Sunday 4 October27th Sunday in Ordinary TimeLiturgical colour: green

Bible / Luke

Luke 16

Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation

1 And he said also to his disciples: There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods. CCC

2 And he called him and said to him: How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship: for now thou canst be steward no longer.

3 And the steward said within himself: What shall I do, because my lord taketh away from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able; to beg I am ashamed. CCC

4 I know what I will do, that when I shall be removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

5 Therefore, calling together every one of his lord’s debtors, he said to the first: How much dost thou owe my lord?

6 But he said: An hundred barrels of oil. And he said to him: Take thy bill and sit down quickly and write fifty.

7 Then he said to another: And how much dost thou owe? Who said: An hundred quarters of wheat. He said to him: Take thy bill and write eighty.

8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely: for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.

9 And I say to you: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity: that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings. Fathers

10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little is unjust also in that which is greater.

11 If then you have not been faithful in the unjust mammon, who will trust you with that which is the true?

12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other: or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. CCC

14 Now the Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.

15 And he said to them: you are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is high to men is an abomination before God.

16 The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the kingdom of God is preached: and every one useth violence towards it. CCC · Fathers

17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fall.

18 Every one that putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery. CCC

19 There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. CCC · Fathers

20 And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores,

21 Desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. And no one did give him: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell. CCC

23 And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom: CCC

24 And he cried and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame. CCC

25 And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. CCC

26 And besides all this, between us and you, there is fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, nor from thence come hither. CCC

27 And he said: Then, father, I beseech thee that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house, for I have five brethren,

28 That he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments.

29 And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.

30 But he said: No, father Abraham: but if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance.

31 And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead. Fathers

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.

  1. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 952 “They had everything in common." "Everything the true Christian has is to be regarded as a good possessed in common with everyone…”
  2. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 952 “They had everything in common." "Everything the true Christian has is to be regarded as a good possessed in common with everyone…”
  3. Read the Fathers
    • “… do we erect in ourselves the tabernacle of God: for God dwells in those who act uprightly, as the Lord says: "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that they, when ye shall be put to flight, may receive you into eternal tabernacles.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  4. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2424 “A theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and ultimate end of economic activity is morally unacceptable. the disordered desire for money…”
  5. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 523 “St. John the Baptist is the Lord's immediate precursor or forerunner, sent to prepare his way. "Prophet of the Most High", John…”
    • “Christ had come to fulfil it: wherefore "the law and the prophets were" with them "until John.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter IV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  6. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2382 “The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble. He abrogates the accommodations that…”
  7. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 1859 “Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to…”
    • CCC 2831 “But the presence of those who hunger because they lack bread opens up another profound meaning of this petition. the drama of…”
    • “For there was," He says, "a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and delighted himself with splendid feasts.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter II. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  8. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 336 “From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector…”
    • CCC 633 “Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in…”
    • CCC 1021 “Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ.…”
  9. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 633 “Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in…”
  10. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 633 “Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in…”
  11. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 633 “Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in…”
  12. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 633 “Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in…”
  13. Read the Fathers
    • “… exhibits Abraham as having said to the rich man, with reference to all those who were still alive: "If they do not obey Moses and the prophets, neither, if any one were to rise from the dead and go to them, will they believe him.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter II. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

A modern English Catholic translation will be added once its publisher grants permission.