November 14, 2025
Friday of the Thirty-second
Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 495
Reading
1
All men were by
nature foolish who were in ignorance of God,
and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing him who is,
and from studying the works did not discern the artisan;
But either fire, or wind, or the swift air,
or the circuit of the stars, or the mighty water,
or the luminaries of heaven, the governors of the world, they considered gods.
Now if out of joy in their beauty they thought them gods,
let them know how far more excellent is the Lord than these;
for the original source of beauty fashioned them.
Or if they were struck by their might and energy,
let them from these things realize how much more powerful is he who made them.
For from the greatness and the beauty of created things
their original author, by analogy, is seen.
But yet, for these the blame is less;
For they indeed have gone astray perhaps,
though they seek God and wish to find him.
For they search busily among his works,
but are distracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair.
But again, not even these are pardonable.
For if they so far succeeded in knowledge
that they could speculate about the world,
how did they not more quickly find its Lord?
Responsorial
Psalm
R.(2a) The
heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
R. The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
R. The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his
disciples:
"As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be in the days of the Son of Man;
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage up to the day
that Noah entered the ark,
and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot:
they were eating, drinking, buying,
selling, planting, building;
on the day when Lot left Sodom,
fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all.
So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day, someone who is on the housetop
and whose belongings are in the house
must not go down to get them,
and likewise one in the field
must not return to what was left behind.
Remember the wife of Lot.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses it will save it.
I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed;
one will be taken, the other left.
And there will be two women grinding meal together;
one will be taken, the other left."
They said to him in reply, "Where, Lord?"
He said to them, "Where the body is,
there also the vultures will gather."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111425.cfm
Commentary on Wisdom 13:1-9
Today the author
mocks those who fail to find God’s presence in the world around them. Instead,
they turn to idolatry and make gods of the things of nature. It is one thing to
see God in everything and another to make anything a god, an object of worship.
The writer attacks three forms of idolatry (only the first of which is dealt
with in today’s reading): the divinisation of natural forces and heavenly
bodies, the worship of man-made idols, and the worship of animals.
The author calls
“ignorant” all those who are not aware of the real God in the world around
them. ‘Ignorant, ‘vain’ or ‘empty’ were epithets often used of false gods.
Those who devote themselves to such ‘vanities’ are ‘vain’ themselves. They do
not seem to be able to discover “the one who exists” (in some translations:
‘Him-who-is’) in all the good things around them nor, by studying the wonderful
works of nature, have they been able to become aware of their Designer or
Artificer. ‘The one who exists’ becomes, for later Christian philosophers, the
‘Pure Being’, the unique characteristic of God as source of all that comes to
be.
Other natural
phenomena, instead of leading them to their Maker, are themselves made into
gods—fire, wind, the constellations, the power of the sea, the sun and the moon
(‘luminaries of heaven’). All these are said to govern the world. People have
become hypnotised by their beauty (and sometimes frightened by their power) and
so divinised them without realising how much greater their Maker must be as the
original Source of such beauty and power. In terms borrowed from the Greek
philosophers and to be taken up by Christian philosophers and theologians of a
later age, the author tells us that the greatness and beauty of all things
gives us an analogy, that is, a faint image of the greatness and beauty of the
Origin of all things.
The Old Testament
had praised the power and majesty of the creating God, but did not talk of the
beauty of the world as a work of art. The author reveals a Greek touch here in
his aesthetic sensitivity of God as artist.
And, if it is the
power in these phenomena that has impressed them, why can they not come to the
conclusion that He who made all these things must be so much more powerful? If
the things of the world around us can dazzle us with their beauty, what must
their Maker be like:
For from the
greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of
their Creator.
However, compared
to those who have made gods of human artefacts of gold and silver (dealt with
in the following section of the chapter), such people may be less guilty. They
are to be commended for their search for God and their eagerness to find him.
The author is sympathetic to these people’s problems. They are in search of
God, of the ultimate source of meaning, but go astray by becoming dazzled by
the beauty of what they see. In a sense, they cannot see the whole forest
because of the beauty of this or that tree.
On the other hand,
they are not without blame. If they are clever enough to make a study of the
world in which they live, how come they have been so slow to find the Master
that is behind all? He faults them for having proceeded so far in intellectual
speculation and yet failed to come to an awareness of the God who alone gives
meaning to all they see.
