Sunday, October 24, 2021
Liturgical Season: 
Special Significance: 
VI Sunday after Sleebo
Mission Sunday

Mt 19:13-26

Blessing of the Children.* 13f Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, 14g but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

The Rich Young Man.* 16h Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”* 17He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good.* If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18* i He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; 19honor your father and your mother’; and ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” 20* The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?” 21j Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect,* go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. 23* Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24k Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 25* When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” 26l Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

Isa 43:22-28

Yet you did not call upon me, Jacob,

for you grew weary of me, Israel.

You did not bring me sheep for your burnt offerings,

nor honor me with your sacrifices.

I did not exact from you the service of offerings,

nor weary you for frankincense.

You did not buy me sweet cane,

nor did you fill me with the fat of your sacrifices;

Instead, you burdened me with your sins,

wearied me with your crimes.

It is I, I, who wipe out,

for my own sake, your offenses;

your sins I remember no more.

Would you have me remember, have us come to trial?

Speak up, prove your innocence!

Your first father sinned;

your spokesmen rebelled

Acts 28:23-28

23So they arranged a day with him and came to his lodgings in great numbers. From early morning until evening, he expounded his position to them, bearing witness to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets. 24Some were convinced by what he had said, while others did not believe. 25* Without reaching any agreement among themselves they began to leave; then Paul made one final statement. “Well did the holy Spirit speak to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah, saying:

26‘Go to this people and say:g

You shall indeed hear but not understand.

You shall indeed look but never see.

27Gross is the heart of this people;

they will not hear with their ears;

they have closed their eyes,

so they may not see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart and be converted,

and I heal them.’

28h Let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.” [

Lk 18:18-27

The Rich Official. 18i An official asked him this question, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”j 19Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 20You know the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother.’”k 21And he replied, “All of these I have observed from my youth.” 22* l When Jesus heard this he said to him, “There is still one thing left for you: sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23But when he heard this he became quite sad, for he was very rich.

On Riches and Renunciation. 24Jesus looked at him [now sad] and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?” 27And he said, “What is impossible for human beings is possible for God.”m

Mt 28:16-20

The Commissioning of the Disciples.* 16f The eleven* disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. 17* When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. 18* g Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19h Go, therefore,* and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, 20i teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.* And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Gen 42:29-38

When they got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. “The man who is lord of the land,” they said, “spoke to us harshly and put us in custody on the grounds that we were spying on the land. But we said to him: ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of the same father; but one is no more, and the youngest one is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’ Then the man who is lord of the land said to us: ‘This is how I will know if you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, then take grain for your starving families and go. When you bring me your youngest brother, and I know that you are not spies but honest men, I will restore your brother to you, and you may move about freely in the land.’”

When they were emptying their sacks, there in each one’s sack was his moneybag! At the sight of their moneybags, they and their father were afraid. Their

Sir 35:1-13

1To keep the law is to make many offerings;a

2whoever observes the commandments sacrifices a peace offering.

3By works of charity one offers fine flour,*

4and one who gives alms presents a sacrifice of praise.

5To refrain from evil pleases the Lord,

and to avoid injustice is atonement.

6Do not appear before the Lord empty-handed,

7for all that you offer is in fulfillment of the precepts.b

8The offering of the just enriches the altar:

a sweet odor before the Most High.

9The sacrifice of the just is accepted,

never to be forgotten.

10With a generous spirit pay homage to the Lord,

and do not spare your freewill gifts.c

11With each contribution show a cheerful countenance,

and pay your tithes in a spirit of joy.d

12Give to the Most High as he has given to you,

generously, according to your means.

13For he is a God who always repays

and will give back to you sevenfold.e

Isa 6:8-13

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” And he replied: Go and say to this people:

Listen carefully, but do not understand!

Look intently, but do not perceive!

Make the heart of this people sluggish,

dull their ears and close their eyes;

Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,

and their heart understand,

and they turn and be healed.

“How long, O Lord?” I asked. And he replied:

Until the cities are desolate,

without inhabitants,

Houses, without people,

and the land is a desolate waste.

Until the LORD sends the people far away,

and great is the desolatio

Acts 22:17-21

17“After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry, leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19But I replied, ‘Lord, they themselves know that from synagogue to synagogue I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you.j 20And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself stood by giving my approval and keeping guard over the cloaks of his murderers.’k 21Then he said to me,l ‘Go, I shall send you far away to the Gentiles.’”*

Rom 10:14-20

14* But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?m 15And how can people preach unless they are sent? As it is written,n “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring [the] good news!”* 16But not everyone has heeded the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what was heard from us?”o 17Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.p 18But I ask, did they not hear? Certainly they did; for

“Their voice has gone forth to all the earth,

and their words to the ends of the world.”q

19But I ask, did not Israel understand?r First Moses says:

“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;

with a senseless nation I will make you angry.”

20s Then Isaiah speaks boldly and says:

“I was found [by] those who were not seeking me;

I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me.”

Mk 16:14-18

The Commissioning of the Eleven. 14h [But] later, as the eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. 15i He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. 18They will pick up serpents [with their hands], and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”j