The Gospel of the day November 28, 2025

Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading

Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man.

From the book of the prophet Daniel
Dn 7:2-14

I, Daniel, looked in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea, and four great beasts, different from one another, came up out of the sea. The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. As I looked, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it.
And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side; it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, «Arise, devour much flesh.»
After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, which had four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
After this I looked in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
As I looked,
thrones were placed,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head was like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued
and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,

and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.
I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.

The Word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Dn 3:75-81

R. To him be praise and glory forever.

Bless the Lord, all mountains and hills.
Bless the Lord, all that springs up on the earth. R.

Bless the Lord, springs.
Bless the Lord, seas and rivers. R.

Bless the Lord, you monsters of the sea and all that moves in the waters.
Bless the Lord, all you birds of the air. R.

Bless the Lord, all you beasts, wild and tame,
praise him and exalt him above all forever. R.

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia.

Straighten up and raise your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near. (Lk 21:28)

Alleluia.

The Gospel of the day November 28, 2025

When you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.

From the Gospel according to Luke
Lk 21:29-33

At that time, Jesus told his disciples a parable:
«Look at the fig tree, and all the trees; as soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.»

The Gospel of the Lord.

Origen (c. 185-253)

priest and theologian

«Summer is already near»

“O Lord, make me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how frail I am” (Ps 39:5). If you would make me know my end, says the psalmist, and what is the number of my days, I would thus be able to know how short my life is. Or perhaps, with these words, he still seems to be saying this: every activity has an end; for example, the end of a construction company is to build a house; the end of a shipyard is to build a ship capable of mastering the waves of the sea and withstanding the assault of the winds; and the end of every activity is something similar for which the trade itself seems to have been invented. Thus, perhaps there is also a certain end to our life and to the entire world, for which everything that is done in life is done, or for which the world itself was created or subsists. The Apostle Paul also recalls this end when he says: “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father” (1 Cor 15:24). We must certainly hurry toward this end, since it is the very reward of the work, the reason for which we are created by God. Just as our body, small and limited at its beginning, develops and tends toward the limit of its greatness as it grows in age, and just as our soul (…) first receives a stammering language, then later a clearer one, to finally arrive at a perfect and correct way of expressing itself, so too our whole life now begins, certainly, as stammering among men on earth, but is completed and reaches its peak in the heavens with God. For this reason, the prophet desires to know the end for which he was made, so that, looking at the end, examining his days, and considering his perfection, he might see what he lacks with respect to this end toward which he is striving. (…) It is as if those who left Egypt had said: «O Lord, make me know my end», which is a good land and a holy land, «and the number of my days» where I walk, «that I may know what I lack», how much remains until I reach the promised holy land.

THE WORDS OF THE POPES

«Heaven and earth will pass away – Jesus says –, but my words will not pass away». The real crucial point is this. On that day, each of us will have to understand whether the Word of the Son of God illuminated our personal existence, or whether we turned our backs on it, preferring to trust in our own words. It will be more than ever the moment to definitively abandon ourselves to the Father’s love and entrust ourselves to his mercy. No one can escape this moment, none of us! The cleverness, which we often put into our behaviour to promote the image we want to offer, will no longer be useful; likewise, the power of money and economic means with which we presumptuously claim to buy everything and everyone, can no longer be used. We will have nothing with us but what we achieved in this life by believing in his Word: the all and the nothing of what we lived or failed to accomplish. We will only bring with us what we have given. (Pope Francis – Angelus, 18 November 2018)