21 November 2025 (Friday) / Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Obligatory Memorial / Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

21 November 2025 (Friday)

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Obligatory Memorial.

Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: First Maccabees 4: 36-37, 52-59
Responsorial Psalm: First Chronicles 29: 10-12
Alleluia: John 10: 27
Gospel: Luke 19: 45-48

First Reading: First Maccabees 4: 36-37, 52-59

Then Judas, and his brethren said: Behold our enemies are discomfited: let us go up now to cleanse the holy places and to repair them. And all the army assembled together, and they went up into mount Sion. And they arose before the morning on the five and twentieth day of the ninth month (which is the month of Casleu) in the hundred and forty-eighth year. And they offered sacrifice according to the law upon the new altar of holocausts which they had made. According to the time, and according to the day wherein the heathens had defiled it, in the same was it dedicated anew with canticles, and harps, and lutes, and cymbals. And all the people fell upon their faces, and adored, and blessed up to heaven, him that had prospered them. And they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and they offered holocausts with joy, and sacrifices of salvation, and of praise. And they adorned the front of the temple with crowns of gold, and escutcheons, and they renewed the gates, and the chambers, and hanged doors upon them. And there was exceeding great joy among the people, and the reproach of the Gentiles was turned away. And Judas, and his brethren, and all the church of Israel decreed, that the day of the dedication of the altar should be kept in its season from year to year for eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month of Casleu, with joy and gladness.

Responsorial Psalm: First Chronicles 29: 10-12

R. (13) We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

Blessed art thou, O Lord the God of Israel, our father from eternity to eternity.

R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, and power, and glory, and victory: and to thee is praise: for all that is in heaven, and in earth, is thine.

R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art above all princes. Thine are riches, and thine is glory.

R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

Thou hast dominion over all, in thy hand is power and might: in thy hand greatness, and the empire of all things.

R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

Alleluia: John 10: 27
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
27 My sheep hear my voice: and I know them, and they follow me.
(25. Jesus replied: I have told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name are my witness;
26. but you do not believe, because you are no sheep of mine.
27. The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.
28. I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from my hand.
29. The Father, for what he has given me, is greater than anyone, and no one can steal anything from the Father's hand.
30. The Father and I are one).
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Luke 19: 45-48

And entering into the temple, he began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought. Saying to them: It is written: My house is the house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves. And he was teaching daily in the temple. And the chief priests and the scribes and the rulers of the people sought to destroy him: And they found not what to do to him: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.

For our reflection today:

Jesus formed a new family, no longer based on natural ties, but on faith in him, on his love which welcomes us and unites us to each other, in the Holy Spirit. All those who welcome Jesus’ word are children of God and brothers and sisters among themselves. Welcoming the word of Jesus makes us brothers and sisters, makes us Jesus’ family. Speaking ill of others, destroying others’ reputations, makes us the devil’s family. Jesus’ response was not a lack of respect for his mother and his brethren. Rather, for Mary it is the greatest recognition, precisely because she herself is the perfect disciple who completely obeyed God’s will. May the Virgin Mother help us to live always in communion with Jesus, recognizing the work of the Holy Spirit who acts in him and in the Church, regenerating the world to new life. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 10 June 2018)

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