October 20, 2026
Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 474
Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
You were at that time without Christ,
alienated from the community of Israel
and strangers to the covenants of promise,
without hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off
have become near by the Blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, he made both one
and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his Flesh,
abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims,
that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two,
thus establishing peace,
and might reconcile both with God,
in one Body, through the cross,
putting that enmity to death by it.
He came and preached peace to you who were far off
and peace to those who were near,
for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (see 9) The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD–for he proclaims peace.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Be vigilant at all times and pray
that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102026.cfm
Commentary on
Ephesians 2:12-22
Today’s First Reading is a lovely passage in which Paul
shows how Christ brought together the two groups—Jews and Gentiles—and made
them one people, reconciling them with God and with each other. After speaking
of the salvation that has come as a total gift to both Jews and Gentiles, Paul
moves on to the mutual relationship that now exists between the two groups.
Former enemies have become brothers and sisters in Christ and now form one
seamless community. He is speaking here especially to the gentile Christians.
Today’s passage is summarised by the New American Bible:
“The Gentiles lacked Israel’s messianic expectations, lacked
the various covenants God made with Israel, lacked hope of salvation and
knowledge of the true God (vv 11-12); but through Christ all these religious
barriers between Jews and Gentiles have been transcended (vv 13-14) by the
abolition of the Mosaic covenant-law (v 15) for the sake of uniting Jew and
Gentile into a single religious community (vv 15-16), imbued with the same holy
Spirit and worshipping the same Father (v 18). The Gentiles are now
included in God’s household (v 19) as it arises upon the foundation of apostles
assisted by those endowed with the prophetic gift (Eph 3:5), the preachers of
Christ (v 20; see 1 Cor 12:28). With Christ as the capstone (v 20; Is 28:16;
Matt 21:42), they are being built into the holy temple of God’s people where
the divine presence dwells (vv 21-22).”
In the verse preceding the beginning of our reading today,
Paul reminds the gentile Christians that they were rejected by the Jews as
unholy outsiders. He implies that in some respects it was a false division.
“Gentiles by birth” were called the “uncircumcision” (a term of rejection) by
those who called themselves the “circumcision”, which ironically represents
something “made in the flesh by human hands”. In other words, one group of
people was rejected by another on the basis of a physical operation on the
body.
More seriously, however, the Gentiles before their
incorporation into the Christian community were without Christ and:
…aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to
the covenants of promise…
These covenants include those made by God with Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David and others. In a dramatic phrase, Paul speaks of the
Gentiles:
…having no hope and without God in the world.
That is, the Gentiles were without the hope of a Messiah—up
to this a hope confined to the people of Israel—and without the true God.
Instead they relied on false gods and man-made idols. Unfortunately, that can
still be said about many people in our world today, and perhaps most of these
can be found in so-called ‘developed’ societies.
But with the coming of Christ, all that has been changed.
Those Gentiles who “once were far off” (i.e. from the Jews), have now been
brought close by the sacrificial blood that Jesus poured out on the cross. This
was the new covenant which embraced not only Jews, but all those, of whatever
origin, who would approach the cross in loving surrender. In Christ, there is
now just one people.
Jesus has become the peace that binds the two formerly
hostile groups together:
For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into
one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us…
This is a reference to the wall in the Jerusalem Temple
which separated the court of the Jews (to which only they had access) from the
court of the Gentiles (open to all). In fact, there were several dividing walls
in the Temple—separating Jews from Gentiles, Jewish men from women, priests
from people, and the Holy of Holies from all—accessible only to the high priest
once a year. All of these divisions are demolished in Christ. These walls (like
all such walls) were a striking symbol of much deeper divisions.
Christ also destroyed:
…the hostility between us, abolishing the law with its
commandments and ordinances…
Much of the Mosaic Law, of course, sets moral standards
which were not changed by the coming of Christ—standards recognised by people
everywhere. However, under the name of their Law the Jews had arrogated to
themselves a privileged status which set them above and apart from the
“strangers and aliens”. In particular, they looked down on those who did not
observe the rituals of the Law as ‘unclean’. Many of these rituals have little
to do with moral behaviour as such.
Religion should never be a source of division although, if
it is to be true to its convictions, it will stand out as different and
challenging, but never exclusive or divisive. Too often in our own days, we
Christians have been guilty of the very things of which Paul accuses his
fellow-Jews.
