Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

What is Daily Mass Readings with Homily and Saint of the Day?

Hear the Mass readings of the day, followed by a homily grounded in the writings of the Church Fathers, Doctors, and master theologians. Every episode concludes with a brief reflection on the heroic virtue of the Saint of the Day and a practical spiritual resolution to carry into your daily life.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today is October the ninth, Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time. The children of Abraham are not those who carry his blood, but those who carry his faith. Christ has become a curse that we might inherit a blessing, and He has plundered the strong man's house. Let us receive these words with undivided hearts.

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians, chapter three.

Brothers and sisters: Realize that it is those who have faith who are children of Abraham. Scripture, which saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, foretold the good news to Abraham, saying, Through you shall all the nations be blessed. Consequently, those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham who had faith. For all who depend on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not persevere in doing all the things written in the book of the law. And that no one is justified before God by the law is clear, for the one who is righteous by faith will live. But the law does not depend on faith; rather, the one who does these things will live by them. Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The Word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalm one hundred eleven.

The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart in the company and assembly of the just. Great are the works of the LORD, exquisite in all their delights.

The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

Majesty and glory are his work, and his justice endures forever. He has won renown for his wondrous deeds; gracious and merciful is the LORD.

The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

He has given food to those who fear him; he will forever be mindful of his covenant. He has made known to his people the power of his works, giving them the inheritance of the nations.

The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

Alleluia. The prince of this world will now be cast out, and when I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all to myself, says the Lord. Alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke, chapter eleven.

When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said: "By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons." Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, 'I shall return to my home from which I came.' But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Two great wounds mark the condition of fallen man: he is under a curse he cannot lift, and he is occupied by a power he cannot expel. Today's sacred texts declare, with the full weight of revelation, that Christ has answered both.

Saint Paul's argument to the Galatians strikes at a temptation that is perennial in human religion — the belief that accumulation of observances, the mere performance of prescribed acts, can establish a man before God. The law, Paul insists, does not operate on the principle of faith; it operates on the principle of total, unbroken performance. Cursed be everyone who does not persevere in doing all the things written in the book of the law. The word "all" is the weight that breaks every man who attempts to carry it alone. Saint Thomas Aquinas, commenting on this passage, observes that the law's demand is not partial but absolute — it requires a perfection that fallen nature cannot supply without grace. The law, then, does not save; it reveals, with terrible clarity, the depth of our need.

And so Christ enters. He does not abolish the curse; He absorbs it. Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree. The Apostle reaches back to Deuteronomy and places that ancient malediction directly upon the Cross. This is the great exchange at the heart of the Gospel: He who is the eternal Son, blessed above all things, takes upon Himself the form of a curse, so that those who were cursed might receive the form of a blessing. Saint Augustine, in his reflections on the Galatians text, marvels at this divine condescension — that the one who could never be under condemnation voluntarily entered its shadow, so that the shadow itself would be destroyed. The blessing of Abraham, promised to all nations, flows now not through circumcision or sacrifice, but through union with the One who hung upon the tree and rose from it.

The Gospel then presents the second wound and its remedy. Christ has driven out a demon, and the crowd, unable to deny the fact, disputes the authority. Their accusation — that He acts by Beelzebul — is the most desperate of spiritual evasions. They see the Kingdom of God arriving and reach for any explanation that does not require surrender. Our Lord does not argue emotionally. He argues with the precision of a logician: a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Saint Cyril of Alexandria notes that Our Lord's response is not merely a refutation but a revelation — He is exposing the nature of the demonic kingdom itself, a realm held together not by love but by tyranny, and therefore inherently unstable before a power united in divine charity.

The image of the strong man is shattering in its clarity. Satan is the strong man. He guards his palace — the human soul — with arms: pride, concupiscence, despair, habitual sin. His possessions are held not by right but by usurpation. Then One stronger comes. Christ enters human history, and He strips the armor, and He distributes the spoils. We are the spoils. We are the plunder He reclaims for the Father.

But the parable of the returning spirit is a solemn warning that must not be softened. The house swept clean and put in order — but empty — becomes a more dangerous dwelling than before. Cornelius a Lapide, the great Flemish commentator, insists this refers to the soul that has been freed from grave sin through confession or compunction, but that fails to fill itself with positive virtue, with prayer, with charity, with the indwelling presence of Christ. Nature abhors a vacuum; so does the spiritual life. Grace expelled does not leave a neutral space. Seven spirits more wicked take up residence. The remedy is not merely the expulsion of evil. The remedy is the filling of the heart with the living God.

Carry this into your day as a single, concrete resolution. Examine tonight, before you sleep, whether your soul is not only swept but filled — filled with prayer, with an act of love, with a deliberate turning toward the Lord who cast out your darkness and claimed you as His own. An empty, well-ordered life is a danger. A life occupied by Christ is a fortress.

May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.
EPISODE_TITLE: Christ Ransomed Us From the Curse
IMAGE_PROMPT: A luminous Byzantine-style painting of Christ crucified on the Cross radiating golden light, with broken chains falling from His hands and a redeemed soul kneeling at the foot of the Cross in adoration.