Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings xx-November-2022

Universalis/Jerusalem Bible ^

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8 November 2022

Tuesday of week 32 in Ordinary Time



Father Grisolano Celebrates the Feast of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, St. Elizabeth of The Trinity Church, Chicago

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(II).

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First reading

Titus 2:1-8,11-14 ©

You must preach the behaviour which goes with healthy doctrine

It is for you to preach the behaviour which goes with healthy doctrine. The older men should be reserved, dignified, moderate, sound in faith and love and constancy. Similarly, the older women should behave as though they were religious, with no scandal-mongering and no habitual wine-drinking – they are to be the teachers of the right behaviour and show the younger women how they should love their husbands and love their children, how they are to be sensible and chaste, and how to work in their homes, and be gentle, and do as their husbands tell them, so that the message of God is never disgraced. In the same way, you have got to persuade the younger men to be moderate and in everything you do make yourself an example to them of working for good: when you are teaching, be an example to them in your sincerity and earnestness and in keeping all that you say so wholesome that nobody can make objections to it; and then any opponent will be at a loss, with no accusation to make against us. You see, God’s grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race and taught us that what we have to do is to give up everything that does not lead to God, and all our worldly ambitions; we must be self-restrained and live good and religious lives here in this present world, while we are waiting in hope for the blessing which will come with the Appearing of the glory of our great God and saviour Christ Jesus. He sacrificed himself for us in order to set us free from all wickedness and to purify a people so that it could be his very own and would have no ambition except to do good.

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Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 36(37):3-4,18,23,27,29 ©

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

If you trust in the Lord and do good,

  then you will live in the land and be secure.

If you find your delight in the Lord,

  he will grant your heart’s desire.

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

He protects the lives of the upright,

  their heritage will last for ever.

The Lord guides the steps of a man

  and makes safe the path of one he loves.

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Then turn away from evil and do good

  and you shall have a home for ever;

The just shall inherit the land;

  there they shall live for ever.

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

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Gospel Acclamation	Mt4:4

Alleluia, alleluia!

Man does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Alleluia!

Or:	Jn14:23

Alleluia, alleluia!

If anyone loves me he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we shall come to him.

Alleluia!

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Gospel	Luke 17:7-10 ©

You are merely servants

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Which of you, with a servant ploughing or minding sheep, would say to him when he returned from the fields, “Come and have your meal immediately”? Would he not be more likely to say, “Get my supper laid; make yourself tidy and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink yourself afterwards”? Must he be grateful to the servant for doing what he was told? So with you: when you have done all you have been told to do, say, “We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty.”’

Christian Art

Each day, The Christian Art website gives a picture and reflection on the Gospel of the day.

The readings on this page are from the Jerusalem Bible, which is used at Mass in most of the English-speaking world. The New American Bible readings, which are used at Mass in the United States, are available in the Universalis apps, programs and downloads.

You can also view this page with the Gospel in Greek and English.

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For your reading, reflection, faith-sharing, comments, questions, discussion.

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KEYWORDS: catholic; lk17; ordinarytime; prayer;

