NOVEMBER 25, 2016 : FRIDAY OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 507

Reading 1RV 20:1-4, 11—21:2

I, John, saw an angel come down from heaven,
holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a heavy chain.
He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent,
which is the Devil or Satan,
and tied it up for a thousand years and threw it into the abyss,
which he locked over it and sealed,
so that it could no longer lead the nations astray
until the thousand years are completed.
After this, it is to be released for a short time.

Then I saw thrones; those who sat on them were entrusted with judgment.
I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God,
and who had not worshiped the beast or its image
nor had accepted its mark on their foreheads or hands.
They came to life and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Next I saw a large white throne and the one who was sitting on it.
The earth and the sky fled from his presence
and there was no place for them.
I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne,
and scrolls were opened.
Then another scroll was opened, the book of life.
The dead were judged according to their deeds,
by what was written in the scrolls.
The sea gave up its dead;
then Death and Hades gave up their dead.
All the dead were judged according to their deeds.
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the pool of fire.
(This pool of fire is the second death.)
Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life
was thrown into the pool of fire.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
The former heaven and the former earth had passed away,
and the sea was no more.
I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Responsorial PsalmPS 84:3, 4, 5-6A AND 8A

R. (Rev. 21:3b) Here God lives among his people.
My soul yearns and pines 
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
R. Here God lives among his people.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young–
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
R. Here God lives among his people.
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength.
R. Here God lives among his people.

AlleluiaLK 21:28

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 21:29-33

Jesus told his disciples a parable.
“Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.
When their buds burst open,
you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
in the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that the Kingdom of God is near.
Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place.
Heaven and earth will pass away, 
but my words will not pass away.”

www.usccb.org

Meditation: "My words will not pass away"

Do you recognize the signs of God's presence and action in your life and the world today? Jesus used the image of a fig tree to teach his disciples an important lesson about reading the "signs of the times." The fig tree was a common and important source of food for the Jews. It bore fruit twice a year, in the autumn and in the early spring. The Talmud (teachings and commentaries of the ancient rabbis on the Jewish Scriptures) said that the first fruit came the day after Passover. The Jews believed that when the Messiah came he would usher in the kingdom of God at Passover time. 

Let the fruit of God's kingdom grow within you
The early signs of a changing season, such as springtime, summer, or autumn, are evident for all who can see and observe the changes. Just so are the signs of God's kingdom and his return in glory on the day of judgment. The "budding" of God's kingdom begins first in the hearts of those who are receptive to God's word. Those who trust in God's word will bear the fruits of his kingdom. And what are the fruits of that kingdom? "The kingdom of God ..is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). The Lord gives the first-fruits of his kingdom to those who open their hearts to him with expectant faith and trust in his word.

We do not know the day nor the hour when the Lord Jesus will return again in glory. But the Lord does give us signs, not only to "wake us up" as a warning, but also to "rouse our spirits" to be ready and eager to receive his kingdom when he comes in all his power and glory. The "Day of the Lord" will strike terror in those who have ignored or rejected God, but it will be a day of joy and rejoicing for those who long to see the Lord face-to-face. The Lord Jesus wants us to be filled with joyful anticipation for his coming again. 

The Lord opens he word for us - listen and respond
While we wait for the Lord's physical return in glory, we can know his presence with us through the work and action of the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts. The Lord Jesus comes daily and frequently to those who long for him and he speaks tenderly to our hearts like a lover who whispers in the ear of the beloved. He comes to show us the way to our heavenly Father and to give us the hope of eternal life. Do you recognize his presence and do you listen to his word?

"Lord Jesus Christ, you are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all history, and the lord of all creation. Give me joyful hope and assurance that I will see you face to face and be united with you forever when you return in glory."

