Catholic Men’s Daily Devotional and Bible Study – 32nd Week in Ordinary time – Friday – Luke 17:26-37

The Gospel reading from the Mass for Friday of the 32nd Week of Ordinary Time is Luke 17:26-37.

After mysteriously predicting His Passion and Resurrection and warning the disciples not follow those who proclaim false messiahs, Christ uses the Old Testament to describe His Second Coming, the end of the world and the Final Judgment.

Christ likens the Second Coming to the sudden cataclysmic destruction revealed in well-known Old Testament accounts.  During Noah’s time, despite the perversion and sinfulness, human activities continued up until the sudden and devastating flood. So too, during Lot’s time, while abhorrent homosexual acts were widely accepted in some places, humans lived and worked up until the destroying fire and brimstone from Heaven leveled Sodom and Gomorrah. Despite the appearance of normality in human activities, where there is perversion at the time of the Second Coming, there will be sudden destruction.

Christ reveals the selective nature of the coming holocaust and offers Divine Counsel to those who will be granted eternal life. Men (or women) in identical circumstances will be selectively saved (one man/woman taken, the other man/woman left); the sinful will be destroyed and the just preserved.  When the destruction comes, men are to flee, abandoning possessions and not look back with sorrow for the life they are leaving behind. Rather, men must be prepared to give up their lives for the sake of God and their brothers and sisters; in this self-sacrifice will come the reward of eternal life.

Awed by Jesus Christ – Son of God, Christ recounts the ancient Scripture He inspired men to write. Divine Prophet, Christ warns of the coming destruction and offers advice as to how to survive.  Divine Judge, Christ makes clear that many will be destroyed and some will be accepted into Heaven.

Being a Heroic Catholic Man

1)  Many have the hopeful delusion that every soul, no matter how sinful and unrepentant, goes to Heaven. Reread the Savior’s explicit and terrifying words in today’s Gospel to dispel this delusion.

2) Christ makes it clear that some while not enter the Kingdom.  Review why many will be Excluded from Entering the Kingdom (CCC 1852, 1861, 2450) and pray for Christ to help you to reject mortal sin and be healed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

2) In describing His Second Coming, Christ deliberately refers to the destruction of Sodom, a town  where men publicly practiced and celebrated homosexual acts (Gen 19:1-19), “acts which cry out to Heaven” (CCC 1867). Review the Church’s teaching about Homosexual Acts (CCC 2357-2358, 2396) and pray for Christ to help those who engage in homosexual acts to repent, to be forgiven, to resist sin and to live chastely.

Spiritual Practices – Include in Today’s Prayers

Sacred Mystery of Rosary – The Sorrowful Mysteries

Daily Devotion – The Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ

Virtue of the Day – Faith

Corporal Work of Mercy – To visit the sick

Spiritual Work of Mercy – To forgive all injuries