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Alleluia Ping

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Jim still needs our prayers. Thread 2
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Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 17
7.	But which of you having a servant ploughing, or feeding cattle, will say to him, when he is come from the field: Immediately go, sit down to meat:	Quis autem vestrum habens servum arantem aut pascentem, qui regresso de agro dicat illi : Statim transi, recumbe :	τις δε εξ υμων δουλον εχων αροτριωντα η ποιμαινοντα ος εισελθοντι εκ του αγρου ερει ευθεως παρελθων αναπεσε
8.	And will not rather say to him: Make ready my supper, and gird thyself, and serve me, whilst I eat and drink, and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink?	et non dicat ei : Para quod cœnem, et præcinge te, et ministra mihi donec manducem, et bibam, et post hæc tu manducabis, et bibes ?	αλλ ουχι ερει αυτω ετοιμασον τι δειπνησω και περιζωσαμενος διακονει μοι εως φαγω και πιω και μετα ταυτα φαγεσαι και πιεσαι συ
9.	Doth he thank that servant, for doing the things which he commanded him?	Numquid gratiam habet servo illi, quia fecit quæ ei imperaverat ?	μη χαριν εχει τω δουλω εκεινω οτι εποιησεν τα διαταχθεντα ου δοκω
10.	I think not. So you also, when you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which we ought to do.	non puto. Sic et vos cum feceritis omnia quæ præcepta sunt vobis, dicite : Servi inutiles sumus : quod debuimus facere, fecimus.	ουτως και υμεις οταν ποιησητε παντα τα διαταχθεντα υμιν λεγετε οτι δουλοι αχρειοι εσμεν οτι ο οφειλομεν ποιησαι πεποιηκαμεν

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Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

17:7–10

7. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?

8. And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?

9. Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.

10. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

THEOPHYLACT. Because faith makes its possessor a keeper of God’s commandments, and adorns him with wonderful works; it would seem from thence that a man might thereby fall into the sin of pride. Our Lord therefore forewarned His Apostles by a fit example, not to boast themselves in their virtues, saying, But which of you having a servant plowing, &c.

AUGUSTINE. (de Quæst. Ev. l. 2. qu. 39.) Or else; To the many who understand not this faith in the truth already present, our Lord might seem not to have answered the petitions of His disciples. And there appears a difficulty in the connexion here, unless we suppose He meant the change from faith to faith, from that faith, namely, by which we serve God, to that whereby we enjoy Him. For then will our faith be increased when we first believe the word preached, next the reality present. But that joyful contemplation possesseth perfect peace, which is given unto us in the everlasting kingdom of God. And that perfect peace is the reward of those righteous labours, which are performed in the administration of the Church. Be then the servant in the field ploughing, or feeding, that is, in this life either following his worldly business, or serving foolish men, as it were cattle, he must after his labours return home, that is, be united to the Church.

BEDE. Or the servant departs from the field when giving up for a time his work of preaching, the teacher retires into his own conscience, pondering his own words or deeds within himself. To whom our Lord does not at once say, Go from this mortal life, and sit down to meat, that is, refresh thyself in the everlasting resting-place of a blessed life.

AMBROSE. For we know that no one sits down before he has first passed over. Moses indeed also passed over, that he might see a great sight. Since then thou not only sayest to thy servant, Sit down to meat, but requirest from him another service, so in this life the Lord does not put up with the performance of one work and labour, because as long as we live we ought always to work. Therefore it follows, And will not rather say, Make ready wherewith I may sup.

BEDE. He bids make ready wherewith he may sup, that is, after the labours of public discourse, He bids him humble himself in self-examination. With such a supper our Lord desires to be fed. But to gird one’s self is to collect the mind which has been enfolded in the base coil of fluctuating thoughts, whereby its steps in the cause of good works are wont to be entangled. For he who girds up his garments does so, that in walking he may not be tripped up. But to minister unto God, is to acknowledge that we have no strength without the help of His grace.

AUGUSTINE. (de Quæst. Ev. ubi sup.) While His servants also are ministering, that is, preaching the Gospel, our Lord is eating and drinking the faith and confession of the Gentiles. It follows, And afterward thou shall eat and drink. As if He says, After that I have been delighted with the work of thy preaching, and refreshed myself with the choice food of thy compunction, then at length shalt thou go, and feast thyself everlastingly with the eternal banquet of wisdom.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Our Lord teaches us that it is no more than the just and proper right of a master to require, as their bounden duty, subjection from servants, adding, Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. Here then is the disease of pride cut away. Why boastest thou thyself? Dost thou know that if thou payest not thy debt, danger is at hand, but if thou payest, thou doest nothing thankworthy? As St. Paul says, For though I preach the Gospel I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel. (1 Cor. 9:16.)