Later, Paul in his
Letter to the Romans will also criticise those who, though without the help of
revelation, fail to find God in the world around them and create gods out of
material things. Later still, St Ignatius Loyola in the final contemplation of
his Spiritual Exercises will urge the retreatant to consider that the truth and
beauty of the things around him can be but the palest shadow of their Source.
They are the signs not only of his truth and beauty, but also of his
overwhelming love for us.
We, too, can be so
caught up in things that we fail to see through them to the Source behind. As
Teilhard de Chardin said, we live in a milieu divin (a ‘divine
milieu’), in a world where everything is touched by God. He is the very air we
breathe. It is a gift and a great source of peace to be consciously aware of
this as we go through our day. And, as the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote:
There lives the
dearest freshness deep down things.
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Commentary on Luke 17:26-37
Jesus is coming to
the end of his public life. His passion and death are going to be traumatic
experiences for his followers, which will take them by surprise and fill them
with shock and alarm.
Later still, but
before Luke had put his Gospel together, a cataclysm had overtaken Jerusalem
when the city was laid siege to and utterly destroyed—the magnificent Temple
along with it. The disaster is commemorated in the arch in Rome erected to
honour the Emperor Titus’ victory, where one can see bas reliefs of the
treasures of the Temple being carried off as loot.
Last of all, there
is the end of all things, when our world will be no more. The what or the how
of that end is something we know nothing about. In a sense, all three endings
are included in Jesus’ warning today. His main lesson is for us to be ready and
not to think that we can postpone our preparations. When the end strikes, it
will be already too late.
Jesus gives the
example of the time of the Flood, when people ate and drank right up to the
moment of disaster (and we know from our own media how unprepared people can be
when sudden floods and other sudden disasters strike). Similarly in the days of
Lot, people were leading their ordinary lives when fire and brimstone (perhaps
an earthquake?) rained down on the wicked city of Sodom. Only Lot and his family,
who had been previously warned, escaped. In our time, almost every day we see
something in our own media of similar cataclysms.
When “the day that
the Son of Man is revealed” arrives, that is, when he comes at the end of time,
it will be too late to take emergency measures. One will either be ready or
not. If one is resting on the roof of one’s house (as was common at that time),
don’t think of going down to save something. One person will be taken away and
a companion left behind. The words seem to echo what happened at the fall of
Jerusalem, and are similar to all natural disasters where some are swept away
and those next to them survive. In context, the implication is that one goes to
God and one does not.
These texts are
not intended to fill us with fear and foreboding of a capricious God. They are
timely advice not to be caught napping, but to remain alert to meet the Lord.
It is good advice, not just for the end of our lives, but for every day and
every moment of every day. If I am always ready now, I will be ready then.
By living
continuously and consciously in the presence of God, in that ‘divine milieu’ of
the Kingdom mentioned above—in the ever-present now—we are not going to be
caught by surprise. Far from being afraid, we will look forward to the day with
anticipation, leaving totally in God’s hands the hour of his call. In practice,
too, that final call will not coincide with the end of our planet, but with the
moment when our individual life on this earth will come to its end. Of the
inevitability of that end, there is no doubt.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1326g/
Friday,
November 14, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening prayer
God of power and mercy,
protect us from all harm. Give us freedom of spirit and health in mind and body
to do Your work on earth. 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 17:26-37
Jesus said to His
disciples, “as it was in Noah's day, so will it also be in the days of the Son
of man. People were eating and drinking, marrying wives and husbands, right up
to the day Noah went into the ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them all.
It will be the same as it
was in Lot's day: people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting
and building, but the day Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from
heaven and it destroyed them all. It will be the same when the day comes for
the Son of man to be revealed.”
“When that Day comes, no one on
the housetop, with his possessions in the house, must come down to collect
them, nor must anyone in the fields turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Anyone who
tries to preserve his life will lose it, and anyone who loses it will keep it
safe.
I tell you, on that night, when two are in one bed, one
will be taken, the other left.
When two women are grinding corn together, one will be taken, the other
left.” The disciples spoke up and asked, 'Where, Lord?' He said, 'Where the
corpse is, there too will the vultures gather.’
Reflection
• Today’s
Gospel continues the reflection on the coming of the end of time and presents
to us Jesus’ words about how to prepare ourselves for the coming of the
Kingdom. This was an affair which produced much discussion at that time. God is
the one who determines the hour of the coming end of time. But the time of God
(kairós) is not measured according to the time of our clock (chronos). For God
one day can be equal to one thousand years, and one thousand years equal to one
day (Ps 90: 4; 2 Pet 3:8). The time of God goes by invisibly in our time, but
independently of us and our time. We cannot interfere in time, but we have to
be prepared for the moment in which the hour of God becomes present in our
time. It could be today, or it could be in one thousand years. What gives us
security is not to know the hour of the end of the world, but the certainty of
the presence of the Words of Jesus present in our life. The world will pass,
but the Word of God will never pass (cf. Isa 40:7-
8).
