A man who governs his passions
is master of the world.
We must either command them,
or be enslaved by them.
It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.
-- St Dominic
A man who governs his passions
is master of the world.
We must either command them,
or be enslaved by them.
It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.
-- St Dominic
November 25, 2020
Wednesday of the
Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 504
I, John, saw in heaven another sign, great and awe-inspiring:
seven angels with the seven last plagues,
for through them God’s fury is accomplished.
Then I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire.
On the sea of glass were standing those
who had won the victory over the beast
and its image and the number that signified its name.
They were holding God’s harps,
and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God,
and the song of the Lamb:
“Great and wonderful are your works,
Lord God almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
O king of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord,
or glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All the nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
Responsorial Psalm
R. (Rev. 15: 3b) Great and wonderful
are all your works, Lord, mighty God!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!
Let the sea and what fills it resound,
the world and those who dwell in it;
Let the rivers clap their hands,
the mountains shout with them for joy.
R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!
Before the LORD, for he comes,
for he comes to rule the earth;
He will rule the world with justice
and the peoples with equity.
R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!
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.”
******************************
Blessed are the Persecuted
In today's Gospel passage, Jesus says to his disciples (including you and me), "People will persecute you, so get used to it, accept it, and remember that by persevering -- with me at your side -- your eternal life in the glory of heaven is secure."
He said we'd be summoned into synagogues, which in Jesus' day was like being sent to the principal's office in grade school. (Yeah, the little kid in us can identify with that!)
Perhaps you've been called into your employer's office after praying with co-workers. Or maybe your job has been threatened because you refuse to cooperate with illegal and immoral business activities.
Perhaps people have ranted and raged at you and insulted you because you spoke up against abortion or same sex marriages. Or you've had to endure someone's efforts to set you "straight" about their misconceptions of Catholic beliefs. I've been told: "Stop writing all this misleading stuff about some dead guy named Jesus. I have been trying to un-brainwash my friend who reads your reflections."
People persecute us because they don't understand. Repeat what Jesus prayed as he hung on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing." Whether they were taught to believe the deceptions or they have consciously chosen to reject the truth, we must continue to love them. We cannot change their minds by arguing with them, but we can reveal Jesus to them by persistently giving them his love through our actions.
When it's time to back up our actions with Holy Spirit-inspired words, we are not to worry. If we are called into the office (or whatever our "synagogue" is) on account of our Christianity, we first forgive and then we open our mouths, relying on the Holy Spirit to give us wise and caring words that our adversaries cannot contradict. Oh, they might persist in disagreeing with us, just as the scribes and Pharisees did with Jesus. To the ears of non-Christians, it might even sound like they're defeating us, but they cannot change the truth no matter how hard they try.
Truth is the hardest substance in the universe. It's unchangeable, undentable, unbreakable. As the truth comes out of our mouths and the contrasting misinterpretation of the truth comes out of our adversaries, anyone who is genuinely seeking to know the truth will experience enlightenment.
Persecutors remind us that we are doing the Lord's work. When we are not persecuted, it's because we're living such a watered-down version of the faith that no one around us feels challenged by the truth.
Today's Prayer
Dear Lord, give me the grace of a strong conviction in my faith, so that in my hardships I can discover Your loving hand that holds everything. Amen.
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God Bless You.....
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