Observe then that they who have rule among us, do not thank their subjects, when they perform their appointed service, but by kindness gaining the affections of their people, breed in them a greater eagerness to serve them. So likewise God requires from us that we should wait upon Him as His servants, but because He is merciful, and of great goodness, He promises reward to them that work, and the greatness of His loving-kindness far exceeds the labours of His servants.

AMBROSE. Boast not thyself then that thou hast been a good servant. Thou hast done what thou oughtest to have done. The sun obeys, the moon submits herself, the angels are subject; let us not then seek praise from ourselves. Therefore He adds in conclusion, So likewise ye, when ye have done all good things, say, We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which it was our duty to do.

BEDE. Servants, I say, because bought with a price; (1 Cor. 6:20) unprofitable, for the Lord needeth not our good things, (Ps. 16:2) or because the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Rom. 8:18.) Herein then is the perfect faith of men, when having done all things which were commanded them, they acknowledge themselves to be imperfect.

Catena Aurea Luke 17

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Christ the Angel of the Great Council

No attribution, Byzantine

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The Fury and Glory of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

ELIZABETH SCALIA
NOVEMBER 8, 2018

“May my life be a continual prayer, a long act of love.”

Born in the Septaine district of France, she was the eldest of two daughters. Upon the sudden death of her father, the girls and their mother moved into to a second-story apartment that overlooked the Carmel of Dijon.

Her name was Elizabeth Catez, and her family’s fond nickname for her was not Lizzie or Beth, but Sabeth. In her childhood she was regarded as a brilliant pianist and a very good student, overall. She would have been a most delightful child, in fact, were it not for an instinctive stubbornness, a naturally noisy nature, and a fiery temper. Although she eventually became a Sister-in-Carmel to St. Thérèse of Lisieux, a comparison of their early biographies would never suggest it, because Sabeth was what one might kindly call a little ball of fury. So disruptive, obstreperous, and bossy was she—another nickname given her was “The Little Captain”—that her harassed mother declared her intention to send her daughter to a “School for Corrections” run by the Good Shepherd Sisters, and went so far as to pack her daughter’s bags with her own hands.

The threat worked. Elizabeth apologized and made sincere—and repeated—efforts to gain some control over her temper and her high spirits. She received her First Holy Communion at age eleven, and on that very day made her first visit to the Dijon Carmel, where the Prioress informed her that her Christian name meant “House of God.”

She was much struck by that information and resolved that the possession of so beautiful a name could not help but inspire her toward living a more godly and disciplined life. Since she had been named as a House of God, perhaps it was what she was meant to be, Elizabeth reasoned, and a House of God could have no standing with an agent of mischief and chaos in residence.

The idea helped. A little. Enough so that she began to think she might eventually be called to a life lived for Christ alone, perhaps even in Carmel. Still, her youthful spirituality lived uneasily with her nature, developing in fits and starts. After confessing one especially loud and extended temper tantrum to her parish priest, he declared that she would either die a saint or a demon—there could be no other possibilities.

“A soul united to Jesus is a living smile that radiates Him and gives Him.”

Heading into adolescence, Elizabeth decided to work for sainthood over the alternative, but she did it lightly. “By my nature, I am a coquette,” she once wrote for a school assignment. “I am by no means a model of patience, but I have learned to control myself, and I do not hold grudges.”

For a time, she lived as a bit of a coquette too. Elizabeth socialized, crafting lovely dresses, creating hair designs, and traveling with her family, all of which assuaged her mother’s deep fear that the cloister walls a mere 650 feet from their apartment would eventually seal her daughter away from her. So disapproving was Madame Catez of that notion that she begged Elizabeth to put aside all ideas of religious life, at least until her twenty-first birthday. After all, she reasoned, men of means and good character were offering marriage to Elizabeth. If she delayed her entry, perhaps one of them would reach her heart.

