Daily Reflection – Oct 29, 2017
Sunday 29 October 2017
First Reading: EX 22:20-26
Responsorial Psalm:
I love you, Lord, my strength.
PS 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
Second Reading: 1 THES 1:5C-10
Gospel Reading: MT 22:34-40
Today’s Note: Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel Reading:
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Reflection:
You shall not . . . oppress an alien. (Exodus 22:20)
From Pope Francis’ address for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, August 5, 2013:
“Not infrequently, the arrival of migrants, displaced persons, asylum-seekers and refugees gives rise to suspicion and hostility. There is a fear that society will become less secure, that identity and culture will be lost, that competition for jobs will become stiffer and even that criminal activity will increase. . . .
“A change of attitude towards migrants and refugees is needed on the part of everyone, moving away from attitudes of defensiveness and fear, indifference and marginalization—all typical of a throwaway culture—towards attitudes based on a culture of encounter, the only culture capable of building a better, more just and fraternal world. . . .
“Every human being is a child of God! He or she bears the image of Christ! We ourselves need to see, and then to enable others to see, that migrants and refugees do not only represent a problem to be solved, but are brothers and sisters to be welcomed, respected and loved. They are an occasion that Providence gives us to help build a more just society, . . . a more fraternal world, and a more open and evangelical Christian community.
“Migration can offer possibilities for a new evangelization, open vistas for the growth of a new humanity foreshadowed in the paschal mystery: a humanity for which every foreign country is a homeland, and every homeland is a foreign country.”
We are all children of God. So let’s pray for every marginalized and displaced person who is searching for a more secure future. May God protect them from all the dangers that surround them!
“Thank you, Lord, for hearing the cry of the poor, the refugee, and the outsider!”
