October 30, 2025
Thursday of the Thirtieth
Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 482
Reading
1
Brothers and
sisters:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along with him?
Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us.
Who will condemn?
It is Christ Jesus who died, rather, was raised,
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.
What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
As it is written:
For your sake we are being slain all the day;
we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (26b) Save
me, O Lord, in your mercy.
Do you, O GOD, my Lord, deal kindly with me for your name's sake;
in your generous mercy rescue me;
For I am wretched and poor,
and my heart is pierced within me.
R. Save me, O Lord, in your mercy.
Help me, O LORD, my God;
save me, in your mercy,
And let them know that this is your hand;
that you, O LORD, have done this.
R. Save me, O Lord, in your mercy.
I will speak my thanks earnestly to the LORD,
and in the midst of the throng I will praise him,
For he stood at the right hand of the poor man,
to save him from those who would condemn his soul.
R. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor
rests.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Some Pharisees
came to Jesus and said,
"Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you."
He replied, "Go and tell that fox,
'Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow,
and on the third day I accomplish my purpose.
Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day,
for it is impossible that a prophet should die
outside of Jerusalem.'
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,
how many times I yearned to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
but you were unwilling!
Behold, your house will be abandoned.
But I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say,
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/103025.cfm
Commentary on Romans
8:31-39
In recent readings, having moved from the powerful forces,
which keep preventing us from doing the good, we went to the firm hope of a
glorious future. Paul now moves another step in reminding us of the inalienable
love that God has for each one of us.
It is put dramatically right in the first paragraph:
If God is for us, who is against us?
It is clearly a rhetorical question. The form of the
condition makes it clear that there is no doubt about the answer. It is a
question that requires no answer for it is clear that God is always for us—one
hundred percent all the time. Of course, whether we are always for him is
another matter altogether. Even then he reaches out to us in love. God is love;
he cannot not love.
And, if we do have any doubts, then we just have to look at
Jesus:
He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for
all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else?
If God could sacrifice the One closest to him, the One who
shares his very nature, can there be any doubt that he will give us every other
good thing? The cross is the guarantee of our preciousness in God’s eyes. And
God will not want to see the work begun on the cross frustrated. It is
important to remember all this, especially in times of trouble.
Paul continues:
Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?
The prophet Isaiah writes:
The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?….Let them confront me.
(Isaiah 50:7-8)
How could anyone accuse us, when we have on our side Christ
Jesus who died as a pledge of his love for us and, more than that, was raised
from the dead and now sits at the Father’s right hand pleading on our behalf?
And then there comes another rhetorical question:
Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
And he is speaking of Christ’s love for us, not our love for
him. No level of hardships or distress, persecutions, lack of food and
clothing, or threats of violence can negate the reality of that love. We need
to remember that at this time the Christians, not least in Rome, were being
faced with violent opposition and persecution. It will soon be the age of
martyrs, including Peter and Paul themselves. Apart from that, Paul could speak
of the long list of hardships he himself experienced in this missionary work,
some of which he tells us about in his Second Letter to the Christians at
Corinth (see 2 Cor 11:16-33).
Paul wants to show his readers that suffering does not
separate believers from Christ, nor is it a sign of his losing interest in
them, but rather it can actually carry them along toward their ultimate goal.
In the eyes of their persecutors it seems like their defeat. In the eyes of pagans
it must have looked like failure. But it is the martyr who lives on in people’s
memories.
And Paul quotes from the Psalms:
For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered. (Ps 44:11)
Suffering is nothing new to God’s people and, as long as we
are faithful to the call of the gospel and are committed to sharing the message
with others, there will be more to come. And it is precisely the love of Christ
shown on the cross that enables us to come triumphantly through all kinds of
hardships.
Then affirms Paul:
…in all these things we are more than victorious through
him who loved us.
Just as Jesus conquered by his own death in shame and
degradation, we also can do the same. In fact, as Hebrews says:
Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what
he suffered, and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal
salvation for all who obey him… (Heb 5:8-9)
It was the conquest of love. For us it must be the same.
He concludes with a rallying cry for all those who may be
suffering for their faith and indeed for every one of us:
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The ‘powers’, ‘heights’ and ‘depths’ are probably the
mysterious cosmic forces which to the mind of antiquity were in general hostile
to mankind. None of these powers nor any other created thing whatever can come
between us and God’s loving reach. There is, in other words, absolutely no
force, however powerful and no happening, however terrible, which can come
between us and the overwhelming love of Jesus for us.
It is a re-saying of something Paul mentioned yesterday that
absolutely everything that we experience is imprinted with the loving hand of
God.:
…all things work together for good for those who love
God… (Rom 8:28)
And the reason is because our love of God has its source in
the love of God for us—from which all love originates.
Certainly, there are times when it is difficult for us to
see that. It must have been difficult for many of the martyrs of the early
Church in the midst of their sufferings, and yet it is now with praise and
thanksgiving that we today celebrate their glorious memory.
If we can see the hand of God in what they did and were
ready to suffer, it may help us to see his loving hand in our lives too.