That would not happen. Even as she enjoyed parties and participated in musical galas, Elizabeth’s turn toward Carmel progressed. She began to practice contemplative prayer, which greatly helped to tamp down her temper, although her irrepressible nature would still break through. Consulting with a Carmelite chaplain as to whether she did in fact have a vocation, Elizabeth found herself tapping her toes, waiting for him to stop talking as his long-winded approval went on and on. “I just wanted him to confirm I was on the right track,” she groused.

Her mother watched as her daughter continued to meet with the prioress and spent a great deal of time at the parish giving lessons in the Catechism to children and adults. As her twenty-first birthday loomed, Elizabeth’s mother knew her defeat was coming.

“Prayer is a rest, a relaxation…We must look at him all the time; we must keep silent, it is so simple.”

When it came, Elizabeth—with courtesy and real compassion for her mother’s pain—insisted she be permitted to live the life she was called to; in August of 1901, two weeks after turning twenty-one, she claimed her birthday present, walking into Carmel with her mother and her sister and then bidding them a loving adieu as she passed into the cloister.

There Elizabeth, like Thérèse before her, burned through Carmel like a bottle rocket, riding twin fuses of suffering and abandonment to the divine will. She soared—too fast and too bright to remain behind monastic walls—disappearing into Christ as “Laudem Gloriae,” the praise of his glory.

She lived only five years after entering Carmel, succumbing to the ravages of Addison’s Disease at age twenty-six, but she clearly made the most of her time there, advancing in wisdom and becoming an astounding teacher of the ways of love through her published letters.

I’ve written elsewhere about Elizabeth of the Trinity teaching me how to pray with just seven words from Scripture: Lord, the one you love is sick…

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wordonfire.org

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[fidelis]

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

From: Titus 2:1-8, 11-14

Duties of Christians in Different Situations
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[1] But as for you, teach what befits sound doctrine. [2] Bid the older men be temperate, serious, sensible, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. [3] Bid the older women likewise to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good, [4] and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, [5] to be sensible, chaste, domestic, kind, and submissive to their husbands, that the word of God may not be discredited. [6] Likewise urge the younger men to control themselves. [7] Show yourself in all respects a model of good deeds, and in your teaching show integrity, gravity, [8] and sound speech that cannot be censured, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say to us.

The Incarnation, the Basis of Christian Ethics and Piety
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[11] For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, [12] training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world, [13] awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, [14] who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

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Commentary:

1-10. To counter the fallacies of those whose depraved conduct is at odds with what they profess to believe, Titus is urged to be sincere in everything he does and always to act in accordance with the faith. A key feature of Christian morality is that it can never be reduced to an abstract ethical code with no theological basis; rather, it flows directly from the deep truth one professes: doctrinal orthodoxy leads to upright conduct--and upright conduct equips one to understand and accept revealed truth. As the Second Vatican Council teaches, faith is meant to shape the Christian life: "Bishops should be especially concerned about catechetical instruction. Its function is to develop in men a living, explicit and active faith, enlightened by doctrine. It should be very carefully imparted, not only to children and adolescents but also to young people and even to adults. In imparting this instruction the teachers must observe an order and method suited not only to the matter in hand but also to the character, the ability, the age and the lifestyle of their audience. This instruction should be based on holy Scripture, tradition, liturgy, and on the teaching authority and life of the Church" ("Christus Dominus", 14).

In this section of the letter St. Paul reminds Titus about the obligations and the virtues people have (depending on their age, state-in-life, social position, etc.); this advice is very like that given to Timothy in 1 Timothy (cf. 1 Tim 5:1-6:2).

2-3. "Sound in faith...": in the Pastoral Epistles physical health is often used metaphorically in connection with Christian doctrine and its transmission (cf. 1 Tim 6:3; 2 Tim 1:13; 4:3; Tit 1:9; 2:8); it is also applied to people: as the years go on their interior life should grow stronger and stronger.

"Be reverent in behavior": older women are given special mention (cf. 1 Tim 5:2-16); they must be exemplary, because younger women have to learn from them.