God’s plan, on the other hand, says Paul, was to create in
Christ “one new humanity” out of the two formerly opposed groups. “Humanity”
here translates the Greek word anthropos (‘anqrwpos), which means a
human person and has no gender connotations. The word for a male is aner (‘anhr)
and the Latin equivalents are homo and vir. (Significantly, our
Creed says that in the Incarnation Jesus became a homo1,
not a vir—Jesus is primarily a Person sharing his humanity with both men
and women.)
As described in the Jerusalem Bible:
This “new humanity” is the prototype of the new humanity
that God recreated in the person of Christ, the second Adam, after killing the
sinfully corrupt race of the first Adam in the crucifixion. This New Adam has
been created “in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:24), and he is unique
because in him the boundaries between any one group and the rest of the human
race all disappear. (edited)
This “new humanity” is the whole community, the whole Body,
now consisting of both Jews and Gentiles, together with Jesus as its Head.
This reconciliation or peace was brought about by Jesus’
dying on the cross as the eloquent witness of God’s immeasurable love for
peoples everywhere, irrespective of race, social status or gender:
…thus putting to death that hostility through it.
This hostility was replaced by the ‘good news’ (gospel)
embracing both Gentiles (who had been far from God) and Jews (who had always
been nearer to him). Through the cross Jesus united all in one body, which
refers both to the physical body of Jesus that was executed by crucifixion and
the Church or ‘mystical’ body of Christ in which all are reconciled.
In a beautiful Trinitarian phrase, Paul concludes the
paragraph with:
So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off
and peace to those who were near, for through him both of us have access in one
Spirit to the Father.
Jesus is the Way for peoples everywhere, the Way to Truth
and Life.
In the final paragraph today, Paul speaks of the effects of
the hostility—the walls between Jews and Gentiles—being broken down and being
replaced by peace. He says:
…you [Gentiles] are no longer strangers and
aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and also members of the household
of God…
The phrase “household of God” means ‘family’ (familia
in Latin), which in ancient times included the whole household—the extended
family of parents, children, close relatives and also servants and slaves.
Changing the image, Paul speaks of the Church as a building
of which the Gentiles are now fully a part:
…built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone…
The New Testament prophets, together with the Apostles, are
the witnesses to whom the divine plan was first revealed and who were the first
to preach the Good News. The Church then is founded not only on Christ, but
also on the Apostles and prophets:
…the whole structure is joined together and grows into a
holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together spiritually into a
dwelling place for God.
The Gentiles, with the Christian Jews, are progressively
being built into a house where God himself lives.
Paul emphatically makes two points here. First, he shows
how, in the Christian community, Jews and Gentiles have come together in unity
and peace as God’s people in Christ. All former barriers are removed. (In his
Letter to the Galatians, he also included free people and slaves and men and
women as all fully equal in the Christian ‘family’.)
Second, the Church is the new Temple of God. The temple is
no longer a physical building of bricks and mortar, but a community of people
united in faith and love with Christ as Lord and with each other as brothers
and sisters in Christ:
For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am
there among them. (Matt 18:20)
Rome and St Peter’s could be removed from existence and
every Christian church building in the world could be wiped off the face of the
earth, but as long as even a handful of people can sincerely gather together in
the name of Christ and the gospel, God’s temple, the place where he lives,
continues to be. In the Church that Paul knew there were no church buildings.
The communities gathered in each other’s homes. There are still places in the
world today where Christians have no other option except to meet in this way,
often in secrecy and in fear of persecution.
Let us try to be more aware of Church as primarily the
community of believers rather than as the buildings which we use for our
gatherings. Furthermore, the ‘house were God lives’ is not static. As Paul
indicates today, it is constantly being built up. It is a living entity which
can be growing or dying. That depends on each one of us. Let every one of us
work together at building up the part of the Church entrusted to our care.
_____________________________________
- Incidentally,
the ‘homo’ in ‘homosexuality’ is a different word altogether. It is from
the Greek homos (‘omos), meaning ‘the same’. Hence, it refers to
sexuality between people of the same gender, be they masculine or
feminine. ↩︎
Commentary on Luke
12:35-38
In today’s Gospel, we have more advice from Jesus about
readiness. It is an echo of the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids
(Matt 25:1-13).