A Daily Quote from the early church fathers: My words will not pass away, by an anonymous early author from the early Greek fathers

"'This generation' refers both to those who suffer temptation and to those who cause it. It refers to sinners among men and to the demons who are at work in them. For neither group will cease being in the world until its consummation. For Christ said, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels' (Matthew 25:41). Moreover, it is necessary that the source of temptation be preserved as long as there is faith which needs testing. It is also possible, however, that 'this generation' refers to those mortal Christians who would not pass over into eternal life and be made immortal and impassible 'until' all the events about which Christ was speaking had taken place.

"'Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away' because heaven and earth were created to serve you, but my words were uttered to govern you. Both heaven and earth are subject to vanity, as the apostle said, 'Creation is subject to vanity' (Romans 8:20). Truth, however, is by nature unable to deceive and can never die." (excerpt from INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 49, the Greek fathers).

www.dailyscripture.net

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, LUKE 21:29-33
Weekday
​Revelation 20:1-4, 11--21:2; Psalm 84)

KEY VERSE: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (v 33). 
TO KNOW: The prophet Jeremiah used the example of the budding almond tree, which he called the "watching tree" (the first tree to bloom in springtime), to predict the coming destruction of Jerusalem in his own time (Jer 1:11). Similarly, Jesus used the budding of the fig tree to illustrate the coming reign of God. Jesus told his disciples that the first signs of the kingdom's nearness would be witnessed by their own generation. This did not mean that the end of the world would come during the disciples' generation. That generation had already passed by the time Luke wrote his gospel. The statement probably meant that the first of the events leading to the end of the world was the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, which happened within that generation. Jesus emphasized the certainty and truth of his word. Heaven and earth might pass away, but his words would endure. Jesus is God's eternal Word.
TO LOVE: Do I listen to God's Word in my daily Scripture reading?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to trust in your promise of the coming of your kingdom.

Optional Memorial of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr

Catherine was born in Alexandria of a noble family. She converted to Christianity after receiving a vision. During the persecution of Maximus in AD 235, she offered to debate the pagan philosophers. Many were converted by her arguments, but Maximus had her scourged, imprisoned and martyred. Devotion to Catherine was immensely popular during the Middle Ages. There were many chapels and churches dedicated to her throughout Western Europe, and she was reported to be one of the divine advisers to St Joan of Arc. Her reputation for learning and wisdom led to her patronage of libraries and anyone associated with wisdom or teaching. Her debating skill and persuasive language has led to her patronage of lawyers. She is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, a group of saints revered in early times as particularly aiding Christians. They are: Acacius, Barbara, Blaise, Catherine of Alexandria, Christopher, Cyriacus, Dionysius of Paris, Erasmus, Eustace, George, Margaret, Pantaleon, Vitus and Giles.

www.togetherwithgodsword.com

Friday 25 November 2016

Fri 25th. St Catherine of Alexandria. Day of penance. 
Apocalypse 20:1-4, 11-21:2. Here God lives among his people
—Ps 83(84):3-6, 8. Luke 21:29-33.

Readings

'My words will not pass away'

Jesus Christ is the ultimate communicator. In today's Gospel, when he finds his audience perplexed at the ideas of Jerusalem 'being trampled on' and the Son of Man 'coming in a cloud' he moves onto something they can more easily grasp. The simple analogy of a fig-tree beginning to sprout leaves, its getting ready for summer, is to signify to the audience to also get ready for what's drawing near–ultimately Christ's death and resurrection. In doing so, he not only places an impetus on the audience to be alert and in tune to what's happening around them, he has shown us, a different audience, that his words are indeed timeless.

www.pray.com.au

ST. CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA

Catholics and other Christians around the world celebrate today, Nov. 25, the memorial of St. Catherine of Alexandria, a revered martyr of the fourth century.

St. Catherine was the subject of great interest and devotion among later medieval Christians. Devotees relished tales of her rejection of marriage, her rebuke to an emperor, and her decision to cleave to Christ even under threat of torture. Pope John Paul II restored the celebration of her memorial to the Roman Catholic calendar in 2002.

