A reading from the Letter to the Ephesians
2:19-22
Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
From the Gospel according to Luke
6:12-16
Jesus went up to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew,
Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
A text by St Augustine offers us the key to interpreting Christ’s miracles as signs of his saving power: “His becoming man for us has benefited our salvation far more than the miracles He performed among us; and it is more important than His healing the diseases of the body destined to die” (St Augustine, In Io. Ev. Tr., 17, 1). In order to bring about this salvation of the soul and the redemption of the whole world, Jesus also performed miracles of a physical nature. (…) Through the ‘miracles, wonders and signs’ He performed, Jesus Christ manifested His power to save man from the evil that threatens the immortal soul and its vocation to union with God. (…)
Jesus clearly reveals His mission to free humanity from evil and, above all, from sin, which is spiritual evil. It is a mission that involves and explains His struggle with the evil spirit, who is the primary author of evil in human history. As we read in the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly declares that this is the meaning of His work and that of His apostles. (…) After appointing the Twelve, Jesus sends them out “to preach and to have authority to drive out demons” (Mk 3:14-15). According to Luke, the seventy-two disciples, after returning from their first mission, also report to Jesus: “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name” (Lk 10:17). Thus [we read] in Luke: “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on every power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Lk 10:18-19). And according to Mark, after appointing the Twelve, Jesus sent them “to preach and to have authority to cast out demons” (Mk 3:14-15). (…)
Part of this power, and part of the mission of the Saviour of the world manifested by “miracles, wonders and signs”, is also the victory over death, the dramatic consequence of sin. (…) Yes, all the “miracles, wonders and signs” of Christ serve to reveal Him as the Messiah, as the Son of God: as the one who alone has the power to free man from sin and death. As the one who truly is the Saviour of the world. (St. John Paul II, General Audience, 25 November 1987)
Gospel and Word of the Day – 28 October 2025 –
A reading from the Letter to the Ephesians
2:19-22
Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
From the Gospel according to Luke
6:12-16
Jesus went up to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew,
Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
A text by St Augustine offers us the key to interpreting Christ’s miracles as signs of his saving power: “His becoming man for us has benefited our salvation far more than the miracles He performed among us; and it is more important than His healing the diseases of the body destined to die” (St Augustine, In Io. Ev. Tr., 17, 1). In order to bring about this salvation of the soul and the redemption of the whole world, Jesus also performed miracles of a physical nature. (…) Through the ‘miracles, wonders and signs’ He performed, Jesus Christ manifested His power to save man from the evil that threatens the immortal soul and its vocation to union with God. (…)
Jesus clearly reveals His mission to free humanity from evil and, above all, from sin, which is spiritual evil. It is a mission that involves and explains His struggle with the evil spirit, who is the primary author of evil in human history. As we read in the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly declares that this is the meaning of His work and that of His apostles. (…) After appointing the Twelve, Jesus sends them out “to preach and to have authority to drive out demons” (Mk 3:14-15). According to Luke, the seventy-two disciples, after returning from their first mission, also report to Jesus: “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name” (Lk 10:17). Thus [we read] in Luke: “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on every power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Lk 10:18-19). And according to Mark, after appointing the Twelve, Jesus sent them “to preach and to have authority to cast out demons” (Mk 3:14-15). (…)
Part of this power, and part of the mission of the Saviour of the world manifested by “miracles, wonders and signs”, is also the victory over death, the dramatic consequence of sin. (…) Yes, all the “miracles, wonders and signs” of Christ serve to reveal Him as the Messiah, as the Son of God: as the one who alone has the power to free man from sin and death. As the one who truly is the Saviour of the world. (St. John Paul II, General Audience, 25 November 1987)
A reading from the Letter to the Ephesians
2:19-22
Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
From the Gospel according to Luke
6:12-16
Jesus went up to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew,
Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
A text by St Augustine offers us the key to interpreting Christ’s miracles as signs of his saving power: “His becoming man for us has benefited our salvation far more than the miracles He performed among us; and it is more important than His healing the diseases of the body destined to die” (St Augustine, In Io. Ev. Tr., 17, 1). In order to bring about this salvation of the soul and the redemption of the whole world, Jesus also performed miracles of a physical nature. (…) Through the ‘miracles, wonders and signs’ He performed, Jesus Christ manifested His power to save man from the evil that threatens the immortal soul and its vocation to union with God. (…)
Jesus clearly reveals His mission to free humanity from evil and, above all, from sin, which is spiritual evil. It is a mission that involves and explains His struggle with the evil spirit, who is the primary author of evil in human history. As we read in the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly declares that this is the meaning of His work and that of His apostles. (…) After appointing the Twelve, Jesus sends them out “to preach and to have authority to drive out demons” (Mk 3:14-15). According to Luke, the seventy-two disciples, after returning from their first mission, also report to Jesus: “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name” (Lk 10:17). Thus [we read] in Luke: “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on every power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Lk 10:18-19). And according to Mark, after appointing the Twelve, Jesus sent them “to preach and to have authority to cast out demons” (Mk 3:14-15). (…)
Part of this power, and part of the mission of the Saviour of the world manifested by “miracles, wonders and signs”, is also the victory over death, the dramatic consequence of sin. (…) Yes, all the “miracles, wonders and signs” of Christ serve to reveal Him as the Messiah, as the Son of God: as the one who alone has the power to free man from sin and death. As the one who truly is the Saviour of the world. (St. John Paul II, General Audience, 25 November 1987)