•
Luke 17:26-29: “As it was in the day of Noah and
of Lot. Life goes by normally: eating, drinking, getting married, buying,
selling, sowing, harvesting. Our routine can include so much that we do not
manage to think about anything else. The consumerism of our time generates in
many of us a total lack of attention to the more profound dimensions of life.
We allow the moths to enter into the beam of faith which holds up the more
profound dimensions of life. When the storm destroys the house, many of us
blame the carpenter: “It was badly made!” In reality, it crumbled down due to
our continual lack of attention. The reference to the destruction of Sodom as a
figure of what will happen at the end of time may be a reference to the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 AD (cf. Mk 13:14).
•
Luke 17:30-32: So it will also be in the days of
the Son of Man. “So it will be in the days when the Son of Man will reveal
Himself”. It is difficult for us to imagine the suffering and the trauma that
the destruction of Jerusalem caused in both Jewish and Christian communities. In
order to help them to understand and face this suffering Jesus uses a
comparison taken from life: “When that Day comes, no one on the housetop, with
his possessions in the house, must come down to collect them, nor must anyone
in the fields turn back”. The destruction will take place so rapidly that it is
not worth while to go down to look for something in the house (Mk 13:15-16).
“Remember Lot’s wife” (cf. Gen 19:26): that is, do not look back, do not lose
time, decide and go. It is a question of life or death.
•
Luke 17:33: To lose one’s life in order to save
it. “Anyone who tries to preserve his life will lose it, and anyone who loses
it will keep it safe”. Only the person who has been capable of giving
himself/herself completely to others will feel totally fulfilled in life.
Anyone who preserves life for self alone loses it. This advice of Jesus is the
confirmation of the most profound human experience: the source of life is found
in the gift of life. In giving, one receives. “In all truth I tell you: unless
a wheat grain falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain,
but if it dies it yields a rich harvest.” (Jn 12:24). The motivation which
Mark’s Gospel adds is important: “for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel”
(Mk 8:35). Saying that no one is capable of preserving his life by his own
efforts, Jesus recalls the psalm in which it is said that nobody is capable of
paying the price for the ransom of his life: “No one can redeem himself or pay
his own ransom to God. The price for himself is too high. It can never be that
he will live on forever and avoid the sight of the abyss.” (Ps 49:8-10).
•
Luke 17:34-36: Vigilance. “I tell you, on that
night, when two are in one bed, one will be taken, the other left. When two
women are grinding corn together one will be taken, the other left”. This
recalls the parable of the ten Virgins. Five were prudent and five were foolish
(Mt 25:1-11). What is important is to be prepared. The words “one will be taken
and the other left” recall the words of Paul to the Thessalonians (1Thess
4:13-17), when he says that with the coming of the Son of Man, we will be taken
to Heaven at the side of Jesus. These words “left behind” furnished the title
of a terrible and dangerous romance of the fundamentalist extreme right of the
United States: “Left Behind!” This is a romance which has nothing to do with
the real meaning of the words of Jesus.
•
Luke 17:37: Where and when? “The disciples
asked, Where, Lord?” And Jesus answered, “Where the corpse is, there too the
vultures will gather”. This is an enigmatic response. Some think that Jesus
recalled the prophecy of Ezekiel, taken up in the Apocalypse, in which the
prophet refers to the final victorious battle against the force of evil. The
birds of prey or the vultures will be invited to eat the flesh of the bodies
(Ezek 39:4, 17-20; Rev 19:17-18). Others think that it is a question of the
Valley of Jehoshaphat where the final judgment will take place according to the
prophecy of Joel (Gal 4:2, 12). Others think that it is simply a variation of a
popular proverb which meant more or less what our contemporary proverb says:
“Where there is smoke, there is fire!”
Personal questions
•
Am I from the time of Noah or from the time of
Lot?
•
A Romance of the extreme right. How do I respond
to this political manipulation of the faith in Jesus?
Concluding prayer
How blessed are those whose
way is blameless, who walk in the Law of Yahweh! Blessed are those who observe
His instructions, who seek Him with all their hearts. (Ps 119:1-2)
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