Catherine's popularity as a figure of devotion, during an era of imaginative hagiography, has obscured the facts of her life. It is likely that she was of noble birth, a convert to Christianity, a virgin by choice (before the emergence of organized monasticism), and eventually a martyr for the faith.

Accounts of Catherine's life also agree on the location where she was born, educated, and bore witness to her faith. The Egyptian city of Alexandria was a center of learning in the ancient world, and tradition represents Catherine as the highly educated daughter of a noble pagan family.

It is said that a vision of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus spurred her conversion, and the story has inspired works of art which depict her decision to live as a virginal “spouse of Christ.”

The Emperor Maxentius ruled Egypt during Catherine's brief lifetime, a period when multiple co-emperors jointly governed the Roman Empire. During this time, just before the Emperor Constantine's embrace and legalization of Christianity, the Church was growing but also attracting persecution.

Catherine, eager to defend the faith she had embraced, came before Maxentius to protest a brutal campaign against the Church. At first, the emperor decided to try and persuade her to renounce Christ. But in a debate that the emperor proceeded to arrange between Catherine and a number of pagan philosophers, Catherine prevailed – with her skillful apologetics converting them instead.

Maxentius' next stratagem involved an offer to make her his mistress. She not only rebuffed the emperor, but also reportedly convinced his wife to be baptized.

Enraged by Catherine's boldness and resolve, the Emperor resolved to break her will through torture on a spiked wheel. Tradition holds that she was miraculously freed from the wheel, either before or during torture. Finally, she was beheaded.

Maxentius later died in a historic battle against his Co-Emperor Constantine in October of 312, after which he was remembered disdainfully, if at all. St. Catherine, meanwhile, inspired generations of philosophers, consecrated women, and martyrs.

Ironically, or perhaps appropriately – given both her embrace of virginity, and her “mystic marriage” to Christ – young women in many Western European countries were once known to seek her intercession in finding their husbands. Regrettably, the torture wheel to which she herself may have been subjected was subsequently nicknamed the “Catherine wheel,” and used even among Christian kingdoms.

Today, St. Catherine of Alexandria is more appropriately known as the namesake of a monastery at Mount Sinai that claims to be the oldest in the world.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=398

LECTIO DIVINA: LUKE 21,29-33

Lectio Divina: 

 Friday, November 25, 2016

Ordinary Time

1) 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.

2) Gospel reading - Luke 21,29-33

Jesus told to his disciples a parable, 'Look at the fig tree and indeed every tree. As soon as you see them bud, you can see for yourselves that summer is now near. So with you when you see these things happening: know that the kingdom of God is near.

In truth I tell you, before this generation has passed away all will have taken place. Sky and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

3) Reflection

• The Gospel today presents the final recommendations of the Apocalyptic Discourse. Jesus insists on two points: (a) on the attention which should be given to the signs of the times (Lk 21, 29-31) and (b) on hope founded on the firmness of the word of God which drives away fear to despair (Lk 21, 32-33)..

• Luke 21, 29-31: Look at the fig tree and indeed every tree. Jesus orders to look at nature: “Look at the fig tree and indeed every tree; as soon as you see them bud, you can see for yourselves that summer is now near. So with you when you see these things happening know that the kingdom of God is near”. Jesus asks to contemplate the phenomena of nature to learn how to read and interpret the things which are happening in the world. The buds or sprouts on the fig tree are an evident sign that summer is near. In the same way when the seven signs appear they are a proof that “the Kingdom of God is close at hand!” To make this discernment is not easy. A person who is alone does not become aware of this. By reflecting together in community, the light appears. And the light is this: to experience in everything that happens the call not to close ourselves in the present, but rather to keep the horizon open and to perceive in everything that happens an arrow directed toward the future. But nobody knows the exact hour of the coming of the Kingdom, nobody. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus says: “But as for that day or hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, no one but the Father!” (Mk 13, 32).

