On the Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C, the Gospel tells of the sinful woman who anoints Jesus in the house of a Pharisee. In The Mass Readings Explained, Dr. Brant Pitre walks through this Sunday's readings and unfolds the deep link between being forgiven and loving much—along with the tradition's question of who this woman was.
In Luke 7:36–8:3, the woman washes Jesus' feet with her tears, and he declares, “Her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love.” The first reading gives Nathan's confrontation of David, who repents, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12); Psalm 32 blesses the one whose sin is forgiven; and in Galatians 2 St. Paul teaches that we are justified by faith in Christ.
GOSPEL, FIRST READING & PSALM TRANSCRIPT (Subscribe or Login for Full Transcript):
The 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time for Year C continues the Church's journey through the Gospel of Luke, sometimes called the most beautiful book ever written. Again, we see that beauty here in the mercy of Jesus and the famous story of Jesus and the sinful woman in Luke 7:36, all the way down to 83. So, it's a long gospel for today, but it's an important one, so we're going to take a look at it and see if we can unpack it and also look at how the tradition has answered the question: who was this sinful woman?
SECOND READING TRANSCRIPT (SubscribeorLoginfor Full Transcript):
The 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, continues the Church's proclamation of St. Paul's letter to the Galatians. This week, we turn to an extremely consequential passage in Galatians involving justification by faith apart from works of the law. Let's look at this passage together. In Galatians 2:16, 19-21, we read these words...
The Readings for the Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
First Reading: 2 Samuel 12:7–10, 13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 32:1–2, 5, 7, 11
Second Reading: Galatians 2:16, 19–21
Gospel: Luke 7:36–8:3
Key passages & sources examined: The sinful woman anointing Jesus; “her sins are forgiven, for she loved much”; the tradition's question of her identity; Nathan and David's repentance; justification by faith in Galatians 2.
What are the Mass readings for the Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C? 2 Samuel 12:7–10, 13; Psalm 32:1–2, 5, 7, 11; Galatians 2:16, 19–21; and the Gospel, Luke 7:36–8:3.
What happens in the Gospel? A repentant sinful woman anoints Jesus' feet with her tears; he forgives her sins and praises her great love.
What does “her sins are forgiven, for she loved much” mean? Dr. Pitre draws out how great love flows from being forgiven much—gratitude as the fruit of mercy.
How does David's story connect? Confronted by Nathan, David repents and is forgiven (2 Samuel 12), another image of God's mercy toward the sinner.
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It is a great service to provide the excellent Mass Reading Explained by Dr. Brant Pitre. I like the feature to download the transcript of the video which is very helpful. However, there are some rooms for improvement as followed:
1. The media player's controls are spotty. Very often, the Closed Caption button is not available. Therefore, I could not enable the subtitle.
2. It will be very helpful if the videos can be searched or sorted by the calendar date, and not just the "Number of Sunday in Ordinary Time".
3. It will be nice if you have an app (for both iOS and MacOS) to launch it, such that I do not have to open a web browser and type in the URL address manually every time. I talked to your support folks on this and I was informed that an app is coming soon. Please make sure it supports both iOS and MacOS.
Thank you very much for your hard work.
Yours in Christ
simon
The only thing I'd prefer is to have a search options within the readings/explanations. For example, like youtube, except now that I purchased the service, I'd like to have Sunday explanations for Purgatory or Predestination. It would really help when I'm debating Calvinists because I could resource back to Pitre.
It is a great service to provide the excellent Mass Reading Explained by Dr. Brant Pitre. I like the feature to download the transcript of the video which is very helpful. However, there are some rooms for improvement as followed:
1. The media player's controls are spotty. Very often, the Closed Caption button is not available. Therefore, I could not enable the subtitle.
2. It will be very helpful if the videos can be searched or sorted by the calendar date, and not just the "Number of Sunday in Ordinary Time".
3. It will be nice if you have an app (for both iOS and MacOS) to launch it, such that I do not have to open a web browser and type in the URL address manually every time. I talked to your support folks on this and I was informed that an app is coming soon. Please make sure it supports both iOS and MacOS.
Thank you very much for your hard work.
Yours in Christ
simon
The only thing I'd prefer is to have a search options within the readings/explanations. For example, like youtube, except now that I purchased the service, I'd like to have Sunday explanations for Purgatory or Predestination. It would really help when I'm debating Calvinists because I could resource back to Pitre.