Reading 1, Romans 6:12-18
12 That is why you must not allow
sin to reign over your mortal bodies and make you obey their desires;
13 or give any parts of your bodies over to
sin to be used as instruments of evil. Instead, give yourselves to God, as people brought to
life from the dead, and give every part of your bodies to
God to be instruments of uprightness;
14 and then
sin will no longer have any power over you -- you are living not under law, but under grace.
15 What is the implication? That we are free to sin, now that we are not under
law but under grace? Out of the question!
16
You know well that if you undertake to be somebody's slave and obey
him, you are the slave of him you obey: you can be the slave either of
sin which leads to death, or of
obedience which leads to saving justice.
17 Once you were
slaves of sin, but thank
God you have given whole-hearted
obedience to the pattern of teaching to which you were introduced;
18 and so, being freed from serving sin, you took uprightness as your master.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 124:1-3, 4-6, 7-8
1 [Song of Ascents Of David] If
Yahweh had not been on our side -- let Israel repeat it-
2 if
Yahweh had not been on our side when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive in the heat of their anger.
4 Then water was washing us away, a torrent running
right over us;
5 running
right over us then were turbulent waters.
6 Blessed be
Yahweh for not letting us fall a prey to their teeth!
7 We escaped like a bird from the fowlers' net. The net was broken and we escaped;
8 our help is in the name of Yahweh, who made
heaven and earth.
Gospel, Luke 12:39-48
39 You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what
time the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house.
40 You too must stand ready, because the Son of
man is coming at an hour you do not expect.'
41 Peter said, 'Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?'
42 The
Lord replied, 'Who, then, is the wise and trustworthy steward whom the master
will place over his household to give them at the proper
time their allowance of food?
43 Blessed that servant if his master's arrival finds him doing exactly that.
44 I tell you truly, he
will put him in charge of everything that he owns.
45 But if the servant says to himself, "My master is taking his
time coming," and sets about beating the menservants and the servant-girls, and eating and drinking and getting drunk,
46 his master
will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master
will cut him off and send him to the same
fate as the unfaithful.
47 'The servant who knows what his master wants, but has got nothing ready and done nothing in accord with those wishes,
will be given a great many strokes of the lash.
48 The one who did not know, but has acted in such a way that he deserves a beating,
will be given fewer strokes. When someone is given a great deal, a great deal
will be demanded of that person; when someone is entrusted with a great deal, of that
person even more will be expected