20 November 2025 (Thursday) / Thursday of week 33 in Ordinary Time / Ordinary Weekday/ Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

20 November 2025 (Thursday)

Thursday of week 33 in Ordinary Time.

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 : 1 Maccabees 2:15‐29

The commissioners of King Antiochus who were enforcing the apostasy came to the town of Modein to make them sacrifice. Many Israelites gathered round them, but Mattathias and his sons drew apart. The king’s commissioners then addressed Mattathias as follows, ‘You are a respected leader, a great man in this town; you have sons and brothers to support you. Be the first to step forward and conform to the king’s decree, as all the nations have done, and the leaders of Judah and the survivors in Jerusalem; you and your sons shall be reckoned among the Friends of the King, you and your sons shall be honoured with gold and silver and many presents.’ Raising his voice, Mattathias retorted, ‘Even if every nation living in the king’s dominions obeys him, each forsaking its ancestral religion to conform to his decrees, I, my sons and my brothers will still follow the covenant of our ancestors. Heaven preserve us from forsaking the Law and its observances. As for the king’s orders, we will not follow them: we will not swerve from our own religion either to right or to left.’ As he finished speaking, a Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein as the royal edict required. When Mattathias saw this, he was fired with zeal; stirred to the depth of his being, he gave vent to his legitimate anger, threw himself on the man and slaughtered him on the altar. At the same time he killed the king’s commissioner who was there to enforce the sacrifice, and tore down the altar. In his zeal for the Law he acted as Phinehas did against Zimri son of Salu. Then Mattathias went through the town, shouting at the top of his voice, ‘Let everyone who has a fervour for the Law and takes his stand on the covenant come out and follow me.’ Then he fled with his sons into the hills, leaving all their possessions behind in the town. At this, many who were concerned for virtue and justice went down to the desert and stayed there.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 49(50):1‐2,5‐6,14‐15

I will show God’s salvation to the upright.

The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken and summoned the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion’s perfect beauty he shines.

I will show God’s salvation to the upright.

‘Summon before me my people who made covenant with me by sacrifice.’ The heavens proclaim his justice, for he, God, is the judge.

I will show God’s salvation to the upright.

Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God and render him your votive offerings. Call on me in the day of distress. I will free you and you shall honour me.’

I will show God’s salvation to the upright.

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

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem and came in sight of the city he shed tears over it and said, ‘If you in your turn had only understood on this day the message of peace! But, alas, it is hidden from your eyes! Yes, a time is coming when your enemies will raise fortifications all round you, when they will encircle you and hem you in on every side; they will dash you and the children inside your walls to the ground; they will leave not one stone standing on another within you – and all because you did not recognise your opportunity when God offered it!’

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)