Memory of the Saints and the Prophets

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Memorial of the deportation of the Jews of Rome during the Second World War.


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Romans 2,1-11

So no matter who you are, if you pass judgement you have no excuse. It is yourself that you condemn when you judge others, since you behave in the same way as those you are condemning. We are well aware that people who behave like that are justly condemned by God. But you -- when you judge those who behave like this while you are doing the same yourself -- do you think you will escape God's condemnation? Or are you not disregarding his abundant goodness, tolerance and patience, failing to realise that this generosity of God is meant to bring you to repentance? Your stubborn refusal to repent is only storing up retribution for yourself on that Day of retribution when God's just verdicts will be made known. He will repay everyone as their deeds deserve. For those who aimed for glory and honour and immortality by persevering in doing good, there will be eternal life; but for those who out of jealousy have taken for their guide not truth but injustice, there will be the fury of retribution. Trouble and distress will come to every human being who does evil -- Jews first, but Greeks as well; glory and honour and peace will come to everyone who does good -- Jews first, but Greeks as well. There is no favouritism with God.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Paul writes that men and women are more inclined to serve themselves than God. This is a deep instinct that accompanies us all, a sort of "idolatrous" attitude that affects men and women of every time. This conviction should put us on guard against easily giving in to ourselves and our traditions. Instead it is normal for us to condemn others and absolve ourselves. Jesus urges us not to look at the speck in the eye of another but to notice the log in our own eyes. We are all poor men and poor women in need of help from the Lord. This is why Paul, a little later, repeating an assertion of the psalm, writes: "There is no one who is righteous, not even one" (Rom 3: 10). To the man who flattered him by calling him "Good Teacher," Jesus himself responds, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone" (Mk 10:18). Our smallness should encourage us not make ourselves the judges of others. Speaking directly to "whoever you are," to all men and women, Paul has harsh words for those who judge without mercy, and words of accusation to believers: they judge (and condemn) others, but then they commit the same errors and behave like those upon whom their judgment weighs. In doing so, not only are they cruel, but they forget that there is a judge who practices justice with a just measure: God. "For he will repay according to each one's deeds...for God shows no partiality." The apostle reminds us believers, too, that we need to be forgiven, that is, judged by a merciful God, abounding in love. We all need God's mercy, which is salvation.