Word of the day

A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians
1 Cor 6:1-11

Brothers and sisters:
How can any one of you with a case against another
dare to bring it to the unjust for judgment
instead of to the holy ones?
Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world?
If the world is to be judged by you,
are you unqualified for the lowest law courts?
Do you not know that we will judge angels?
Then why not everyday matters?
If, therefore, you have courts for everyday matters,
do you seat as judges people of no standing in the Church?
I say this to shame you.
Can it be that there is not one among you wise enough
to be able to settle a case between brothers?
But rather brother goes to court against brother,
and that before unbelievers?

Now indeed then it is, in any case,
a failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another.
Why not rather put up with injustice?
Why not rather let yourselves be cheated?
Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and this to brothers.
Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the Kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived;
neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers
nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves
nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers
will inherit the Kingdom of God.
That is what some of you used to be;
but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and in the Spirit of our God.

From the Gospel according to Luke
Lk 6:12-19

Jesus departed 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.

And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground.
A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon
came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.
Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him
because power came forth from him and healed them all.

“In the Gospel of Luke” we have seen the Church in activity, in action: Jesus who prays, who chooses the Apostles, who gives a name to each one, who heals body and soul and who was among the disciples, and even among the crowds which sought to touch him, because from him came the strength that healed everyone”. Precisely “this is the Church that which Paul taught us is this in action”. The Apostle confirms that “the cornerstone is Jesus himself”; and indeed, “without Jesus there is no Church: he is the foundation of the Church”. Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God. And “then comes all the rest: the people, the selection of the disciples, the healings, the casting out of demons”. Therefore, “the cornerstone is Jesus, yes: but, it is a Jesus who prays”. And “Jesus prays: he prayed and continues to pray for the Church”. Thus, “the cornerstone of the Church is the Lord standing before the Father who intercedes for us, who prays for us: we pray to him, but the foundation is him who prays for us”. (Santa Marta, 28 October 2016)