4-5. All members of the Church are responsible for the formation and Christian life of their juniors; this general principle applies to adult women: they have to show younger women that their role as mothers, their place in the home, is so important that it must be given priority over outside activities (in which they do have a right to engage). In connection with the role of women in society and in the family Pope John Paul II says: "the mentality which honors women more for their work outside the home than for their work within the family must be overcome. This requires that men should truly esteem and love women with total respect for their personal dignity, and that society should create and develop conditions favoring work in the home" ("Familiaris Consortio", 23).

"That the word of God may not be discredited": an expression very similar to that used by St. Paul when advising slaves to be submissive (cf. 1 Tim 6:1). The Apostle is not approving behavior which women or slaves find obnoxious; what he is saying is that obedience and humility is the best way to do God honor and to offer others a testimony of love, following the example of the Master, who "humbled himself and became obedient unto death" (cf. Phil 2:6-11).

6-8. The model for the younger men should be Titus himself; as in the case of Timothy in Ephesus (1 Tim 4:12), Titus' duty to be exemplary derives from the fact that pastors have an obligation to reflect Jesus' life in their life: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Cor 11:1; cf. Phil 3:17; 2 Thess 3:9). "THE PRIESTLY PERSONALITY must be FOR OTHERS a clear SIGN AND INDICATION." This is the first condition for our pastoral service. The people from among whom we have been chosen and for whom we have been appointed want above all to see in us such a sign and indication, and to this they have a right" (John Paul II, "Letter to All Priests", 8 April 1979).

9-10. The fact that there are these references to the duties and slaves (and others in 1 Tim 6:1-2) shows that slaves were very much taken account of in the early Christian community. Christianity has been responsible for an enormous amount of social change, because being a Christian means that, whatever one's position in society, one should give honor and glory to God and recognize the innate dignity of everyone, without exception.

11-14. This section is almost like a hymn in praise of saving grace and God's loving kindness as manifested in Christ. The terse, sober style, with phrases piled on one another, and very few verbs, is typical of St. Paul. The duties just described (2L1-10)—of older men, women, young people and slaves--all point to Christians' having a common lifestyle, which is the fruit of grace. God is the source of that grace, and salvation its goal, and it is given to us through Jesus Christ.

Thus, divine grace manifested in the Incarnation is actively at work to redeem us; it brings salvation; it sanctifies us, enabling us to live godly lives; and it is the basis of our hope in the second coming of the Lord. All these dimensions of the action of grace summarize revealed doctrine on righteousness (justification) in Jesus Christ. Thus, in the Incarnation, God's salvific will, embracing all men, is manifested in a special way (cf. 1 Tim 2:4); in the Redemption, Christ, the only Mediator and Savior (cf. 1 Tim 2:5) obtains for us the gift of grace, whereby man becomes a sharer in the good things of salvation. Jesus is our model; by means of grace he instructs the Christian on how to control his defects and grow in virtue. The instruction we receive is not only an external one: God inwardly moves us to seek holiness (cf. Rom 5:1-5 and note). Grace also channels our hope, for Christians are motivated not only by the memory of a past event (our Lord's life on earth) but also, and especially, by the fact that Jesus is in the glory of heaven even now and that we are invited to share his inheritance (cf. 2 Pet 3:12-13).

13. "The glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ": an explicit confession of faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ, who is stated at one and at the same time (with only one article in the original Greek) to be God and Savior. This expression is the hinge on which the entire hymn turns: Jesus Christ our God is the one who came at the Incarnation, who will manifest himself fully at his second coming, and who through his work of redemption has made it possible for man to live a live pleasing to God.

This verse is reminiscent of Romans 9:5, where St. Paul wrote: "to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race according to the flesh is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed for ever. Amen."

