Thursday of the XXXIII week of the holidays of Ordinary Time
- S. Edmondo re degli Angli Orientali e martire
- B. Maria Fortunata Viti monaca benedettina (1827-1922)
- Santo del giorno
First Reading
We will walk in the covenant of our fathers.
From the first book of the Maccabeans
1Mac 2,15-29
In those days, the king’s messengers, charged with forcing apostasy, came to the city of Modin to induce sacrifices. Many Israelites went with them; but Matthias and his sons gathered apart.
The king’s messengers turned to Matthias and said to him, “You are an authoritative man, esteemed and great in this city, and you are supported by sons and brothers. Come forward first and fulfill the command of the king, as all the peoples and men of Judah and those who remained in Jerusalem have done; so you and your children will pass in the number of the king’s friends, and you and your children will have gold and silver and gifts in quantity.”
But Matthias replied with a loud voice: “Even if all the peoples who are under the rule of the king listen to him and each one would abandon the religion of his fathers and would all adhere to his requests, I, my sons and my brothers will walk in the covenant of our fathers. Never let us abandon the law and traditions. We will not listen to the king’s orders to deviate from our religion to the right or left.”
When he had finished uttering these words, a Jew approached the sight of all to sacrifice on the altar of Modin according to the king’s decree. This seeing, Matthias burned with zeal; they creeded his bowels and was taken by a righteous anger. After running, he killed him on the altar; at the same time he killed the messenger of the king, who forced to sacrifice, and destroyed the altar. He acted by zeal to the law, as Fineès had done with Zambri, the son of Salom. Mattathiah’s voice thundered in the city: “Whoever has zeal for the law and wants to defend the covenant follow me!” He fled with his sons to the mountains, abandoning in the city what they possessed.
Then many who sought justice and law descended into the wilderness, to settle there.
Word of God.
Responsorial Psalm
From Sal 49 (50)
A. To those who walk the right path
I will show God’s salvation.
The Lord speaks, God of the gods,
He summons the land from east to west.
From Zion, perfect beauty,
God shines. A.
Before me gather my faithful,
who have established the covenant with me
offering a sacrifice.
The heavens announce his righteousness:
It is God who judges. A.
Offer God as a sacrifice the praise
and dissolve your vows to the Most High;
Invoke me on the day of distress:
I will deliver you and you will give me glory. A.
Acclaim to the Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia.
Today do not harden your heart,
But listen to the voice of the Lord. (Cf. Ps 94 (95),8ab)
Alleluia.
The Gospel of the day 20 November 2025
If I had understood what leads to peace!
From the Gospel of the day according to Luke
Lk 19,41-44
At that time, Jesus, when he was near Jerusalem, at the sight of the city wept over it, saying:
“If you had also understood, on this day, what leads to peace! But now it’s been hidden from your eyes.
For you will come days when your enemies will surround you with trenches, they will besiege you and hold you on every side; they will destroy you and your children within you and will not leave you stone on stone, because you have not recognized the time in which you were visited.”
Word of the Lord.
St. Augustine (354-430)
Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Exhibitions on psalms, 121 (New Augustinian Library, rev.)
“If you had also understood the way of peace”
“Let peace be on your walls” (Ps 122:7). O Jerusalem, O city built in the form of a city, whose participation is in the Absolute, make peace through your vigor! Make peace through your love, for your strength is your love. Listen to the Song of Songs: “Love is as strong as death” (Ct 8:6). Great affirmation, brothers! … is there anyone, brothers, who can resist death? Fire, floods, iron are resisted; the authorities and perhaps kings resist; death arrives: she is alone, but who can resist them? There’s nothing stronger than her. And for this reason, charity was compared to its strength when it was said: Love is as strong as death. Moreover, since charity kills in us what we once were to make us be what we were not, it can be said that love operates in us a kind of death. Such a death had savored the one who said: “As for me, however, there is no boast but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world was crucified for me, as I was for the world” (Ga 6:14); and the same had happened to those to whom he said: “For you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God!” (Col 3:3) Love is as strong as death. For this, make peace through your strength, Jerusalem; make peace in your love. And with such vigor, with such love, with such peace come abundance in your towers, that is, in your heights. … As for the enjoyment, of which the fullness will be, and of wealth, all this will be God himself, the same Absolute, with whom the city has participation in the Absolute. And he will still be our abundance.
The Words of the Popes
But even today Jesus weeps, because we have preferred the path of wars, the path of hatred, the path of enmities. We are close to Christmas: there will be lights, there will be parties, bright trees, even cribs… all rigged: the world continues to make war, to make wars. The world has not understood the path of peace. (…) What is left? Ruins, thousands of children without education, many innocent dead, many! And a lot of money in the pockets of arms dealers. Once, Jesus said, ‘You cannot serve two masters: O God, or riches.’ War is precisely the choice for wealth: ‘Let’s make weapons, so the economy balances a little, and we move forward with our interest’. There is an ugly word of the Lord, ‘Cursed!’ Because He said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers!’ These who work war, who wage wars, are cursed, are delinquent. A war can be justified – in quotes – with many, many reasons. But when the whole world, as it is today, is at war, the whole world! It is a world war – in pieces: here, there, there, everywhere … – there is no justification. And God weeps. Jesus weeps. (Pope Francis – Homily Santa Marta, November 19, 2015)
🍝 La Pasta che fa bene al cuore
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