November 26, 2025
Wednesday of the
Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 505
Reading
1
Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17,
23-28
King Belshazzar
gave a great banquet for a thousand of his lords,
with whom he drank.
Under the influence of the wine,
he ordered the gold and silver vessels
which Nebuchadnezzar, his father,
had taken from the temple in Jerusalem,
to be brought in so that the king, his lords,
his wives and his entertainers might drink from them.
When the gold and silver vessels
taken from the house of God in Jerusalem had been brought in,
and while the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainers
were drinking wine from them,
they praised their gods of gold and silver,
bronze and iron, wood and stone.
Suddenly, opposite the lampstand,
the fingers of a human hand appeared,
writing on the plaster of the wall in the king's palace.
When the king saw the wrist and hand that wrote, his face blanched;
his thoughts terrified him, his hip joints shook,
and his knees knocked.
Then Daniel was brought into the presence of the king.
The king asked him, "Are you the Daniel, the Jewish exile,
whom my father, the king, brought from Judah?
I have heard that the Spirit of God is in you,
that you possess brilliant knowledge and extraordinary wisdom.
I have heard that you can interpret dreams and solve difficulties;
if you are able to read the writing and tell me what it means,
you shall be clothed in purple,
wear a gold collar about your neck,
and be third in the government of the kingdom."
Daniel answered the king:
"You may keep your gifts, or give your presents to someone else;
but the writing I will read for you, O king,
and tell you what it means.
You have rebelled against the Lord of heaven.
You had the vessels of his temple brought before you,
so that you and your nobles, your wives and your entertainers,
might drink wine from them;
and you praised the gods of silver and gold,
bronze and iron, wood and stone,
that neither see nor hear nor have intelligence.
But the God in whose hand is your life breath
and the whole course of your life, you did not glorify.
By him were the wrist and hand sent, and the writing set down.
"This is the writing that was inscribed:
MENE, TEKEL, and PERES.
These words mean:
MENE, God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it;
TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting;
PERES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians."
Responsorial
Psalm
Daniel 3:62, 63, 64, 65, 66,
67
R. (59b) Give
glory and eternal praise to him.
"Sun and moon, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"Stars of heaven, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"Every shower and dew, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"All you winds, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"Fire and heat, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"Cold and chill, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Remain faithful until death,
And I will give you the crown of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to the
crowd:
"They will seize and persecute you,
they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons,
and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents,
brothers, relatives, and friends,
and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112625.cfm
Commentary on Daniel
5:1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28
If yesterday’s reading was about ‘feet of clay’, today’s is
about ‘the writing on the wall’. Our Bible is full of phrases that have passed
into our daily language and are familiar even to those who have never opened
the book.
The setting for today’s reading is a great banquet thrown by
King Belshazzar for his nobles, a thousand of them altogether. In the
Babylonian language the king’s name would be ‘Bel-shar-usur’, meaning
‘May-Bel-protect-the-king’. Although further on in the account he is called the
son of Nebuchadnezzar, he is in fact known to be the son of Nabonidus, who gave
him the title of king. ‘Son’ could mean ‘descendant’ or even ‘successor’.
Actually, we know that several kings of Babylon intervened between
Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, but it was necessary for the author to put the
two kings close together so as to make Daniel’s appearance plausible as being
alive during both reigns.
In the presence of his guests the king began drinking his
wine and there is a hint that he was drinking quite a lot, with the not
uncommon outcome of making strange on-the-spot decisions. He suddenly gives the
order for gold and silver vessels which had been looted by King Nebuchadnezzar
from the Temple in Jerusalem to be brought in so that his wives, his nobles and
the women who sang for him could drink from them. Which they did. The orgy of
revelry and blasphemy on such occasions is well documented by ancient Greek
historians such as Herodotus and Xenophon.
As they drank from these sacred vessels, they were also singing
the praises of their idols of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and
stone. Using vessels consecrated to the worship of Yahweh for the adulation of
‘gods’ made of inanimate materials was, to any Jew, a horrific profanation.
