Where are the other nine?

I am one of the other nine. So guilty of this so many times. Why am I so complaining when I am supposed to be thanking for all the Lord has done for me. Indeed it is sometimes difficult to maintain and thankful heart and positive spirit when your are surrounded with too much ugliness around you so much negativity, so much self-righteousness. I get too overwhelmed and just throw a tantrum at God telling him names and forgetting his goodness. Too many times I feel I am more generous than him, how horrible of me. I tell him, "How can you sit so comfortably on your throne and watch these people die?"  May the Lord have mercy and forgive me for my delusions, for sometimes believing I am better than others who know nothing but think of themselves. My own charity has caused me to be one of the "nine", arrogant, ungrateful, self-righteous. “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”   Lord, have pity on me. I am so full of myself these days. Help me see things through your eyes and feel things through your heart. Grant me the grace to be humble and patient in the midst of this long wait. 

Readings: Friday, November 15, 2013

Friday, November 15, 2013

First Reading

First Reading: WIS 6:1–11

Hear, O kings, and understand; 
learn, you magistrates of the earth’s expanse! 
Hearken, you who are in power over the multitude 
and lord it over throngs of peoples! 
Because authority was given you by the Lord 
and sovereignty by the Most High, 
who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels. 
Because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you judged not rightly, 
and did not keep the law, 
nor walk according to the will of God, 
Terribly and swiftly shall he come against you, 
because judgment is stern for the exalted– 
For the lowly may be pardoned out of mercy 
but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test. 
For the Lord of all shows no partiality, 
nor does he fear greatness, 
Because he himself made the great as well as the small, 
and he provides for all alike; 
but for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends. 
To you, therefore, O princes, are my words addressed 
that you may learn wisdom and that you may not sin. 
For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed shall be found holy, 
and those learned in them will have ready a response. 
Desire therefore my words; 
long for them and you shall be instructed.

Responsorial Psalm

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 82:3-4, 6-7

R./ Rise up, O God, bring judgment to the earth. 

Defend the lowly and the fatherless; 
render justice to the afflicted and the destitute. 
Rescue the lowly and the poor; 
from the hand of the wicked deliver them. 
R./ Rise up, O God, bring judgment to the earth. 

I said: “You are gods, 
all of you sons of the Most High; 
yet like men you shall die, 
and fall like any prince.” 
R./ Rise up, O God, bring judgment to the earth.

Holy Gospel

Gospel Reading: LK 17:11–19

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, 
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. 
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. 
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, 
“Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” 
And when he saw them, he said, 
“Go show yourselves to the priests.” 
As they were going they were cleansed. 
And one of them, realizing he had been healed, 
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; 
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. 
He was a Samaritan. 
Jesus said in reply, 
“Ten were cleansed, were they not? 
Where are the other nine? 
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” 
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; 
your faith has saved you.”