Saturday of the Thirty-third week in Ordinary Time 2nd book of Maccabees 6:1-13. As King Antiochus was traversing the inland provinces, he heard that in Persia there was a city called Elymais, famous for its wealth in silver and gold, and that its temple was very rich, containing gold helmets, breastplates, and weapons left there by Alexander, son of Philip, king of Macedon, the first king of the Greeks. He went therefore and tried to capture and pillage the city. But he could not do so, because his plan became known to the people of the city who rose up in battle against him. So he retreated and in great dismay withdrew from there to return to Babylon. While he was in Persia, a messenger brought him news that the armies sent into the land of Judah had been put to flight; that Lysias had gone at first with a strong army and been driven back by the Israelites; that they had grown strong by reason of the arms, men, and abundant possessions taken from the armies they had destroyed; that they had pulled down the Abomination which he had built upon the altar in Jerusalem; and that they had surrounded with high walls both the sanctuary, as it had been before, and his city of Beth-zur. When the king heard this news, he was struck with fear and very much shaken. Sick with grief because his designs had failed, he took to his bed. There he remained many days, overwhelmed with sorrow, for he knew he was going to die. So he called in all his Friends and said to them: “Sleep has departed from my eyes, for my heart is sinking with anxiety. I said to myself: ‘Into what tribulation have I come, and in what floods of sorrow am I now! Yet I was kindly and beloved in my rule.’ But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem, when I carried away all the vessels of gold and silver that were in it, and for no cause gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed. I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me; and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land.” Psalms 9(9A):2-3.4.6.16.19. I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous deeds. I will delight and rejoice in you; I will sing hymns to your name, Most High. For my enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you. You rebuked the nations, you destroyed the wicked; their name you blotted out for all time The nations fall into the pit they dig; in the snare they hide, their own foot is caught. The needy will never be forgotten, nor will the hope of the afflicted ever fade. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 20:27-40. Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything. Commentary of the day : Saint Pacian of Barcelona “He is not God of the dead, but of the living” //

Friday, 20 November 2009

Friday of the Thirty-third week in Ordinary Time

Today the Church celebrates : St. Edmund the Martyr (841-870)

See commentary below or click here
Saint Augustine : “All the people were hanging on his words”

2nd book of Maccabees 4:36-37.52-59.

Then Judas and his brothers said, “Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.” So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion. Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight, they arose and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar of holocausts that they had made. On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had defiled it, on that very day it was reconsecrated with songs, harps, flutes, and cymbals. All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success. For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar and joyfully offered holocausts and sacrifices of deliverance and praise. They ornamented the facade of the temple with gold crowns and shields; they repaired the gates and the priests’ chambers and furnished them with doors. There was great joy among the people now that the disgrace of the Gentiles was removed. Then Judas and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary every year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev.

1 Chron. 29:10.11-12.

Then David blessed the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, praying in these words: “Blessed may you be, O LORD, God of Israel our father, from eternity to eternity.
“Yours, O LORD, are grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and glory. For all in heaven and on earth is yours; yours, O LORD, is the sovereignty; you are exalted as head over all.
“Riches and honor are from you, and you have dominion over all. In your hand are power and might; it is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 19:45-48.

Then Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.'” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.

Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB

Commentary of the day :

Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Sermon on  Psalm 131[130], § 3

“All the people were hanging on his words”

We pray in God’s temple when we pray in the peace of the Church, in the unity of Christ’s body, because the Body of Christ is made up of the great mass of believers scattered throughout the world… It is in this temple, and not in the material Temple at Jerusalem, that we must pray «in spirit and truth» (Jn 4,23) if we are to be answered. The latter was «a shadow of things to come» (Col 2,17), which is why it fell to ruin… The temple that fell could not be the house of prayer of which it was said that: «My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples» (Mc 11,17; Is 56,7; Jer 7,11).

Was it indeed the case that those who wanted to make of it «a den of thieves» were the cause of its fall? In the same way, neither do those leading a disordered life in the Church and seeking, so far as they might, to make the house of God a den of thieves, neither do those overthrow this temple. The time will come when they will be cast out beneath the blows of their sins. This gathering of the faithful, the temple of God and Body of Christ, has but one voice and sings as one person… If we want, this voice is ours; if we want, when we hear them singing we, too, will sing in our hearts.

Thursday of the Thirty-third week in Ordinary Time
2nd book of Maccabees 2:15-29.
The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices.
Many of Israel joined them, but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart.
Then the officers of the king addressed Mattathias: “You are a leader, an honorable and great man in this city, supported by sons and kinsmen.
Come now, be the first to obey the king’s command, as all the Gentiles and the men of Judah and those who are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons shall be numbered among the King’s Friends, and shall be enriched with silver and gold and many gifts.”
But Mattathias answered in a loud voice: “Although all the Gentiles in the king’s realm obey him, so that each forsakes the religion of his fathers and consents to the king’s orders,
yet I and my sons and my kinsmen will keep to the covenant of our fathers.
God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments.
We will not obey the words of the king nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree.”
As he finished saying these words, a certain Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein according to the king’s order.
When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal; his heart was moved and his just fury was aroused; he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar.
At the same time, he also killed the messenger of the king who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar.
Thus he showed his zeal for the law, just as Phinehas did with Zimri, son of Salu.
Then Mattathias went through the city shouting, “Let everyone who is zealous for the law and who stands by the covenant follow after me!”
Thereupon he fled to the mountains with his sons, leaving behind in the city all their possessions.
Many who sought to live according to righteousness and religious custom went out into the desert to settle there,

Psalms 50(49):1-2.5-6.14-15.
A psalm of Asaph. The LORD, the God of gods, has spoken and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
From Zion God shines forth. perfect in beauty.
“Gather my faithful ones before me, those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
The heavens proclaim divine justice, for God alone is the judge. Selah
Offer praise as your sacrifice to God; fulfill your vows to the Most High.
Then call on me in time of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall honor me.”

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 19:41-44.
As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it,
saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Commentary of the day : Paul VI
“But now it is hidden from your eyes”