A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans
11:29-36
Brothers and sisters:
The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy
because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy.
For God delivered all to disobedience,
that he might have mercy upon all.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given him anything
that he may be repaid?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To God be glory forever. Amen.
From the Gospel according to Luke
14:12-14
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
If one does not understand the gratuity of God’s invitation, then one understands nothing. God’s invitation is “always free”, thus posing the question: “In order to go to this banquet what should one pay?”. The entrance ticket is to be sick, to be poor, to be a sinner, that is, we must be in need, both in body and in soul. To be in need of care, healing, and love.
And I, who am a practising Catholic, I go to mass every Sunday, I carry out my duties, and to me, nothing? The fact is that “he does not understand the gratuity of salvation; he thinks that salvation is the fruit of ‘I pay and you save me’”. Rather, “salvation is free, if you do not enter into such a dynamic of gratuity you will not understand anything”. Salvation, “is a gift from God to which I respond with another gift, the gift of my heart”. (…) They feel safe, they feel secure, they feel saved in their own way, outside of the banquet”, for “they have lost the meaning of gratuity; they have lost the meaning of love and they have lost a greater and more beautiful thing”, namely, “the capacity to feel themselves loved”, which leaves “no hope”; when you no longer feel loved, “you have lost everything”. (…) “we implore the Lord to save us from losing the capacity to feel loved”. (Pope Francis, Santa Marta, 7 November 2017)
Gospel and Word of the Day – 03 November 2025 –
A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans
11:29-36
Brothers and sisters:
The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy
because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy.
For God delivered all to disobedience,
that he might have mercy upon all.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given him anything
that he may be repaid?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To God be glory forever. Amen.
From the Gospel according to Luke
14:12-14
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
If one does not understand the gratuity of God’s invitation, then one understands nothing. God’s invitation is “always free”, thus posing the question: “In order to go to this banquet what should one pay?”. The entrance ticket is to be sick, to be poor, to be a sinner, that is, we must be in need, both in body and in soul. To be in need of care, healing, and love.
And I, who am a practising Catholic, I go to mass every Sunday, I carry out my duties, and to me, nothing? The fact is that “he does not understand the gratuity of salvation; he thinks that salvation is the fruit of ‘I pay and you save me’”. Rather, “salvation is free, if you do not enter into such a dynamic of gratuity you will not understand anything”. Salvation, “is a gift from God to which I respond with another gift, the gift of my heart”. (…) They feel safe, they feel secure, they feel saved in their own way, outside of the banquet”, for “they have lost the meaning of gratuity; they have lost the meaning of love and they have lost a greater and more beautiful thing”, namely, “the capacity to feel themselves loved”, which leaves “no hope”; when you no longer feel loved, “you have lost everything”. (…) “we implore the Lord to save us from losing the capacity to feel loved”. (Pope Francis, Santa Marta, 7 November 2017)
A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans
11:29-36
Brothers and sisters:
The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy
because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy.
For God delivered all to disobedience,
that he might have mercy upon all.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given him anything
that he may be repaid?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To God be glory forever. Amen.
From the Gospel according to Luke
14:12-14
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
If one does not understand the gratuity of God’s invitation, then one understands nothing. God’s invitation is “always free”, thus posing the question: “In order to go to this banquet what should one pay?”. The entrance ticket is to be sick, to be poor, to be a sinner, that is, we must be in need, both in body and in soul. To be in need of care, healing, and love.
And I, who am a practising Catholic, I go to mass every Sunday, I carry out my duties, and to me, nothing? The fact is that “he does not understand the gratuity of salvation; he thinks that salvation is the fruit of ‘I pay and you save me’”. Rather, “salvation is free, if you do not enter into such a dynamic of gratuity you will not understand anything”. Salvation, “is a gift from God to which I respond with another gift, the gift of my heart”. (…) They feel safe, they feel secure, they feel saved in their own way, outside of the banquet”, for “they have lost the meaning of gratuity; they have lost the meaning of love and they have lost a greater and more beautiful thing”, namely, “the capacity to feel themselves loved”, which leaves “no hope”; when you no longer feel loved, “you have lost everything”. (…) “we implore the Lord to save us from losing the capacity to feel loved”. (Pope Francis, Santa Marta, 7 November 2017)