Gospel Reading: Dependence on God - Lk 12:32-48

Dependence on God

Lk 12:32-48

³²Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

³³Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. 

³⁵"Gird your loins and light your lamps 

³⁶and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.

³⁷Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.

³⁸And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.

³⁹Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

⁴⁰You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."

⁴¹Then Peter said, "Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?"

⁴²And the Lord replied, "Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute (the) food allowance at the proper time?

⁴³Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.

⁴⁴Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.

⁴⁵But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk,

⁴⁶then that servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷That servant who knew his master's will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely;

⁴⁸and the servant who was ignorant of his master's will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.

Gospel Reading: The Paradox of the Grain of Wheat - Jn 12:24-26

Jn 12:24-26

The Paradox of the Grain of Wheat

²⁴Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

²⁵Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.

²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.

Gospel Reading: The Conditions of Discipleship - Mt 16:24-28

Mt 16:24-28
The Conditions of Discipleship

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

²⁵For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

²⁶What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?

²⁷For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.

²⁸Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."