21 November 2025 (Friday) / The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Friday of week 33 in Ordinary Time / Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Obligatory Memorial / Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

21 November 2025 (Friday)

The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Friday of week 33 in Ordinary Time.

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 : 1 Maccabees 4:36‐37,52‐59

Judas and his brothers said, ‘Now that our enemies have been defeated, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ So they marshalled the whole army, and went up to Mount Zion. On the twenty‐fifth of the ninth month, Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty‐eight, they rose at dawn and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar of holocausts which they had made. The altar was dedicated, to the sound of zithers, harps and cymbals, at the same time of year and on the same day on which the pagans had originally profaned it. The whole people fell prostrate in adoration, praising to the skies him who had made them so successful. For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering holocausts, communion sacrifices and thanksgivings. They ornamented the front of the Temple with crowns and bosses of gold, repaired the gates and the storerooms and fitted them with doors. There was no end to the rejoicing among the people, and the reproach of the pagans was lifted from them. Judas, with his brothers and the whole assembly of Israel, made it a law that the days of the dedication of the altar should be celebrated yearly at the proper season, for eight days beginning on the twenty‐fifth of the month Chislev, with rejoicing and gladness.

Responsive Psalm : 1 Chronicles 29:10‐12

We praise your glorious name, O Lord.

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, for ever, for ages unending.

We praise your glorious name, O Lord.

Yours, Lord, are greatness and power, and splendour and triumph and glory. All is yours, in heaven and on earth.

We praise your glorious name, O Lord.

Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom, you are supreme over all. Both honour and riches come from you.

We praise your glorious name, O Lord.

You are the ruler of all, from your hand come strength and power, from your hand come greatness and might.

We praise your glorious name, O Lord.

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

Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling. ‘According to scripture,’ he said ‘my house will be a house of prayer. But you have turned it into a robbers’ den.’ He taught in the Temple every day. The chief priests and the scribes, with the support of the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they did not see how they could carry this out because the people as a whole hung on his words.

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)