This week’s Gospel message for Sunday, November 19th is from Matthew 25:14-30.
“Jesus told his disciples this parable: ‘A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. . . After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. . .For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.’”
Reflection
“When we share our talents, we are revealing God’s presence and proclaiming God’s generosity. Perhaps this is what Jesus is driving at in his parable: not that God wants us to double our money, but that God wants us to share our gifts, to use our talents, to build up the kingdom of God.” SOURCE: Pastoral Patterns, Autumn 2023
DAILY READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Monday 1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57, 62-63; Luke 18:35-43
Tuesday 2 Maccabees 6:18-31; Luke 19:1-10
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Memorial) – This feast began as a commemoration of the dedication of the basilica of St. Mary’s the New in Jerusalem in 543. An apocryphal source recounts that Mary’s parents brought their three-year-old daughter to the temple to offer her to God. Inspired by a priest’s vision, they left her there to be educated and to serve God. The feast entered the Western calendar in 1585. Today, the feast celebrates Mary as a temple where God dwelt in a special way through her role as Mother of Jesus.
Wednesday 2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31; Luke 19:11-28
Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr (Memorial) – According to tradition she was a Roman woman who was martyred sometime in the second or third century. Her association with music stems from the story that at her wedding feast she sang to God in her heart.
Thursday 1 Maccabees 2:15-29; Luke 19:41-44
Thanksgiving Day Readings:
Sirach 50:22-24; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Luke 17:11-19
Friday 1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59; Luke 19:45-48
Saint Andrew Dũng-Lac, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs (Memorial) – In the sixteenth century, Christian missionaries went to Vietnam. From the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, some 130,000 Christians were martyred. Some were foreign missionaries, but most were native Vietnamese people killed by their own government and people. Among them were Andrew Dũng-Lac and Peter Thi, Vietnamese priests. Pope St. John Paul II declared 117 Vietnamese martyrs saints of the Church.
Saturday 1 Maccabees 6:1-13; Luke 20:27-40