We are to be ready, with our belts fastened and our lamps
burning, like servants waiting for the groom to return from the wedding. If we
prepare in this way, when the master comes and knocks, we will be ready to
admit him without delay.
There is a reward, a surprising reward, for servants thus
prepared. When the master comes back and finds his servants awake and ready, he
will seat them at table and himself wait on them:
Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when
he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to
eat, and he will come and serve them.
Jesus had said of himself:
…just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to
serve and to give his life a ransom for many. (Matt 20:28)
He is the one who, as Master and Lord, washes the feet of
his disciples. And if the master comes in the middle of the night or before
dawn, blessed are those servants who are ready for his return.
This need for readiness is not a reason to be anxious nor a
reason to be afraid. Reason and experience tells us again and again that the
Lord’s call comes at the most unexpected times. The only solution is to be
ready here and now and leave the future to take care of itself.
In our relationship with God, it is always the present which
counts. The prepared servant lives constantly in the present and seeks and
finds God there. A life so lived takes care of itself—and its future.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Almighty and everlasting God, our
source of power and inspiration, give us strength and joy in serving you as
followers of Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 12: 35-38
Jesus said to his disciples: 'See
that you have your belts done up and your lamps lit. Be like people waiting for
their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon
as he comes and knocks.
Blessed those servants whom the
master finds awake when he comes. In truth I tell you, he will do up his belt,
sit them down at table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch that he
comes, or in the third, but blessed are those servants if he finds them ready.
Reflection
By
means of this parable, the gospel today exhorts us to be vigilant.
Luke
12: 35: Exhortation to be vigilant, watchful. "Be ready and have your
belts done up and your lamps lit.” To gird oneself meant to take a cloth or a
cord and put it around the robe. To be girded meant to be ready, prepared for
immediate action. Before the flight from Egypt, at the moment of celebrating
the Passover, the Israelites had to gird themselves, that is be prepared, ready
to be able to leave immediately (EX 12: 11). When someone goes to work, to
fight or to execute a task he girds himself (Ct 3: 8). In the letter of Paul to
the Ephesians he describes the armor of God and he says that your waist must be
girded with the cord of truth (Ep 6: 14). The lamps should be lit, because to
watch is the task to be carried out during the day as well as during the night.
Without light one cannot go in the darkness of the night.
Luke
12: 36: A parable. In order to explain what it means to be girded, Jesus tells
a brief parable. “Be like people waiting for their master to return from the
wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks.” The task
of waiting for the arrival of the master demands constant and permanent
vigilance, especially during the night, because one does not know at what time
the master will return. The employee has to always be attentive and vigilant.
•
Luke 12: 37: Promise of happiness. “Blessed
those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; In truth I tell you,
he will do up his belt, sit them down at table and wait on them.” Here in this
promise of happiness, things turn upside down. The master becomes the employee
and begins to serve the employee who becomes the master. At the Last Supper
Jesus teaches that even though He is Lord and Master, He became the servant of
all (Jn 13: 4-17). The happiness promised has something to do with the future,
with happiness at the end of time, as opposed to what Jesus promised in the
other parable when He said: “Which of you, with a servant ploughing or minding
sheep, would say to him when he returned from the fields, come and have your
meal at once? Would he not be more likely to say, ‘Get my supper ready; fasten
your belt and wait on me while I eat and drink. You yourself can eat and drink afterwards?
Must he be grateful to the servant for doing what he was told? So with you,
when you have done all you have been told to do, say, ‘we are useless servants;
we have done no more than our duty” (Lk 17: 7-10).
•
Luke 12: 38: He repeats the promise of
happiness. “And if he comes at midnight, or at dawn, and finds those servants
ready, blessed are they!” He repeats the promise of happiness which requires
total vigilance. The master could return at midnight, at three o’clock in the
morning, or at any other moment. The employee must be girded, ready to be able
to do his work immediately.
Personal Questions
•
We are employees of God. We should be girded,
ready, attentive and vigilant twenty-four hours a day. Do you succeed to do
this? How do you do it?
•
The promise of future happiness is the opposite
of the present. What does this reveal to us of the goodness of God for us, for
me?
Concluding Prayer
I am listening. What is God's
message? Yahweh's message is peace for his people. His saving help is near for
those who fear him, his glory will dwell in our land. (Ps 85: 8-9)
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