• Luke 21, 32-33: “In truth I tell you, before this generation has passed away all will have taken place. Sky and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” This word of Jesus recalls the prophecy of Isaiah which says: “All humanity is grass and all its beauty like the wild flowers. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of Yahweh blows on them. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God remains for ever”. (Is 40, 7-8). The word of Jesus is the source of our hope. What he says will arrive!

• The coming of the Messiah and the end of the world. Today, many people live worried concerning the end of the world. Some, basing themselves on a mistaken and fundamentalist reading of the Apocalypse of John, even arrive at calculating the exact date of the end of the world. In the past, beginning at “one thousand years” quoted in the Apocalypse (Rv 20, 7), it was usually repeated: “The year one thousand has gone by but the year two-thousand will not pass!” And because of this, as the year two thousand approached, many were worried. There were some people who anguished because of the coming of the end of the world, committed suicide! But the year 2000 arrived and nothing happened. The end of the world did not arrive! In the Christian communities of the first centuries, they faced the same problems. They lived in the expectation of the imminent coming of Jesus. Jesus was coming to carry out the Final Judgment so as to finish with the unjust history of the world here on earth and to inaugurate the new phase of history, the definitive phase of the New Heavens and of the New Earth. They thought that this would take place between one or two generations. Many people would still be alive when Jesus would appear glorious in Heaven (1Th 4, 16-17; Mk 9, 1). There were some persons who no longer worked, because they thought that the end would arrive within a few days or weeks (2Th 2, 1-3; 3, 11). This is what they thought. But even today, the coming of Jesus has not arrived as yet! How can this delay be interpreted? On the streets of the cities people see writings on the walls which say Jesus will return! Is he coming or not? And how will his coming be? Many times, the affirmation “Jesus will return” is used to frighten persons and to oblige them to go to a determinate church.

In the New Testament the return of Jesus is always a reason for joy and peace! For those who are exploited and oppressed, the coming of Jesus is Good News! When will this coming take place? Among the Jews, there were various opinions. The Sadducees and the Herodians said: “The Messianic times will come!” They thought that their well being during the government of Herod was the expression of the Kingdom of God. And for this reason, they did not accept any changes and they fought against the preaching of Jesus who invited people to change and to convert themselves. The Pharisees said: “The coming of the Kingdom will depend on our effort in observing the law!” The Essens said: The promised Kingdom will arrive only when we will have purified the country from all its impurity”. Among the Christians there was the same variety of opinions. Some of the community of Thessalonica the Greeks, basing themselves on Paul’s preaching, said: “Jesus will return!” (1 Th 4, 13-18; 2 Th 2, 2). Paul responds that it was not that simple as they imagined. And to those who did not work he said: “Anyone who does not work has no right to eat!” (2 Th 3, 10). Probably, it was a question of persons who at meal time they would go to beg for food to the neighbour’s hose. Other Christians thought that Jesus would return only after the Gospel had been announced to the whole world (Ac 1, 6-11). And they thought that, the greater their effort would be to evangelize, the more rapidly would the end of the world arrive. Others, tired of waiting, said: “He will never come back!” (2 P 3, 4). Others basing themselves on the word of Jesus justly said: “He is already among us!” (Mt 25, 40).

The same thing happens today. There are people who say: “The way things are in the Church and in society, it is alright”. They want no changes. Others are waiting for the immediate coming of Jesus. Others think that Jesus will return only through our work and announcement. For us, Jesus is already among us (Mt 28, 20).He is already at our side in the struggle for justice, for peace and for life. But the fullness has not as yet been attained. For this reason, we wait with perseverance the liberation of humanity and of nature (Rm 8, 22-25).

4) Personal questions

• Jesus asks to look at the fig tree to contemplate the phenomena of nature. In my life have I already learnt something contemplating nature?

• Jesus says: “The sky and earth will pass, but my words will not pass”. How do I embody in my life these words of Jesus?

5) Concluding prayer

Lord, how blessed are those who live in your house;
they shall praise you continually.
Blessed those who find their strength in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. (Ps 84,4-5)

www.ocarm.org