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Commentary on Luke
13:31-35
Today Jesus is warned by some Pharisees to leave the area
where he is teaching. The reason they give is that Herod is after him. This is
Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, whom we have already met. The region
of Perea was part of his territory as tetrarch. The warning could, of course,
have been just a ploy on the part of the Pharisees to get rid of Jesus by
frightening him in this way.
At the same time, there could have been something in the
threat because Herod had already executed John the Baptist, although there is
no evidence that Jesus spoke against Herod in the same way that offended
Herod’s second wife.
In any case, Jesus is not moved. He knows that his life is
part of a larger plan. He will do his work, including the healing of people and
their liberation from evil forces. When the time is ripe, and not before, he
will face his passion and death. He will “finish [his] work”—a double meaning
about both the end of his life on earth and his being brought to perfection
through his suffering and death—an idea explicitly put in the letter to the
Hebrews (10:36-38).
Further, it has been ordained that he will face his death in
Jerusalem and nowhere else. Herod is not going to change any of that.
Then, Jesus goes on to pray for the city that will be the
scene of his death. It is a city that has many times in the past mistreated and
killed those sent by God to bring his message. Jesus speaks tenderly:
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets
and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your
children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…
But they reject him, as they rejected so many prophets
before.
He foretells something that must have seemed to his hearers
both blasphemous and impossible:
…your house [the Temple] is left to you
desolate.
Yet, just 40 years after Jesus’ death, the Temple will meet
its destruction, never again to be rebuilt.
Finally, he tells them that:
…you will not see me until the time comes when you say,
‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’
This could refer to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem at
the beginning of Holy Week or to his final coming as Judge and Lord of all.
Our lives too are in God’s hands and nothing will happen to
us which is in conflict with God’s wishes and God’s plans. Ultimately,
everything is for our well-being. But, let us be on the alert to recognise the
Lord coming into our lives often in very unexpected ways and through very
unexpected people. Some of those we reject may be bringing—even unknown to
themselves—a message from God that we need to hear and follow.
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Thursday,
October 30, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Almighty and ever-living God, strengthen our faith, hope and
love.
May we do with loving hearts what
you ask of us and come to share the life you promise.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 13: 31-35
Some Pharisees came up to Jesus and, 'Go away,' they said.
'Leave this place, because Herod means to kill you.' He replied, 'You may go
and give that fox this message: Look! Today and tomorrow, I drive out devils
and heal, and on the third day I attain my end. But for today and tomorrow and
the next day I must go on, since it would not be right for a prophet to die
outside Jerusalem. 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone
those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children
together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused! Look!
Your house will be left to you. Yes, I promise you, you shall not see me till
the time comes when you are saying: Blessed is he who is coming in the name of
the Lord!'
Reflection
The Gospel today makes us feel
the threatening and dangerous context in which Jesus lived and worked. Herod,
as he had killed John the Baptist, wanted to kill Jesus.
•
Luke 13: 31: The warning of the Pharisees to
Jesus. “Just at that time some Pharisees came up. Go away, they said, Leave
this place because Herod means to kill you” It is important to notice that
Jesus receives the warning of the Pharisees. Sometimes, the Pharisees are
together with the group of Herod wanting to kill Jesus (Mk 3: 6; 12: 13). But
here they are in solidarity with Jesus and want to avoid his death. At that
time the power of the king was absolute. He did not render an account to anyone
of his way of governing. Herod had already killed John the Baptist and now he wanted
to finish also with Jesus.
•
Luke 13: 32-33: the response of Jesus. “He
replied: You may go and give that fox this message, ‘Look! Today and tomorrow,
I drive out evils and heal, and on the third day I attain my end.” Jesus’
response is very clear and courageous. He calls Herod: fox. To announce the
Kingdom Jesus does not depend on the permission of the political authority. He
sends a message informing that he continues his work today and tomorrow and
that he will have finished only day after tomorrow, that is on the third day.
In this response is discovered all the liberty to the power which wanted to
prevent him from carrying out the mission received from the Father. Therefore,
the one who determines the time and the hour is God and not Herod. At the same
time, in the response there arises also a certain symbolism connected to the
death and resurrection on the third day in Jerusalem. This is to indicate that
he will not die in Galilee, but in Jerusalem, capital of his people, and that
he will resurrect on the third day.
•
Luke 13: 34-35: Admonishment of Jesus to
Jerusalem. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who
are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children together as a
hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused!” This admonishment of
Jesus on the capital of his people recalls the long and sad story of the
resistance of the authority to God’s calls which reached through so many
prophets and wise men. At another moment Jesus speaks of the prophets
persecuted and killed from Abel to Zechariah (Lk 11: 51). Reaching Jerusalem a
short time before his death, looking toward the city from the top of the
Mountain of Olives, Jesus weeps on it, because it does not recognize the time
in which God comes to visit it” (Lk 19: 44).
Personal Questions
•
Jesus qualifies the public power with the name
of fox. Can your political power deserve to be qualified like this?
•
Jesus tried many times to convert the people of
Jerusalem, but the religious authority resisted. And you, how many times do you
resist?
Concluding Prayer
Yahweh and his strength, tirelessly seek his presence!
Remember the marvels he has done, his wonders, the
judgements he has spoken. (Ps 105: 4-5)
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