20 November 2025 (Thursday / Ordinary Weekday/ Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

20 November 2025 (Thursday)

Ordinary Weekday/ Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: First Maccabees 2: 15-29
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 50: 1-2, 5-6, 14-15
Alleluia: Psalms 95: 8
Gospel: Luke 19: 41-44

First Reading: First Maccabees 2: 15-29

And they that were sent from king Antiochus came thither, to compel them that were fled into the city of Modin, to sacrifice, and to burn incense, and to depart from the law of God. And many of the people of Israel consented, and came to them: but Mathathias and his sons stood firm. And they that were sent from Antiochus, answering, said to Mathathias: Thou art a ruler, and an honourable, and great man in this city, and adorned with sons, and brethren. Therefore come thou first, and obey the king’s commandment, as all nations have done, and the men of Juda, and they that remain in Jerusalem: and thou, and thy sons, shall be in the number of the king’s friends, and enriched with gold, and silver, and many presents. Then Mathathias answered, and said with a loud voice: Although all nations obey king Antiochus, so as to depart every man from the service of the law of his fathers, and consent to his commandments: I and my sons, and my brethren will obey the law of our fathers. God be merciful unto us: it is not profitable for us to forsake the law, and the justices of God: We will not hearken to the words of king Antiochus, neither will we sacrifice, and transgress the commandments of our law, to go another way. Now as he left off speaking these words, there came a certain Jew in the sight of all to sacrifice to the idols upon the altar in the city of Modin, according to the king’s commandment. And Mathathias saw and was grieved, and his reins trembled, and his wrath was kindled according to the judgment of the law, and running upon him he slew him upon the altar: Moreover the man whom king Antiochus had sent, who compelled them to sacrifice, he slew at the same time, and pulled down the altar. And shewed zeal for the law, as Phinees did by Zamri the son of Salomi. And Mathathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: Every one that hath zeal for the law, and maintaineth the testament, let him follow me. So he, and his sons fled into the mountains, and left all that they had in the city. Then many that sought after judgment, and justice, went down into the desert:

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 50: 1-2, 5-6, 14-15

R. (23) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken: and he hath called the earth. From the rising of the sun, to the going down thereof: Out of Sion the loveliness of his beauty.

R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before sacrifices. And the heavens shall declare his justice: for God is judge.

R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

Offer to God the sacrifice of praise: and pay thy vows to the most High. And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

Alleluia: Psalms 95: 8
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
8 Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
(1. Come, let us cry out with joy to Yahweh, acclaim the rock of our salvation.
2. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving, acclaim him with music.
3. For Yahweh is a great God, a king greater than all the gods.
4. In his power are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are his;
5. the sea belongs to him, for he made it, and the dry land, moulded by his hands.
6. Come, let us bow low and do reverence; kneel before Yahweh who made us!
7. For he is our God, and we the people of his sheepfold, the flock of his hand. If only you would listen to him today!
8. Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as at the time of Massah in the desert,
9. when your ancestors challenged me, put me to the test, and saw what I could do!
10. For forty years that generation sickened me, and I said, 'Always fickle hearts; they cannot grasp my ways.'
11. Then in my anger I swore they would never enter my place of rest).
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Luke 19: 41-44

And when he drew near, seeing the city, he wept over it, saying: If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation.

For our reflection today:

Jesus weeps, because we have chosen the way of war, the way of hatred, the way of hostility”. This is even more glaring now that “we are approaching Christmas: there will be lights, there will be celebrations, trees lit up, even nativity scenes all decorated: the world continues to wage war, to wage wars. The world has not comprehended the way of peace”. “What shall remain? Ruins, thousands of children without education, so many innocent victims: and lots of money in the pockets of arms dealers. Jesus once said: ‘You cannot serve two masters:  either God or riches.’ War is the right choice for him, who would serve wealth: 'Let us build weapons, so that the economy will right itself somewhat, and let us go forward in pursuit of our interests. There is an ugly word the Lord spoke: ‘Cursed!’ Because He said: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers!.’ The men who work war, who make war, are cursed, they are criminals. A war can be justified – so to speak – with many, many reasons, but when all the world as it is today, at war – piecemeal though that war may be – a little here, a little there, and everywhere – there is no justification – and God weeps. Jesus weeps.” (Pope Francis, Santa Marta, 19 November 2015)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)