GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Saturday - November 19, 2022

 

Saturday - November 19, 2022

He who wants to win the world for Christ must have the courage to come in conflict with it.

~~Blessed Titus Brandsma

November 19, 2022

SATURDAY OF THE THIRTY-THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Lectionary: 502

 

Reading I     

                                                                                    Rv 11:4-12

 

I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me:

Here are my two witnesses:

These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands

that stand before the Lord of the earth.

If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths

and devours their enemies.

In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain.

They have the power to close up the sky

so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying.

They also have power to turn water into blood

and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish.

 

When they have finished their testimony,

the beast that comes up from the abyss

will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them.

Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city,

which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,”

where indeed their Lord was crucified.

Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation

will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days,

and they will not allow their corpses to be buried.

The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them

and be glad and exchange gifts

because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth.

But after the three and a half days,

a breath of life from God entered them.

When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them.

Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.”

So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  Psalm 144:1, 2, 9-10

 

R.    (1b) Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!

 

Blessed be the LORD, my rock,

who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.

R.    Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!

My mercy and my fortress,

my stronghold, my deliverer,

My shield, in whom I trust,

who subdues my people under me.

R.    Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!

O God, I will sing a new song to you;

with a ten stringed lyre I will chant your praise,

You who give victory to kings,

and deliver David, your servant from the evil sword.

R.    Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!

 

Alleluia                                                          2 Tm 1:10   

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death

and brought life to light through the Gospel.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                           Lk 20:27-40

 

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,

came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying,

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,

If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child,

his brother must take the wife

and raise up descendants for his brother.

Now there were seven brothers;

the first married a woman but died childless.

Then the second and the third married her,

and likewise all the seven died childless.

Finally the woman also died.

Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?

For all seven had been married to her.”

Jesus said to them,

“The children of this age marry and remarry;

but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age

and to the resurrection of the dead

neither marry nor are given in marriage.

They can no longer die,

for they are like angels;

and they are the children of God

because they are the ones who will rise.

That the dead will rise

even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,

when he called  ‘Lord’

the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;

and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,

for to him all are alive.”

Some of the scribes said in reply,

“Teacher, you have answered well.”

And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

 

**********************************

Danger of Unintentional Idolatry

The scribes and Sadducees thought they had given Jesus a trick question in this Saturday’s Gospel reading. He handled it with grace, though. Of course. Don’t we all wish we could do that as easily?

 

An often over-looked but funny part of this scripture is near the end: “Teacher, you have answered well.” I mean, really guys? Who’s the teacher? The scribes gave their approval as if Jesus were the student. Clearly, they didn’t recognize Jesus’ superior wisdom, and certainly not his divinity.

 

We see the same thing happening all around us today. It’s called the “idolatry of self”.

 

The idolatry of self reveals itself most often in moral relativism. People fail to recognize Jesus’ superior wisdom when deciding for themselves what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s a sin and what’s not a sin (if they even think of the word “sin” at all). What God says is evil is now considered good, and what God says is good is now considered evil and anyone who takes God’s side publicly is believed to be evil (we see this happening in the controversies about abortion, homosexual marriage, and transgenderism).

 

But it’s not just the non-Christians who are caught up in the idolatry of self. We all need to examine our consciences about it. If we pray for God’s help and then tell him how he should help, getting angry or disappointed if he doesn’t do it our way, we’ve succumbed to the idolatry of self. This happens because we don’t truly and completely believe that God loves us and wants what is best for us.

 

If we disregard scripture-based Church teachings because they are inconvenient, we’ve succumbed to the idolatry of self. This happens because we don’t truly understand that the bottom line and goal of all Church teachings (from the official Church Magisterium) is always love.

 

In everything, we need to trust God’s love and recognize Jesus’ superior wisdom.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Forgive me, Lord, for those times when I exchanged You for people or things that took me away from You. Amen.

 

 

God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”