It was not surprising, then, that all of a sudden, a hand
was seen writing on one of the palace walls, clearly visible by the light of a
nearby lamp. The king “was watching the hand as it wrote”; he could see the
hand ‘clearly’ (remember that, in pre-electricity days, the banquet hall would
be in relative darkness, especially the walls). The highly superstitious king
was filled with fear and alarm. He became weak and began to tremble all over:
His limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.
He immediately promised huge rewards to any sage who could
interpret what was going on. None of them could do so. The king became even
paler. Then (though not part of our reading) the queen entered and told the
king not to fear. There was a man who had been chief sage in the days of King
Nebuchadnezzar, “your father”, who was an expert in the interpretation of
dreams. Daniel is brought in to the king’s presence.
The king tells Daniel what he has heard about him, that he
is one of the Judean exiles brought to Babylon by his “father” (Nebuchadnezzar)
and that he is known for his “enlightenment, understanding, and excellent
wisdom”. He hopes that Daniel will be able to do what all his other wise men
cannot do—decipher the strange message written on the wall. In return, Daniel
will be dressed in purple (the colour worn by the rich and powerful), have a
gold chain put around his neck (probably the equivalent of an English
knighthood) and be made one of the top three administrators of his kingdom.
In a great show of integrity and courage, Daniel spurns the
offer of gifts and rewards, while assuring the king that he is able to
interpret the strange message. He first tells the king that his father,
Nebuchadnezzar, had abused his great power and, in his pride, was driven from
his throne. Only in his misery did he acknowledge God as the true ruler of
people everywhere (these statements too are not included in our reading).
Now, says Daniel, Belshazzar has learnt nothing and is
walking the same path. He then goes on to make a scathing attack on Belshazzar
and his behaviour. He has defied the Lord of heaven by taking the sacred
vessels which were pillaged by Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple in Jerusalem and
he, his nobles, his wives and his women entertainers have drunk their wine from
them. In addition, he tells the king:
You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze,
iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose
power is your very breath and to whom belong all your ways, you have not
honored.
In other words, the king has not honoured God, to whom he
owes his very life and all his prosperity.
There are, then, three main accusations brought against
Belshazzar: he sinned not through ignorance, but through disobedience and
pride, because he should have learnt from the fate of his “father” who was
deposed and exiled to live among farm animals (see Dan 5:20-21); he defied God
by desecrating the sacred vessels; and he worshipped man-made idols instead of
the God from whom all he has and is came.
And now, says Daniel:
So from [God’s] presence the hand was
sent and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was
inscribed: MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.
The meaning of the words, continues Daniel, is as follows:
MENE: God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought
it to an end;
TEKEL: you have been weighed on the scales and found
wanting (in the light of God’s expectations);
PARSIN: your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes
and Persians.
The three mysterious words may represent three Asian
measures of weight or of coins—a mina, a shekel (60th part of a mina) and a
half-mina (or paras). There is then a play on words which emerges in Daniel’s
interpretation above.
Mene suggests the verb mana, “to measure”; tekel
the verb shaqal, to “weigh out”; while parsin suggests both the
verb paras, “to divide”, and the Persians (descendants of Persians
in India are still known as Parsi).
The full meaning, however, of Daniel’s interpretation is not
so clear to us. It could allude to the decreasing influence of the three successive
empires—Babylonians, Medes and Persians. Or it may refer to the three kings,
Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach and Belshazzar—or perhaps to Nebuchadnezzar,
Belshazzar, and the kings of the ‘Medes and Persians’. Whichever reading is
right, the outcome is the same—the ultimate and inevitable collapse of powerful
dynasties and empires.
The epilogue to the story is not given in our reading, but
the king, in spite of the denunciation he has heard from Daniel’s lips, keeps
his promise and clothes Daniel in purple and gold and gives him the third place
in his kingdom. And that very night, too, the king is murdered.
