TWENTY-SIXTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Saturday

Year I

Readings

First Reading
Bar 4:5–12, 27–29

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 69:33–35, 36–37

Gospel
Lk 10:17–24

Meditation on Today’s Readings

Taken from the Vatican II Sunday and Weekday Missal
Written by Celia Sirois

Each of today’s readings promises a happy ending. The passage from Baruch depicts the city of Jerusalem as a widow bereft of her children, who have been taken into exile because of their sins. Framing her lament are the prophet’s words of reassurance: “Fear not,” he tells the people, “for he who has brought disaster upon you will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.” The Book of Job also ends on a happy note in the other first reading for today. Once bereft of his children like Jerusalem, Job is given back in his last days the joy of his earlier ones, and more.

The return of the seventy-two disciples, after their first foray into the mission field, fills Jesus with joy in today’s Gospel. He rejoices in God’s victory over Satan and in the part his own disciples have played in it. The joy of Jesus here is agalliasis, that is, joy that originates, not in the self, but in the Spirit. It is grateful praise, the enduring joy that God evokes in saving us.

The copyright for the Sunday Missal Introductions is:
Copyright (c) 2001, Daughters of St. Paul
The copyright for the Weekday Missal Introduction is:
Copyright (c) 2002, Daughters of St. Paul