Tagged: Prayers in English

“Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.” –2 Maccabees 7:20 Mass Readings: November 22 First: 2 Maccabees 7:1,20-31; Resp: Psalm 17:1,5-6,8,15; Gospel: Luke 19:11-28 Listen to the Mass Readings The Seleucids who persecuted the Jewish people at the time of the Maccabean revolt were terrorists. They did not just kill seven Jewish brothers but scalped, dismembered, and fried them one by one, while forcing the remaining brothers and their mother to watch every brutal act. The...

“Today salvation has come to this house, for this is what it means to be a son of Abraham.” –Luke 19:9 Mass Readings: November 21 First: 2 Maccabees 6:18-31; Resp: Psalm 3:2-7; Gospel: Luke 19:1-10 Listen to the Mass Readings When salvation came to Zacchaeus and his house, Zacchaeus was moved to say: “I give half my belongings, Lord, to the poor” (Lk 19:8). This expression of salvation has been common throughout Church history. Jesus loved and challenged a man by saying to him: “There is one thing more you must do. Go and sell what you have and give...

“Some from among the people promptly went to the king, and he authorized them to introduce the way of living of the Gentiles. Thereupon they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem according to the Gentile custom.” –1 Maccabees 1:13-14 Mass Readings: November 20 First: 1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-63; Resp: Psalm 119:53,61,134,150,155,158; Gospel: Luke 18:35-43 Listen to the Mass Readings Some of the chosen people were so spiritually blind that they made an alliance with the Gentiles to introduce to Israel a pagan way of living (1 Mc 1:11). They even volunteered to help brainwash and pervert themselves. This alliance with pagans eventually...

“Since you were dependable in a small matter I will put you in charge of larger affairs.” –Matthew 25:21, 23 Some of you are burning with love for God and, therefore, with love for all people. You want all to be saved (1 Tm 2:4), families to be holy, neglected children to be loved, peace for the world, justice for the poor, and babies in the womb to be rescued from abortion. You want to do great things for love of God and man. The Lord wants to entrust great things to us, but we must first be faithful in...

“They beheld stupendous wonders.” –Wisdom 19:8 Mass Readings: November 18 First: Acts 28:11-16,30-31; Resp: Psalm 98:1-6; Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33 Listen to the Mass Readings The whole Israelite nation had been enslaved in Egypt for several hundred years. They had no way of ever being freed. Then the Lord did a series of “stupendous wonders” (Wis 19:8) by which He set His people free, “for all creation, in its several kinds, was being made over anew” (Wis 19:6). The book of Leviticus prescribes that in the Jubilee Year, slaves are freed, debts are forgiven, and land is restored to its original...