The message of the story is clearly directed against King
Antiochus under whom the Jews were suffering and who had also desecrated and
plundered their Temple. The author is saying that Antiochus’ fate will not be
any different from that of Nebuchadnazzar or of Belshazzar.
And there lies a message of hope for every suffering people.
No ruler, however powerful, can long maintain a regime that goes against the
values of God. Nor can any one of us find true happiness in a lifestyle that
violates the same values.
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Commentary on Luke
21:12-19
Jesus continues his warnings, but now mainly to his own
disciples. He foretells experiences and happenings which will be soon realised
in the Acts of the Apostles, not to mention in the subsequent history of the
Church through the centuries, including our own. Jesus speaks of abuse and
persecution:
…they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons…
The term ‘hand over’ is a refrain occurring again and again
in the New Testament. John the Baptist was handed over to Herod who put him in
prison and then executed him. Jesus himself is handed over first to the leaders
of his own people and then into the hands of the Romans who would execute him.
And now Jesus tells his disciples that they, too, can expect to be handed over
and to be dragged before civil and religious courts “because of my name”.
Many of the early Christians came into conflict with Jewish
communities and were handed over to synagogues. Synagogues were not only prayer
halls and places to learn the Scriptures, but also were used for civil
administration and as places of confinement while awaiting trial.
The charges may be civil or criminal, but the real reason
will be that the accused are followers of Christ. For example, countries that
practice religious persecution always insist people are arrested (or worse)
because of their violation of civil and criminal laws, and not because of their
religious affiliation. As such, Christians become objects of fear and hatred,
their ideas seen as threatening and even subversive.
But says Jesus, his followers are not themselves to fear or
be anxious. When the time comes, they will know what to do and what to say. He
will tell them what to say and how to answer.
This promise has been vindicated again and again across
time. The really sad thing is that those betraying them to the authorities will
often be members of their own household—”parents and siblings…relatives and
friends”. Again, this prophecy sadly has been realised all too often.
Jesus continues:
You will be hated by all because of my name.
This is strange and, in a way, makes no sense. Jesus—who
preached truth, love, freedom, peace, justice and non-violence—becomes, in his
followers, the object of lies, hatred, imprisonment and torture, division,
injustice and the most terrible violence.
But not a hair of your head will perish.
This is not a phrase to be taken literally, because many
suffer terribly in their bodies, but there is an inner integrity and wholeness
that nothing can destroy.
By your endurance you will gain your souls.
That is, by going through all that our enemies can throw at
us, we come out at the end people who are whole and complete and who can lift
our heads up high. There are many examples even in our own recent past: Bishop
Oscar Romero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, St Maximilian Kolbe, Edith Stein (St Teresa
Benedicta of the Cross), to name a few. Their memories are treasured and become
an inspiration to all of us.
Let us pray that we may have the courage to be true to our
Christian values whatever the cost. Let us not be surprised that our faith and
our religion can create such anger and such hostility.
At the same time, we reach out continually in truth and love
to dissipate the unjustified fears that our beliefs can engender in others. We
are a threat to false values, but we must try hard to help people see where
real truth and goodness lie. And we do that by seeking for that in our own
lives.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1344g/
Wednesday,
November 26, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening prayer
Lord,
increase our eagerness to do Your will
and help us to know the saving power of Your love. You live
and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Gospel reading - Luke 21:12-19
Jesus said to His disciples: “You
will be seized and persecuted; you will be handed over to the synagogues and to
imprisonment, and brought before kings and governors for the sake of My name,
and that will be your opportunity to bear witness.
Make up your minds not to
prepare your defense, because I myself shall give you a mouth and wisdom that
none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict.
You will be
betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and some of you
will be put to death. You will be hated universally on account of My name, but
not a hair of your head will be lost. Your perseverance will gain your lives.”
