred kors of wheat.' He said to him, 'Here is your promissory note; write
one for eighty.'[8]
8And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. "For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own
generation than are the children of light.
Notes on Readings
[1]
Romans 15:14-33 - Paul sees himself
as apostle and benefactor in the priestly service of the gospel and so sketches
plans for a mission in Spain, supported by those in Rome.
[2]
Romans 15:14 - Full of goodness: the
opposite of what humanity was filled with according to Romans 1:29-30.
[3] Romans 15:19 - Illyricum:
Roman province northwest of Greece on the eastern shore of the Adriatic.
[4]
Romans 15:20 I aspire: Paul uses
terminology customarily applied to philanthropists. Unlike some philanthropists
of his time, Paul does not engage in cheap competition for public acclaim. This
explanation of his missionary policy is to assure the Christians in Rome that
he is also not planning to remain in that city and build on other people's
foundations (compare with 2 Corinthians 10:12-18) . However, he does solicit their help in sending him on
his way to Spain, which was considered the limit of the western world. Thus
Paul's addressees realize that evangelization may be understood in the broader
sense of mission or, as in Romans 1:15, of instruction within the Christian community that
derives from the gospel.
[5] Romans 15:21 - The citation from Isaiah 52:15 concerns the Servant of the Lord. According to Isaiah, the Servant is first of
all Israel, which was to bring the knowledge of Yahweh to the nations. In
Romans 9-11 Paul showed how Israel failed in this mission. Therefore, he
himself undertakes almost singlehandedly Israel's responsibility as the Servant
and moves as quickly as possible with the gospel through the Roman empire.
[6]
Luke 16:1-8a - The parable of the
dishonest steward has to be understood in the light of the Palestinian custom
of agents acting on behalf of their masters and the usurious practices common
to such agents. The dishonesty of the steward consisted in the squandering of
his master's property (Luke 16:1) and not in any subsequent graft. The master commends the
dishonest steward who has forgone his own usurious commission on the business
transaction by having the debtors write new notes that reflected only the real
amount owed the master (minus the steward's profit, that is). The dishonest
steward acts in this way in order to ingratiate himself with the debtors
because he knows he is being dismissed from his position (Luke 16:3). The parable, then, teaches the prudent use of one's
material goods in light of an imminent crisis.
[7]
Luke 16:6 - One hundred measures: literally, "one hundred baths." A
bath is a Hebrew unit of liquid measurement equivalent to eight or nine
gallons.
[8] Luke 16:7 - One
hundred kors: a kor is a Hebrew unit of dry measure for grain or wheat
equivalent to ten or twelve bushels.
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Dear Humanity,
I personally encourage everyone to emulate JESUS' values on LOVE, FAITH, HOPE
and CHARITY, as the humanity has been a failure; which resulted to the more than two (2) years of pandemic and its after-effects on economy, not only here in the Philippines but worldwide.
And the saddest part of it, is that, it affected the POOREST of the POOR to even extremely be more poorer, in exchange of the affluent to be more richer.
Thank you and may GOD bless you and the whole family to have an enjoyed life's journey at home, Church, schools/universities, corporate commitments, public and places of interest.