To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Commentary on the Gospel for Friday, October 18, 2024
The splendor of your kingdom
Some translations of today’s responsorial psalm say: Your friends express the glory of your kingdom. Although the words are not the same in all translations, the meaning is the same. The function of friends (strong friends of God and prophets spoken of in the book of Isaiah) is to manifest the glory, that is, the presence and light of God. It is said that when a child was once asked who the saints were, looking at the stained glass windows of a cathedral, he replied: «The saints are those who let the light pass through. Saints are those who do not obscure the presence of Christ with their lives or with their anti-witnesses.
Luke was one of these saints. Throughout his Gospel, he lets in the light of the joy and mercy of the Good News of Christ.
But not that everything is a bed of roses. The Gospel, which again recounts the sending of the 72 two by two, warns that such a sending is «like lambs in the midst of wolves». They are sent into a hostile world…perhaps no more hostile than the one that surrounds us today, to sow mercy but to let in the light of truth. They are sent to heal all that is sick and crooked. And that is what we are called to do today: to be saints by letting the light shine through in a world that seems to give us a new slap in the face every day with ugliness, lies, darkness and corruption. And there, like lambs or like stained glass, we must let the light pass through. And this letting the light pass means to give peace wherever we go (desire peace in the house); to procure justice (the worker has the right to his wages); to proclaim the kingdom, which is salvation. All this is to express the glory of the Kingdom, which is the mission of the friends of God, of all the saints, of whom all Christians should be.