14. The mention of Jesus Christ at the end of the previous verse leads St. Paul to summarize the doctrine of the Redemption in this lovely passage. Four essential elements in redemption are listed: Christ's self-giving; redemption from all iniquity; purification; and Christ's establishment of a people of his own dedicated to good deeds. The reference to Christ's self -giving clearly means whereby we are set free from the slavery of sin; Christ's sacrifice is the cause of the freedom of the children of God (analogously, God's action during the Exodus liberated the people of Israel). Purification, a consequence of redemption, enables a man to become part of God's own people (cf. Ezek 37-23). The expression "a people of his own" is a clear allusion to Exodus 19:5: through the covenant of Sinai God made Israel his own people, different from other nations; through the New Covenant of his blood Jesus forms his own people, the Church, which is open to all nations: "As Israel according to the flesh which wandered in the desert was already called the Church of God, so, too, the new Israel, which advances in this present era in search of a future and permanent city, is called also the Church of Christ. It is Christ indeed who has purchased it with his own blood; he has filled it with his Spirit; he has provided means adapted to its visible and social union [...]. Destined to extend to all regions of the earth, it enters into human history, though it transcends at once all times and all racial boundaries" ("Lumen Gentium", 9).

The coming of Christ has opened up a new panorama (vv. 4-7). As elsewhere in these letters (cf. 1 Tim 3:15; Tit 2:11-14), we have here a hymn to Christ which may well have come from primitive Christian liturgy or from a confession of faith. It summarizes Christian teaching on the Incarnation, the Redemption and the application of salvation to the individual.

According to this text, the Incarnation is the revelation of God our Savior, who makes known his goodness ("benignity", a word which often occurs in the Old Testament and sometimes in the New: cf. Rom 2:4; 11: 22; Gal 5:22; Eph 2:7) and "loving goodness" (literally "philanthropy", a word taken from Greek). The Redemption is referred to in Old Testament language: "he saved us in virtue of his own mercy."

Finally, the Christian's access to salvation is something gratuitous: without any prior merit on our part, God's mercy has sought us out (v. 5; cf. note on Rom 27-31); Baptism is the door to salvation, for it is the sacrament of "regeneration and renewal" (cf. Eph 5:26); the Holy Spirit sent by Christ (cf. Jn 14:26) makes the waters of Baptism effective; his grace gives life to the soul and entitles it to eternal life (cf. Gal 4:7; Rom 8:16-17). The Council of Trent specified that "justification is not only the remission of sins, but sanctification and renovation of the interior man through the voluntary reception of grace and gifts whereby a man becomes just instead of unjust and a friend instead of an enemy, that he may be an heir in the hope of life everlasting" ("De Iustificatione", chap. 7).

The magnificent resume of faith in Christ contained in Titus 3:3-7 also helps Christians see how to approach their work and social involvement; the Second Vatican Council has reminded us once again that "the promised and hoped-for restoration has already begun in Christ. It is carried forward in the sending of the Holy Spirit and through him continues in the Church in which, through our faith, we learn the meaning of our earthly life, while we bring to term, with hope of future good, the task allotted to us in the world by the Father, and so work out our salvation" ("Lumen Gentium", 48).

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From: Luke 17:7-10

Humble Service
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[7] "Will any of you, who has a servant ploughing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, `Come at once and sit down at table'? [8] Will he not rather say to him, `Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink'? [9] Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? [10] So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, `We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

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Commentary:

7-10. Jesus is not approving this master's abusive and arbitrary behavior: He is using an example very familiar to His audience to show the attitude a person should have towards his Creator: everything, from our very existence to the eternal happiness promised us, is one huge gift from God. Man is always in debt to God; no matter what service he renders Him he can never adequately repay the gifts God has given him. There is no sense in a creature adopting a proud attitude towards God. What Jesus teaches us here we see being put into practice by our Lady, who replied to God's messenger (the Archangel Gabriel), "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord" (Luke 1:38).

Source: Daily Word for Reflection—Navarre Bible

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Click here to go to the My Catholic Life! Devotional thread for today’s Gospel Reading