22 November 2025 (Saturday) / Saint Cecilia, Virgin, Martyr Obligatory Memorial / Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

22 November 2025 (Saturday)

Saint Cecilia, Virgin, Martyr Obligatory Memorial.

Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: First Maccabees 6: 1-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 9: 2-3, 4 and 6, 16 and 19
Alleluia: Second Timothy 1: 10
Gospel: Luke 20: 27-40

First Reading: First Maccabees 6: 1-13

Now king Antiochus was going through the higher countries, and he heard that the city of Elymais in Persia was greatly renowned, and abounding in silver and gold. And that there was in it a temple, exceeding rich: and coverings of gold, and breastplates, and shields which king Alexander, son of Philip the Macedonian that reigned first in Greece, had left there. Lo, he came, and sought to take the city and to pillage it: But he was not able, because the design was known to them that were in the city. And they rose up against him in battle, and he fled away from thence, and departed with great sadness, and returned towards Babylonia. And whilst he was in Persia, there came one that told him, how the armies that were in the land of Juda were put to flight: And that Lysias went with a very great power, and was put to flight before the face of the Jews, and that they were grown strong by the armour, and power, and store of spoils, which they had gotten out of the camps which they had destroyed: And that they had thrown down the abomination which he had set up upon the altar in Jerusalem, and that they had compassed about the sanctuary with high walls as before, and Bethsura also his city. And it came to pass when the king heard these words, that he was struck with fear, and exceedingly moved: and he laid himself down upon his bed, and fell sick for grief, because it had not fallen out to him as he imagined. And he remained there many days: for great grief came more and more and more upon him, and he made account that he should die. And he called for all his friends, and said to them: Sleep is gone from my eyes, and I am fallen away, and my heart is cast down for anxiety. And I said in my heart: Into how much tribulation am I come, and into what floods of sorrow, wherein now I am: I that was pleasant and beloved in my power!But now I remember the evils that I have done in Jerusalem, from whence also I took away all the spoils of gold, and of silver that were in it, and I sent to destroy the inhabitants of Juda without cause. I know therefore that for this cause these evils have found me: and behold I perish with great grief in a strange land.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 9: 2-3, 4 and 6, 16 and 19

R. (16) I will rejoice in your salvation, O Lord.

I will give praise to thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: I will relate all thy wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing to thy name, O thou most high.

R. I will rejoice in your salvation, O Lord.

When my enemy shall be turned back: they shall be weakened and perish before thy face. Thou hast rebuked the Gentiles, and the wicked one hath perished: thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever.

R. I will rejoice in your salvation, O Lord.

I will rejoice in thy salvation: the Gentiles have stuck fast in the destruction which they have prepared. Their foot hath been taken in the very snare which they hid. For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end: the patience of the poor shall not perish for ever.

R. I will rejoice in your salvation, O Lord.

Alleluia: Second Timothy 1: 10
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
10 Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
(6. That is why I am reminding you now to fan into a flame the gift of God that you possess through the laying on of my hands.
7. God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power and love and self-control.
8. So you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to our Lord, or ashamed of me for being his prisoner; but share in my hardships for the sake of the gospel, relying on the power of God
9. who has saved us and called us to be holy -- not because of anything we ourselves had done but for his own purpose and by his own grace. This grace had already been granted to us, in Christ Jesus, before the beginning of time,
10. but it has been revealed only by the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus. He has abolished death, and he has brought to light immortality and life through the gospel,
11. in whose service I have been made herald, apostle and teacher.
12. That is why I am experiencing my present sufferings; but I am not ashamed, because I know in whom I have put my trust, and I have no doubt at all that he is able to safeguard until that Day what I have entrusted to him.
13. Keep as your pattern the sound teaching you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
14. With the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, look after that precious thing given in trust).

Gospel: Luke 20: 27-40

And there came to him some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is any resurrection, and they asked him, saying: Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he leave no children, that his brother should take her to wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children. And the next took her to wife, and he also died childless. And the third took her. And in like manner all the seven, and they left no children, and died. Last of all the woman died also. In the resurrection therefore, whose wife of them shall she be? For all the seven had her to wife. And Jesus said to them: The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But they that shall be accounted worthy of that world, and of the resurrection from the dead, shall neither be married, nor take wives. Neither can they die any more: for they are equal to the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Now that the dead rise again, Moses also shewed, at the bush, when he called the Lord, The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; For he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live to him. And some of the scribes answering, said to him: Master, thou hast said well. And after that they durst not ask him any more questions.

For our reflection today:

With this response, first and foremost, Jesus invites His interlocutors — and us too — to consider that this earthly dimension in which we now live is not the only dimension, but that there is another, no longer subject to death, which will fully manifest that we are children of God. It is of great comfort and hope to listen to this simple and clear word of Jesus about life beyond death; we need it very much especially in our time, so rich in knowledge about the universe but so lacking in wisdom about eternal life. Jesus responds that life belongs to God, who loves us and cares very deeply about us, to the point of linking His name to ours. Life exists where there is [a] bond, communion, brotherhood; and it is a life stronger than death when it is built on true relationships and bonds of fidelity. On the contrary, there is no life where one has the presumption of belonging only to oneself and of living as an island: death prevails in these attitudes. It is selfishness. If I live for myself, I am sowing death in my heart. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 10 November 2019)

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