Word of the day

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans
Rm 3, 21-30

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets,in the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation,* through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God—to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus. What occasion is there then for boasting?* It is ruled out. On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith. For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.Does God belong to Jews alone? Does he not belong to Gentiles, too? Yes, also to Gentiles, for God is one and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

From the Gospel according to Luke
Lk 11:47-54

The Lord said:
"Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets
whom your fathers killed.
Consequently, you bear witness and give consent
to the deeds of your ancestors,
for they killed them and you do the building.
Therefore, the wisdom of God said,
'I will send to them prophets and Apostles;
some of them they will kill and persecute'
in order that this generation might be charged
with the blood of all the prophets
shed since the foundation of the world,
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah
who died between the altar and the temple building.
Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!
Woe to you, scholars of the law!
You have taken away the key of knowledge.
You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter."
When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees
began to act with hostility toward him
and to interrogate him about many things,
for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.

This taking away the ability to understand God's revelation, to understand the heart of God, to understand God's salvation—the key to knowledge—we can say that it represents a serious oversight. The gratuitousness of salvation is forgotten; the closeness of God is forgotten, and the mercy of God is forgotten. And those who forget the gratuitousness of salvation, the closeness of God, and the mercy of God, have taken away the key to knowledge. (…)

This happens even today. The Pharisees, the doctors of the law, are not just figures of those times; even today, there are many. This is why it is necessary to pray for us shepherds. To pray, so that we do not lose the key to knowledge and do not close the door to ourselves and to the people who want to enter. (Santa Marta, 19 October 2017)