Reflection
•
In today’s Gospel, which is a continuation of
the discourse begun yesterday, Jesus lists different signs to help the
communities place themselves in these events and not lose faith in God, as well
as the courage to persevere against the attacks of the Roman Empire. We will
repeat the first five signs mentioned in yesterday’s Gospel:
-
1st sign: the false Messiahs (Lk
21:8);
-
2nd sign: war and revolutions (Lk 21:9);
-
3rd sign: nations which fight against other
nations, a kingdom against another kingdom (Lk 21:10);
-
4th sign: earthquakes in different places (Lk
21:11);
-
5th sign: hunger, plagues and signs in the sky
(Lk 21:11);
-
Yesterday’s Gospel ends here. Now, in today’s
Gospel another sign is added. 6th sign: the persecution of Christians (Lk
21:12-19).
•
Luke 21:12. The
sixth sign is the persecution. At various times, in the few years which He
lived among us, Jesus warned the disciples that they would be persecuted. Here,
in the last discourse, He repeats the same warning and makes them know that the
persecution has to be taken into consideration in discerning the signs of the
times: “You will be seized and
persecuted, you will be handed over to the Synagogues and to imprisonment, and
brought before kings and governors, for the sake of my name”. Of these
apparently very negative warnings, Jesus had said, “Do not be terrified for this is something that must happen first, but
the end will not come at once”. (Lk 21:9). And the Gospel of Mark adds that
all these signs “have only begun, this is
the beginning of the birth pangs!” (Mk 13:8). Birth pangs, though being
very painful for the mother are not a sign of death, but rather of life! They
are not a reason for fear, but rather to hope! This way of reading the events
brings peace to the persecuted communities. Reading or hearing these signs,
prophesied by Jesus in the year 33, the readers of Luke of the years 80 could
conclude that all these things are taking place according to the plan foreseen
and announced by Jesus! Therefore, history has not escaped from God’s hand! God
is with us!
•
Luke 21:13-15: The mission of the Christians during the time of persecution. Persecution
is not something fatal or a reason for discouragement or despair. It should be
considered a possibility offered by God and a way that the communities may
carry out the mission of witnessing to the Good News of God. God says, “That will be your opportunity to bear
witness. Make up your minds not to prepare your defense because I myself shall
give you a mouth and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist
or contradict”.
•
Through this affirmation Jesus encourages the
persecuted Christians who lived in anguish. He makes them know that even if
they are persecuted, they have a mission to carry out, to give witness of the
Good News of God and thus be a sign of the Kingdom (Acts 1:8). A courageous
witness would lead the people to repeat what the magicians in Egypt said before
the signs and to have courage like Moses and Aaron: “The finger of God is here” (Ex 8:19). Conclusion: the communities
should not be worried. If everything is in God’s hands, if everything was
already foreseen, if everything is nothing more than birth pangs, then there is
no reason to worry.
•
Luke 21:16-17: Persecution even within the family. “You will be betrayed even by
parents and brothers, relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to
death; you will be hated universally on account of My name”. Persecution
does not only come from outside, from the Empire, but also from inside, from
one’s own family. In the same family, some accepted the Good News, others did
not. The announcement of the Good News caused divisions within families. There
were even some people who denounced and killed their own relatives who declared
themselves followers of Jesus, using the old Law (Deut 13:7-12).
•
Luke 21:18-19: the source of hope and of resistance. “But not a hair of your head will
be lost. Your perseverance will gain your lives!” This final observation of
Jesus recalls the other word which Jesus had said: “But not a hair of your head will be lost!” (Lk 21:18). This
comparison was a strong call not to lose faith and to continue righteously in
the community. And this also confirms what Jesus had said on another occasion:
“Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but anyone who will lose his
life for My sake will save it” (Lk 9:24).
Personal questions
•
How do you usually read the stages of the
history of your life or of your country?
•
Looking at the history of humanity of the last
years, has hope increased or diminished in you?
Concluding prayer
Yahweh has made
known His saving power, revealed His saving justice for the nations to see,
mindful of His faithful love and His constancy to the House of Israel. (Ps
98:2-3)
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