Gospel of the day ♫
I've talked a few days ago about Luke 10:25 :
« There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life ?" »
I don't know what is the meaning behind the expression "eternal life", the common explanation speaks about life after death and the paradise, perhaps.
It can also be found, for example, in Mark 8:34-38 :
After calling the crowd together with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.
All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them.
Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives ? What will people give in exchange for their lives ?
Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Well, if you didn't already know, i wanted to point out that it didn't appeared for the first time in the New Testament, here's one example(, the french version was more explicit, what did they meant here by "and live" ?) :
Bear hardship for the sake of discipline. God is treating you like sons and daughters ! What child isn’t disciplined by his or her father ? But if you don’t experience discipline, which happens to all children, then you are illegitimate and not real sons and daughters.
What’s more, we had human parents who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live ?
[Psalm 23:4-6 is more explicit :]
Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger because you are with me. Your rod and your staff— they protect me.
You set a table for me, right in front of my enemies.
You bathe my head in oil ; my cup is so full it spills over !
Yes, goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the LORD’s house as long as I live. [Huh. Just realized that this traduction isn't the same as a lot of others, such as the King James version, who end with "forever" instead, it may not be such an unambiguous example in the end. In any case the Old Testament doesn't have a lot of references to the afterlife compared to the other sacred texts]
[To be clear : Egyptians/Greeks/Persians/Indians/.. also believed in the afterlife, so the expression "eternal life" seems like a direct reference, i was just wondering if there was also another meaning added to it, as is often the case.
But since i had no conclusion it was a pointless note that i mostly kept because of the citations.
I don't believe in the afterlife, but i believe that i should/must act all the time as if it was certain(, i'm failing everyday as everyone else(, or nobody ever failed, depending on one's strictness), trying honestly seems worth it).]
From the book of the prophet Joel (Jl 1:13-15; 2:1-2) :
Gird yourselves and weep, O priests !
Wail, O ministers of the altar !
Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God !
The house of your God is deprived of offering and libation.
Proclaim a fast, call an assembly ; gather the elders, all who dwell in the land, into the house of the LORD, your God, and cry to the LORD !
Alas, the day ! For near is the day of the LORD, band it comes as ruin from the Almighty.
Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain ! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming ; yes, it is near, a day of darkness and of gloom, a day of clouds and somberness !
Like dawn spreading over the mountains, a people numerous and mighty !
Their like has not been from of old, nor will it be after them, even to the years of distant generations.
[Meh. It seems that vatican.va is basing itself on https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101323.cfm, perhaps not always. I'll go back to Jonah if the next one isn't great.]
From the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 11:42) :
When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him ; so he went in and reclined at the table.
But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
Then, the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people ! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also ? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
“Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
“Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.
“Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”
One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”
Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.
“Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did ; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’
Therefore, this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.
“Woe to you, experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
Surah 3:190-195 :
Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the day and night there are signs for people of reason. [I wouldn't believe in this aspect of God if i didn't already believed this sentence, reality is weird]
˹They are˺ those who remember Allah while standing, sitting, and lying on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth ˹and pray˺, “Our Lord ! You have not created ˹all of˺ this without purpose. Glory be to You ! Protect us from the torment of the Fire.
Our Lord ! Indeed, those You commit to the Fire will be ˹completely˺ disgraced ! And the wrongdoers will have no helpers.
Our Lord ! We have heard the caller[, Muḥammad ﷺ,] to ˹true˺ belief, ˹proclaiming,˺ ‘Believe in your Lord ˹alone˺,’ so we believed. Our Lord ! Forgive our sins, absolve us of our misdeeds, and join us with the virtuous when we die.
Our Lord ! Grant us what You have promised us through Your messengers, and do not put us to shame on Judgment Day—for certainly You never fail in Your promise.”
So their Lord responded to them : “I will never deny any of you—male or female—the reward of your deeds. Both are equal in reward. Those who migrated or were expelled from their homes, and were persecuted for My sake, and fought and ˹some˺ were martyred—I will certainly forgive their sins, and admit them into Gardens under which rivers flow, as a reward from Allah. And with Allah is the finest reward !”
Saint of the day : Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch