9'And so I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, theywillwelcome you into eternal dwellings.
10Anyone who is trustworthy in little things is trustworthy in great; anyone who is dishonest in little things is dishonest in great.
11If then you are not trustworthy with money, that tainted thing, whowilltrust you with genuine riches?
12And if you are not trustworthy with what is not yours, whowillgive you what is your very own?
13'No servant can be the slave of two masters: hewilleither hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both ofGodand of money.'
14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and jeered at him.
15He said to them, 'You are the very ones who pass yourselves off as upright in people's sight, butGodknows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed in human eyes is loathsome in the sight of God.
November 12th, 2016 Gospel,Luke 18:1-8
1Then he told them a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart.2'There was a judge in a certain town,' he said, 'who had neither fear ofGodnor respect for anyone.
3In the same town there was also awidowwho kept on coming to him and saying, "I wantjusticefrom you against my enemy!"
4For a longtimehe refused, but at last he said to himself, "Even though I have neither fear ofGodnor respect for any human person,
5I must give thiswidowher just rights since she keeps pestering me, or shewillcome and slap me in the face." '
6And theLordsaid, 'You notice what the unjust judge has to say?
7Now,willnotGodseejusticedone to hiselectif they keep calling to him day and night even though he still delays to help them?
8I promise you, hewillseejusticedone to them, and done speedily. But when the Son ofmancomes,willhe find anyfaithon earth?'
November 19th, 2016 Gospel,Luke 20:27-40
27SomeSadducees-- those who argue that there is no resurrection -- approached him and they put this question to him,28'Master,Mosesprescribed for us, if a man's married brother dies childless, themanmust marry thewidowto raise upchildrenfor his brother.
29Well then, there were seven brothers; the first, having married a wife, died childless.
30The second
31and then the third married the widow. And the same with all seven, they died leaving no children.
32Finally thewomanherself died.
33Now, at the resurrection, whose wifewillshe be, since she had been married to all seven?'
34Jesus replied, 'Thechildrenof this world take wives and husbands,
35but those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world and in the resurrection from the dead do not marry
36because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and beingchildrenof the resurrection they arechildrenof God.
37AndMoseshimself implies that the dead rise again, in the passage about the bush where he calls theLordtheGodof Abraham, theGodofIsaacand theGodof Jacob.
38Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him everyone is alive.'
39Somescribesthen spoke up. They said, 'Well put, Master.'
40They did not dare to ask him any more questions.
November 27th, 2016 Gospel,Luke 21:34-36
34'Watch yourselves, or your heartswillbe coarsened by debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that daywillcome upon you unexpectedly,35like a trap. For itwillcome down on all those living on the face of the earth.
36Stay awake, praying at all times for thestrengthto survive all that is going to happen, and to hold your ground before the Son of man.'
December 3rd, 2016 Gospel,Matthew 9:35--10:1, 6-8
35Jesus made a tour through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming thegoodnews of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and all kinds of illness.36And when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.
37Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask theLordof the harvest to send out labourers to his harvest.'
1He summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to drive them out and to cure all kinds of disease and all kinds of illness.
6go instead to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
7And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom ofHeavenis close at hand.
8Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those suffering from virulent skin-diseases, drive out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.
December 10th, 2016 Gospel,Matthew 17:10-13
10And the disciples put this question to him, 'Why then do thescribessay thatElijahmust come first?'11He replied, 'Elijah is indeed coming, and hewillset everythingrightagain;
12however, I tell you thatElijahhas come already and they did not recognise him but treated him as they pleased; and the Son ofmanwillsuffer similarly at their hands.'
13Then the disciples understood that he was speaking ofJohnthe Baptist.
December 17th, 2016 Gospel,Matthew 1:1-17
1Roll of the genealogy ofJesusChrist, son of David, son of Abraham:2Abraham fathered Isaac,Isaacfathered Jacob,Jacobfathered Judah and his brothers,
3Judah fathered Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram,
4Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon,
5Salmon fathered Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse;
6and Jesse fathered King David. David fathered Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife,
7Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asa,
8Asa fathered Jehoshaphat,Jehoshaphatfathered Joram, Joram fathered Uzziah,
9Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, Ahaz fathered Hezekiah,
10Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, Amon fathered Josiah;
11and Josiah fathered Jechoniah and his brothers. Then the deportation to Babylon took place.
12After the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah fathered Shealtiel, Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel,
13Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, Abiud fathered Eliakim, Eliakim fathered Azor,
14Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, Achim fathered Eliud,
15Eliud fathered Eleazar,Eleazarfathered Matthan, Matthan fathered Jacob;
16andJacobfatheredJosephthe husband of Mary; of her was bornJesuswho is called Christ.
17The sum of generations is therefore: fourteen fromAbrahamto David; fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ.
December 24th, 2016 Gospel,Luke 1:67-79
67His fatherZechariahwas filled with theHoly Spiritand spoke this prophecy:68Blessed be the Lord, theGodof Israel, for he has visited his people, he has set them free,
69and he has established for us a saving power in the House of his servant David,
70just as he proclaimed, by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient times,
71that he would save us from our enemies and from the hands of all those who hate us,
72and show faithful love to our ancestors, and so keep inmindhis holy covenant.
73This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham,
74that he would grant us, free from fear, to be delivered from the hands of our enemies,
75to serve him inholinessand uprightness in his presence, all our days.
76And you, little child, you shall be calledProphetof the Most High, for youwillgo before theLordto prepare a way for him,
77to give his peopleknowledgeofsalvationthrough the forgiveness of their sins,
78because of the faithful love of ourGodin which the rising Sun has come from on high to visit us,
79to give light to those who live in darkness and the shadow dark as death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
December 31st, 2016 Gospel,John 1:1-18
1In the beginning was the Word: the Word was withGodand the Word was God.2He was withGodin the beginning.
3Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him.
4What has come into being in him was life,lifethat was the light of men;
5and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it.
6Amancame, sent by God. His name was John.
7He came as a witness, to bearwitnessto the light, so that everyone might believe through him.
8He was not the light, he was to bearwitnessto the light.
9The Word was the real light that gives light to everyone; he was coming into the world.
10He was in the world that had come into being through him, and the world did not recognise him.
11He came to his own and his own people did not accept him.
12But to those who did accept him he gave power to becomechildrenof God, to those who believed in his name
13who were born not from human stock or human desire or humanwillbut fromGodhimself.
14The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, theglorythat he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full ofgraceand truth.
15John witnesses to him. He proclaims: 'This is the one of whom I said: He who comes after me has passed ahead of me because he existed before me.'
16Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received -- one gift replacing another,
17for theLawwas given through Moses,graceandtruthhave come throughJesusChrist.
18No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.