Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
- S. Matilde di Hackeborn monaca e mistica (1241-1299)
- B. Giacomo Benfatti vescovo O.P. a Mantova († 1332)
- Santo del giorno
First Reading
The Creator of the universe will return your breath and life to you again.
From the Second Book of Maccabees
2 Macc 7:1, 20-31
In those days, seven brothers were arrested along with their mother and forced by the king, with scourges and whips, to eat forbidden pork.
Their mother was especially admirable and worthy of glorious memory, for, seeing seven sons die in a single day, she bore everything serenely for the hope she had placed in the Lord. She exhorted each of them in the language of their ancestors, full of noble sentiments, and, tempering her feminine tenderness with manly courage, she said to them: “I do not know how you came into being in my womb; it was not I who gave you breath and life, nor did I shape each of your limbs. “Doubtless the Creator of the universe, who originally formed man and provided for the generation of all, will in his mercy restore to you breath and life, since you now do not care for yourselves for his laws.”
Antiochus, believing himself despised and suspecting that this language was mocking, exhorted the youngest who was still alive; and not only with words, but with oaths he promised that he would make him rich and very happy if he would abandon the traditions of his fathers, and that he would make him his friend and entrust him with high offices. But since the young man paid no heed to these words, the king called his mother and urged her to act as counselor for the boy’s salvation.
After much exhortation, she agreed to persuade her son; Leaning over him, mocking the cruel tyrant, she said in the language of our ancestors: “My son, have pity on me, who carried you in my womb for nine months, who nursed you for three years, who raised you, who brought you to this age and who gave you nourishment. I beg you, my son, look at the heavens and the earth, and see everything in them, and know that God did not make them from pre-existing things; such is also the origin of the human race. Do not fear this executioner, but, showing yourself worthy of your brothers, accept death, so that I may have you back with your brothers on the day of mercy.”
While she was still speaking, the young man said: “What are you waiting for? I do not obey the king’s command, but I obey the command of the law that was given to our fathers through Moses. But you, who have become the author of every evil against the Hebrews, will not escape the hands of God.”
Parola di Dio.
Responsorial Psalm
Dal Sal 16 (17)
A. We will be satisfied, Lord, contemplating your face.
Listen, Lord, my just cause,
Be attentive to my cry.
Give your ear to my prayer:
There is no deception on my lips. A.
Hold fast my steps on your ways
and my feet will not waver.
I call upon you, for you answer me, O God.
Tend my ear to me, listen to my words. A.
Keep me as an eye pupil,
in the shadow of your wings hide me.
I in righteousness will contemplate your face,
When I wake up, I will be satisfied with your image. A.
Acclaim to the Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia.
I have chosen you, says the Lord,
that you may go and bear fruit
and your fruit remains. (Cf. Jn 15:16)
Alleluia.
The Gospel of the day November 19, 2025
Why didn’t you hand over my money to a bank?
From the Gospel according to Luke
Luke 19:11-28
At that time, Jesus told a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was about to appear immediately.
He said: “A certain nobleman went into a distant country to obtain the office of king and then return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins, saying, ‘Make these earn money until I return.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ After he had received the office of king, he returned and called the servants to whom he had given the money, to find out how much each had gained.
The first came forward and said, ‘Master, your gold coin has earned ten.’ He said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful over a very small thing, you have authority over ten cities.’
Then the second came and said, “Lord, your gold denarii has earned five gold denarii.” To him he also said, “You also shall be over five cities.”
Another also came and said, “Lord, here is your gold denarii, which I kept hidden in a handkerchief. I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take away what you did not lay out and reap what you did not sow.” He answered him, “By your own words I judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am a harsh man, taking away what I did not lay out and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not deposit my money with the bank? When I came, I would have collected it with interest.” Then he said to those standing by, “Take the gold denarii from him and give it to the one who has ten gold denarii.” They answered him, “Lord, he already has ten.” “I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given; but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And those enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and kill them before me.”
After saying this, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
The word of the Lord.
San Giovanni Paolo II (1920-2005)
Pope
Homily in front of Luxembourg workers, May 1985
« Fairies that they bear fruit » : human labor and the Kingdom of God
When God created humanity, male and female, he said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen 1:28). This is, so to speak, the first commandment of God, bound to the very order of creation. Thus human work responds to God’s will. When we say, “Your will be done,” we can reconnect these words even with the work that fills all the days of our lives. We know that we accord ourselves to this will of the Creator when our work and the human bonds to which it leads, are impregnated with the values of initiative, courage, trust, solidarity, which are all reflected of the divine likeness in us. The Creator has invested the man with the power to dominate the earth; that is, he asks him to be master, with his work, of the field entrusted to him, to put in place all his abilities so that his personality, and the whole community, reach their full development. With his work, man obeys God and responds to the trust he has in him. This is no stranger to the question of the Our Father: “May your Kingdom come.” Man acts so that God’s plan may be realized, aware that he has been made in the likeness of God, and therefore that he has received from him his strength, his intelligence, his dispositions to realize a community of life through the selfless love he has for his brothers. All that is positive and good in the life of man opens up and comes to its true purpose in the Kingdom of God. You have well chosen this slogan: “Kingdom of God, life of man”; in fact, the cause of God and the cause of man are connected; the world progresses towards the Kingdom of God thanks to the gifts of God that allow the dynamism of man. In other words, to pray for the Kingdom of God to come, is to tend with all its being to the reality that is the ultimate goal of human labor.
The Words of the Popes
Fear always immobilizes and often makes bad choices. Fear discourages us from taking initiatives, induces you to take refuge in safe and guaranteed solutions, and so you end up not accomplishing anything good. To move forward and grow in the path of life, you must not be afraid, you must have confidence.
This parable makes us understand how important it is to have a true idea of God. We must not think that He is a bad, hard and severe master who wants to punish us. If within us there is this wrong image of God, then our life cannot be fruitful, because we will live in fear and this will lead us to nothing constructive, on the contrary, fear paralyzes us, self-destructs us. Jesus has always shown us that God is not a severe and intolerant master, but a father full of love, tenderness, a father full of goodness. Therefore we can and must have immense trust in Him. (Pope Francis – Angelus, November 19, 2017)
🍝 La Pasta che fa bene al cuore
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