Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time (II)

Official Translation

Reading 1 – 1 Corinthians 8.1b-7, 11-13

Brothers and sisters:
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
But if anyone thinks that they knows anything,
they do not yet know as they ought to know.
But if anyone loves God, he is known by them.

Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols:
we know that no idol is anything in the world,
and that there is no other God but one.
For though there are things that are called “gods”,
whether in the heavens or on earth
(there are many “gods” and many “lords”),
yet to us there is one God: the Father,
of whom all things are, and for whom we are;
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom are all things, and through whom we are.

However, this knowledge is not in all,
but some, through association with the idol until now,
eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol,
and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

Thus, through your knowledge, someone who is weak perishes,
a brother for whose sake Christ died.
Thus, sinning against the brothers,
and wounding their conscience when it is weak,
you sin against Christ.
Therefore if food causes my brother to stumble,
I will not eat meat in this age,
lest I cause my brother to stumble.

Responsorial – Psalm 139.1b-3, 13-14ab, 23-24 Resp. 24b

R. Lead me, Lord, in the eternal way.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me;
you know my sitting down and my rising up.
You understood my thoughts from afar;
my resting and my rising you have searched out.
And you have understood all my ways.

R. Lead me, Lord, in the eternal way.

For you formed my inmost being.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful.

R. Lead me, Lord, in the eternal way.

Search me, God, and know my heart.
Try me, and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the eternal way.

R. Lead me, Lord, in the eternal way.

Gospel – Luke 6.27-38

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other;
and from the one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your coat as well.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes your stuff, do not demand it back.

As you would like humans to do to you, do exactly the same to them.
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?
For even sinners love those who love them.
If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?
For even sinners do the same.
If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive back as much.
But love your enemies, and do good,
and lend, expecting nothing back,
and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High;
for he is kind toward the ungrateful and evil.
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Judge not and you will not be judged.
Condemn not, and you will not be condemned.
Release, and you will be released.
Give, and it will be given to you:
good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over,
will be given to you.
For with the same measure you measure, will it be measured back to you.”