Monday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
- Sts. Andrew Dung-Lac and 116 companion martyrs in Vietnam
- Bl. Maria Anna Sala, religious and educator (1829-1891)
- Saint of the Day
First Reading
No one was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
From the book of the prophet Daniel
Dn 1:1-6,8-20
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, marched against Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord handed Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hands, along with some of the furnishings of the temple of God, and he carried them off to the land of Shinar, into the temple of his god, and deposited them in the treasury of the temple of his god.
The king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the young Israelites of royal blood or nobility, unblemished, handsome, gifted with every wisdom, well-informed, intelligent, and capable of serving in the king’s palace, and to teach them the writing and the language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily ration of his own food and of the wine he drank; they were to be educated for three years, at the end of which they would enter the king’s service. Among them were some Judeans: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
But Daniel resolved in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine of his banquets, and he asked the chief of the officials not to compel him to defile himself. God allowed Daniel to find favor and sympathy with the chief of the officials. But he said to Daniel: “I fear my lord the king, who has decreed what you are to eat and drink, lest he see your faces looking thinner than those of the other young men your age, and so you would make me forfeit my head to the king.” But Daniel said to the guardian to whom the chief of the officials had entrusted Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: “Please test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink, then let our faces be compared in your presence with the faces of the young men who eat the king’s food; then do with your servants according to what you see.”
He agreed to this proposal and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days, their faces looked better and healthier than those of all the other young men who ate the king’s food. From then on, the superintendent took away the assigned food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them only vegetables.
God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding of all visions and dreams.
When the time stipulated by the king for their presentation had come, the chief of the officials brought them before Nebuchadnezzar. The king spoke with them, and among them all, no one was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In any matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
The Word of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm
Dn 3:52-56
R. Glory and praise to you for ever.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers,
Blessed is your holy and glorious name. R.
Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory,
Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom. R.
Blessed are you who look into the depths
and sit upon the cherubim,
Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven. R.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia.
Watch and be ready,
for at an hour you do not expect,
the Son of Man will come. (Cf. Mt 24:42a,44)
Alleluia.
The Gospel of the Day for November 24, 2025
He saw a poor widow putting in two small coins.
From the Gospel according to Luke
Lk 21:1-4
At that time, Jesus looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the temple treasury.
He also saw a poor widow putting in two small coins, and he said: “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all these have contributed as an offering out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
founder of the Missionaries of Charity
A Simple Path
“All gave from their surplus, she instead, from her poverty”
You must give what costs you something. It is not enough to give only what you can do without, but also what you cannot nor want to do without, the things to which you are attached. Then your gift becomes a sacrifice that has value in God’s eyes… This is what we call love in action. Every day I see this love in children, men and women. Once I was walking down the street; a beggar came up to me and said: “Mother Teresa, everyone gives you gifts, I too want to give you something. Today I only received twenty-nine cents for the whole day, and I want to give them to you.” I reflected for a moment. “If I take these twenty-nine cents (which are worth almost nothing), he risks having nothing to eat tonight; and if I do not take them, I will cause him unhappiness.” So I stretched out my hands and took the money. Never, on any face, have I seen such joy as I saw on that man’s face, so happy to have been able to give a gift to Mother Teresa! For him, who had begged this paltry sum all day in the sun, with which nothing could be done, it was an enormous sacrifice. But it was also wonderful, because this small change he renounced became a fortune because it was given with such love.
The Words of the Popes
Works of mercy are the safest and most profitable bank where we can entrust the treasure of our existence, because there, as the Gospel teaches us, with “two small coins” even a poor widow becomes the richest person in the world (…). And to understand what this means, we can think of a mother clutching her children to herself: isn’t she the most beautiful and richest person in the world? Or two engaged couples, when they are together: do they not feel like a king and a queen? And we could give many other examples. Therefore, in the family, in the parish, at school and in the workplace, wherever we are, let us try not to miss any opportunity to love. This is the vigilance that Jesus asks of us: to get used to being attentive, ready, sensitive towards one another as He is with us at every moment. (Pope Leo XIV – Angelus, August 10, 2025)
🍝 La Pasta che fa bene al cuore
Partecipa alla Seconda Edizione del nostro evento di solidarietà.
Unisciti a noi per trasformare un piatto di pasta in un gesto d’amore ❤️
