11 October 2025 (Sabtu)
Saturday of week 27 in Ordinary Time or Saint John XXIII, Pope or Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time.
Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:
First Reading: Joel 4: 12-21
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 97: 1-2, 5-6, 11-12
Alleluia: Luke 11: 28
Gospel: Luke 11: 27-28
First Reading : Joel 4:12‐21
The Lord says this: ‘Let the nations rouse themselves, let them march to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for I am going to sit in judgement there on all the nations round. Put the sickle in: the harvest is ripe; come and tread: the winepress is full, the vats are overflowing, so great is their wickedness!’ Host on host in the Valley of Decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision! Sun and moon grow dark, the stars lose their brilliance. The Lord roars from Zion, makes his voice heard from Jerusalem; heaven and earth tremble. But the Lord will be a shelter for his people, a stronghold for the sons of Israel. ‘You will learn then that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be a holy place, no alien will ever pass through it again.’ When that day comes, the mountains will run with new wine and the hills flow with milk, and all the river beds of Judah will run with water. A fountain will spring from the house of the Lord to water the wadi of Acacias. Egypt will become a desolation, Edom a desert waste on account of the violence done to the sons of Judah whose innocent blood they shed in their country. But Judah will be inhabited for ever, Jerusalem from age to age. ‘I will avenge their blood and let none go unpunished’, and the Lord shall make his home in Zion.
Responsive Psalm : Psalm 96(97):1‐2,5‐6,11‐12
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
The Lord is king, let earth rejoice, let all the coastlands be glad. Cloud and darkness are his raiment; his throne, justice and right.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord of all the earth. The skies proclaim his justice; all peoples see his glory.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
Light shines forth for the just and joy for the upright of heart. Rejoice, you just, in the Lord; give glory to his holy name.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
Alleluia: Luke 11: 28
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
28 Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.
(27. It happened that as he was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, 'Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you!'
28. But he replied, 'More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it!')
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel : Luke 11:27‐28
As Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ But he replied, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’
For our reflection today:
“Blessed is the womb that carried you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” (Luke 11:27). This is what "a woman in the crowd" cried out, wishing to express her admiration for all that Jesus did and taught. In the woman’s words, admiration for the Son is transferred to the Mother. The woman is especially aware that to be human, to be the “Son of Man” (as Jesus often referred to Himself), means to be born of a woman, to be born of a mother. This "woman in the crowd" may not realize that, by pronouncing these words, she even fulfills the prophetic announcement of Mary in the “Magnificat”: “From now on, all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). The “woman in the crowd,” whose cry is recorded in the Gospel of Luke, belongs to the first generation of those who have called the Mother of the Redeemer "blessed." It is significant that in response to the cry of “a woman in the crowd,” Jesus replies: “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it!” (Luke 11:28). Did He perhaps want to divert attention away from His earthly Mother? Perhaps yes, at first glance. But, in substance, the Son of Mary explained even more clearly in His response why she is blessed. Why is her human maternity blessed? In fact, the phrase about “those who hear the word of God and observe it” refers par excellence to her, to Mary. Is not her very motherhood the fruit of her “hearing” the word of God? Is it not the fruit of her perfect “consent” to it? (St. John Paul II, Homily, Mass for the University Students of Rome, 16 December 1987)
Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)
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