By Fr. Andrew Kelly
TWENTY SEVENTH SUNDAY ORDINAL TIME – OCTOBER 6, 2013
Believing communities are all about service. Each individual believer is called to serve in some capacity. In Luke’s Gospel disciples are often called simply slaves and servants of their master, Jesus Christ.
The servant/slave model comes directly from Jesus’ words and deeds. The attitude Jesus expected is expressed in Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 17:5-10): “So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”
The life of service Jesus expects is often a thankless task. This is where prayer life and spirituality comes into play. In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus’ disciples were both amazed and frustrated by Jesus demands. They ask: “Increase our faith!”
Jesus replied: “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”
Faith trusts God’s limitless power. If someone is open and receptive to the presence of this power, the impossible becomes possible. Believers are transformed into servants/slaves of service toward one another who are deeply satisfied knowing “we have done only what we ought to have done!”
(Father Andrew Kelly is a retired priest of the Diocese of Davenport.)
Scripture Readings for Oct. 6-13
Sunday
Hb 1:2-3; 2:2-4
2 Tm 1:6-8, 13-14
Lk 17:5-10
Monday
Jon 1:1–2:1-2, 11
Lk 10:25-37
Tuesday
Jon 3:1-10
Lk 10:38-42
Wednesday
Jon 4:1-11
Lk 11:1-4
Thursday
Mal 3:13-20b
Lk 11:5-13
Friday
Jl 1:13-15; 2:1-2
Lk 11:15-26
Saturday
Jl 4:12-21
Lk 11:27-28
Sunday
2 Kgs 5:14-17
2 Tm 2:8-13
Lk 17:11-19
