Happy will you be if you are insulted because of Jesus, / for the Spirit of God rests upon you***

First Reading: Romans 13:8-10

Reading of Saint Paul's letter to the Romans - Brothers, 8do not owe anyone anything, except mutual love - for whoever loves his neighbor is fulfilling the Law. 9In fact, the commandments: “You shall not commit adultery”, “You shall not kill ”, “You shall not steal”, “You shall not covet” and any other commandment are summed up in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. 10Love does no harm to another. Therefore, love is the perfect fulfillment of the Law. – Word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm: 111(112)

Happy is he who has mercy and lends!

1. Happy is the man who respects the Lord / and who loves his law dearly! / His offspring will be strong on the earth, / blessed is the generation of upright men! – R.

2. He is righteous, generous and compassionate, / as a light shines in the darkness for the righteous. / Happy is the charitable and helpful man, / who resolves his affairs with justice. – R.

3. He distributes his goods to the poor, † the good he has done remains forever, / and his glory and power will increase. – R.

Gospel: Luke 14,25-33

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

Happy will you be if you are insulted because of Jesus, / for the Spirit of God rests upon you (1Pt 4,14). – R.

Proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Luke – At that time, 25 large crowds accompanied Jesus. Turning, he said to them, 26“If anyone comes to me but does not detach himself from his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. . 27Whoever does not carry his cross and walks behind me cannot be my disciple. 28Indeed, which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the costs, to see if he has enough to finish it? Otherwise, 29he will lay the foundation and will not be able to finish it. And everyone who sees this will begin to scoff, saying: 30'This man began to build and was not able to finish!' 31Or again, what king, when he goes out to fight with another, does not first sit down and examine whether , with ten thousand men, will he be able to face the other who marches against him with twenty thousand? 32If he sees that he cannot, while the other king is still far away, he sends messengers to negotiate terms of peace. 33In the same way, therefore, any one of you, unless he renounces everything he has, cannot be my disciple!” – Word of salvation.

Reflection:

Jesus demands total availability from anyone who wants to follow him. It's not about spending a few hours with the Master to hear an interesting talk from him; nor does it consist of attending a spectacular healing session, capable of arousing the admiration of spectators or leaving them awestruck. Following Jesus involves abandoning all security, represented by family and life itself, that is, by a lifestyle that involves the administration of goods, often linked to the practice of injustice. Therefore, what is required of the disciple is his total availability to follow him to death for the sake of justice. At no point does Jesus say that this choice is easy. Therefore, he recommends, through the two parables, that the correct calculations be made before making the decision to follow him.