33RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
St. Cecilia, virgin & martyr
Thanksgiving Day (U.S.)
Psalter: Week 1 / (Red)
Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a & 9b
The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests.
1st Reading: Rev 5:1-10
Then, I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll, written on both sides, sealed with seven seals. A mighty angel exclaimed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open this and break the seals?”
But no one in heaven or on earth or in the netherworld was found able to open the book and read it. I wept much, when I saw that no one was found worthy to open the book and read it. Then, one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Look, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the descendant of David, has conquered; he will open the book of the seven seals.”
And I saw next to the throne, with its four living creatures and the twenty-four elders, a Lamb, standing, although it had been slain. I saw him with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out to all the earth.
The Lamb moved forward, and took the book from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders bowed before the Lamb. They all held in their hands harps and golden cups full of incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones.
This is the new song they sang: You are worthy to take the book and open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you purchased, for God, people of every race, language and nation; and you made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they shall reign over the land.
Gospel: Lk 19:41-44
When Jesus had come in sight of the city, he wept over it and said, “If only today you knew the ways of peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Yet days will come upon you, when your enemies will surround you with barricades and shut you in, and press on you from every side. And they will dash you to the ground and your children with you, and not leave stone upon stone within you, for you did not recognize the time and the visitation of your God.
Reflections
Jesus is now on the last stage of his mission. He approaches Jerusalem, which will be the scene for the last great act of his life – his passion, death and resurrection. From here, too, will rise up the new community founded in his name, commissioned to continue the work he had started. As he approaches the city, he weeps over its tragic end. He implies that, if the city had received him as Lord and King, it might not have met the fate that was in store for it. “If only you had known the path to peace this day; but you have completely lost it from view.” Many failed to recognize him as God’s visible presence coming to visit them. Probably those who rejected Jesus did so because they believed that they had perfectly good reasons to do so, drawn from what they saw as their religious fidelity to Israel. They were blinded by the power of the religious and cultural system. They gave their allegiance to their own rules and beliefs rather than to Jesus who was offering a different image of God – not a judgmental God but a God of compassion and mercy. Jesus had called for a change of heart, a whole change of mindset from the familiar to the uncertain. Such a movement is not easy; it requires the need to pursue the inner journey, to listen to the inner restlessness, to become familiar with the deepest desires of the heart, to be deliberately open to the gentle breath of the Spirit. Only in that way can we recognise the time of God’s intervention on our behalf. We miss his active presence in our lives when we are more caught by our own cultural, ideological and religious blindness.
Daily Reflection 2018
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
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