The Gospel of the day 22 November 2025

Saturday of the XXXIII Week in Ordinary Time

• St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr († 230)
• Bl. Tommaso Reggio, Archbishop of Genoa and founder (1818-1901)
• Saint of the Day

First Reading

For the evils I committed in Jerusalem, I die in the deepest sadness.

From the First Book of Maccabees
1 Mac 6:1-13
 

In those days, King Antiochus was traveling through the northern regions, when he heard that there was in Persia the city of Elymais, famous for wealth, silver, and gold. There was a very rich temple there, where golden armor, breastplates, and weapons were kept, left there by Alexander, son of Philip, the Macedonian king who first reigned over the Greeks.
So he went there and tried to seize the city and plunder it, but he did not succeed, because his plan became known to the inhabitants of the city, who opposed him with arms; he was put to flight and had to retreat with great sadness and return to Babylon.
Then a messenger came to Persia to announce to him that the troops sent against Judah had been defeated. Lysias had moved with a most seasoned army, but had been put to flight by the enemies, who had reinforced themselves with arms and troops and large spoils taken from the defeated troops. Furthermore, they had torn down the abomination he had erected on the altar in Jerusalem, and had surrounded the sanctuary and Beth-zur, which was a city of his, with high walls, as before.
When the king heard this news, he was appalled and terribly shaken; he took to his bed and fell ill from sadness, because things had not happened as he had desired. He remained so for many days, because a strong depression was renewed in him and he believed he was dying.
He called all his friends and said to them: «Sleep has fled from my eyes and my soul is oppressed by sorrow. I said in my heart: to what tribulation have I come, into what terrible turmoil have I fallen, I who was so fortunate and well-loved on my throne! Now I remember the evils I committed in Jerusalem, taking away all the gold and silver furnishings found there and sending to suppress the inhabitants of Judah without reason. I acknowledge that because of such things these evils strike me; and behold, I die in the deepest sadness in a foreign land.»  

The Word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

From Psalm 9

R. I will exult, O Lord, in your salvation.

I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart,
I will declare all your wonders.
I will rejoice and exult in you,
I will sing hymns to your name, O Most High. R.

When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and vanish before you.
You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked,
their name you have erased forever, for ever. R.

The nations have sunk into the pit they dug,
their foot is caught in the net they hid. 
For the needy will never be forgotten,
the hope of the poor will never be disappointed. R.

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia.

Our Savior Christ Jesus conquered death
and brought life to light through the Gospel. (Cf. 2 Tim 1:10)

Alleluia.

The Gospel of the Day, November 22, 2025

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

From the Gospel according to Luke
Lk 20:27-40
 
At that time, some Sadducees—those who say there is no resurrection—approached Jesus and questioned him, saying, «Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, the brother should take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married and died childless. Then the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven died without leaving children. 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 are given in marriage; but those who are judged worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; they are children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead are raised, even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now 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 spoken well.» And they no longer dared to ask him any question.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Saint Gregory the Great (c. 540-604)

Pope, Doctor of the Church

Book XIV, SC 212 (trans. cb@evangelizo)

The Hope of the Resurrection

Let us minutely seek in the words of the blessed Job whether the resurrection will be true and whether the body will truly be in the resurrection. And behold, we see that we can no longer doubt the hope of the resurrection when he says: “And on the last day I will rise again from the earth” (Job 19:25 Vg). As for the hesitation concerning the true reconstruction of the body, he also excluded it with the words: “And again I shall be clothed with this my skin” (Job 19:26 Vg). And to remove all ambiguity from our thought, he adds: “And in my flesh I will see my God” (ibid.). The resurrection, the skin, and the flesh, behold, they are affirmed with explicit words. What can still make our spirit doubt? We, who follow the faith of blessed Job and who believe that after the resurrection the body of our Redeemer could truly be touched, confess that our flesh after the resurrection will be the same and yet different, the same by nature, and different in glory, the same in its truth, and different in its power. It will therefore be particular, because it will not be subject to corruption. But it can be touched, because it will not lose the essence of its true nature. But with what hope does the saint preserve this confidence in the resurrection, with what certainty does he await it? This is what the following words express: “This is the hope that I keep laid up in my bosom” (Job 19:27 Vg). Nothing in the world is more certain for us than what we hold sealed in the depth of our heart. It is therefore in the depth of his heart that Job holds sealed his hope in the resurrection.

The Words of the Popes

With this answer, Jesus first invites his interlocutors – and us too – to think that this earthly dimension in which we live now is not the only dimension, but that there is another one, no longer subject to death, in which it will be fully manifested that we are children of God. It brings great consolation and hope to hear this simple and clear word of Jesus about life beyond death; we need it so much, especially in our time, which is so rich in knowledge about the universe but so poor in wisdom about eternal life. (…) Jesus replies that life belongs to God, who loves us and cares so much about us, to the point of linking his name to ours (…). Life exists where there is bond, communion, brotherhood; and it is a life stronger than death when it is built on true relationships and bonds of fidelity. Conversely, there is no life where one has the claim to belong only to oneself and to live as islands: in these attitudes, death prevails. It is selfishness. If I live for myself, I am sowing death in my heart. (Pope Francis – Angelus, November 10, 2019)