2022년 11월 24일 연중 제34주간 목요일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
제1독서
요한 묵시록. 18,1-2.21-23; 19,1-3.9ㄱㄴ
나 요한은 1 큰 권한을 가진 다른 천사가 하늘에서 내려오는 것을 보았는데,
그의 광채로 땅이 환해졌습니다.
2 그가 힘찬 소리로 외쳤습니다.
“무너졌다, 무너졌다, 대바빌론이! 바빌론이 마귀들의 거처가 되고
온갖 더러운 영들의 소굴, 온갖 더러운 새들의 소굴,
더럽고 미움받는 온갖 짐승들의 소굴이 되고 말았다.”
21 또 큰 능력을 지닌 한 천사가 맷돌처럼 큰 돌을 들어 바다에 던지며 말하였습니다.
“큰 도성 바빌론이 이처럼 세차게 던져질 터이니
다시는 그 모습을 찾아볼 수 없을 것이다.
22 수금 타는 이들과 노래 부르는 이들,
피리 부는 이들과 나팔 부는 이들의 소리가 다시는 네 안에서 들리지 않고
어떠한 기술을 가진 장인도 다시는 네 안에서 찾아볼 수 없으며
맷돌 소리도 다시는 네 안에서 들리지 않을 것이다.
23 등불의 빛도 다시는 네 안에서 비치지 않고
신랑과 신부의 목소리도 다시는 네 안에서 들리지 않을 것이다.
너의 상인들이 땅의 세력가였기 때문이며
모든 민족들이 너의 마술에 속아 넘어갔기 때문이다.”
19,1 그 뒤에 나는 하늘에 있는 많은 무리가 내는 큰 목소리 같은 것을 들었습니다.
“할렐루야! 구원과 영광과 권능은 우리 하느님의 것.
2 과연 그분의 심판은 참되고 의로우시다.
자기 불륜으로 땅을 파멸시킨 대탕녀를 심판하시고
그 손에 묻은 당신 종들의 피를 되갚아 주셨다.”
3 그들이 또 말하였습니다.
“할렐루야! 그 여자가 타는 연기가 영원무궁토록 올라간다.”
9 또 그 천사가 나에게 말하였습니다.
“‘어린양의 혼인 잔치에 초대받은 이들은 행복하다.’고 기록하여라.”
복음
루카. 21,20-28
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
20 “예루살렘이 적군에게 포위된 것을 보거든,
그곳이 황폐해질 때가 가까이 왔음을 알아라.
21 그때에 유다에 있는 이들은 산으로 달아나고,
예루살렘에 있는 이들은 거기에서 빠져나가라.
시골에 있는 이들은 예루살렘으로 들어가지 마라.
22 그때가 바로 성경에 기록된 모든 말씀이 이루어지는 징벌의 날이기 때문이다.
23 불행하여라, 그 무렵에 임신한 여자들과 젖먹이가 딸린 여자들!
이 땅에 큰 재난이, 이 백성에게 진노가 닥칠 것이기 때문이다.
24 사람들은 칼날에 쓰러지고 포로가 되어 모든 민족들에게 끌려갈 것이다.
그리고 예루살렘은 다른 민족들의 시대가 다 찰 때까지
그들에게 짓밟힐 것이다.
25 그리고 해와 달과 별들에는 표징들이 나타나고,
땅에서는 바다와 거센 파도 소리에 자지러진 민족들이 공포에 휩싸일 것이다.
26 사람들은 세상에 닥쳐오는 것들에 대한 두려운 예감으로 까무러칠 것이다.
하늘의 세력들이 흔들릴 것이기 때문이다.
27 그때에 ‘사람의 아들이’권능과 큰 영광을 떨치며
‘구름을 타고 오는 것을’사람들이 볼 것이다.
28 이러한 일들이 일어나기 시작하거든 허리를 펴고 머리를 들어라.
너희의 속량이 가까웠기 때문이다.”
November 24, 2022
| Thanksgiving Day | USCCB Sirach 50:22-24 Psalm 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11 Luke 17:11-19 |
November 24, 2022
Thursday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Mass : https://www.youtube.com/c/EWTNcatholictv : https://www.youtube.com/c/DailyTVMass
Reading 1
I, John, saw another angel coming down from heaven,
having great authority,
and the earth became illumined by his splendor.
He cried out in a mighty voice:
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.
She has become a haunt for demons.
She is a cage for every unclean spirit,
a cage for every unclean bird,
a cage for every unclean and disgusting beast.”
A mighty angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone
and threw it into the sea and said:
“With such force will Babylon the great city be thrown down,
and will never be found again.
No melodies of harpists and musicians,
flutists and trumpeters,
will ever be heard in you again.
No craftsmen in any trade
will ever be found in you again.
No sound of the millstone
will ever be heard in you again.
No light from a lamp
will ever be seen in you again.
No voices of bride and groom
will ever be heard in you again.
Because your merchants were the great ones of the world,
all nations were led astray by your magic potion.”
After this I heard what sounded like
the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying:
“Alleluia!
Salvation, glory, and might belong to our God,
for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great harlot
who corrupted the earth with her harlotry.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
They said a second time:
“Alleluia! Smoke will rise from her forever and ever.”
Then the angel said to me, “Write this:
Blessed are those who have been called
to the wedding feast of the Lamb.”
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
R. (see 1) I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Generation after generation praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
They discourse of the power of your terrible deeds
and declare your greatness.
They publish the fame of your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your justice.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The Lord is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
know that its desolation is at hand.
Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.
Let those within the city escape from it,
and let those in the countryside not enter the city,
for these days are the time of punishment
when all the Scriptures are fulfilled.
Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days,
for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth
and a wrathful judgment upon this people.
They will fall by the edge of the sword
and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles;
and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles
until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.”
What Can You Give Away?
Thanksgiving means three things in my house: the parade, a big meal, and the beginning of Christmas movies. In one of these movies, It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey’s father says “All you can take with you is that which you have given away.” This is a lesson we all know in our hearts, but the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas can feel conflicting: we are hopeful and yet tired, we are mindful of peace and yet busy, we are joyful and yet stressed, we are loving and yet annoyed by traffic and long lines. If the only thing we have when we leave this earth is what we have given away, then our focus needs to be on sharing what really matters.
Let’s consider how we can give hope, peace, joy and love away each day during this Advent season, remembering that it is in giving that we receive.
—Kay Gregg is the Assistant Department Chair for Campus Ministry at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois.
Prayer
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
—Peace Prayer of St. Francis
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
I have been writing these reflections since November, 1998, and it has been a very rewarding experience for me. Over that time, I have written reflections on today’s readings twice before – once on 11.23.06 and again on 11.27.14. Both times the readings were for the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the U.S., as they are for today.*
I find that when I revisit familiar readings, the challenge is to avoid the temptation of a “been there, done that” attitude. We all are busy, and after 60 or more years (for me) of hearing readings and a homilist’s thoughts on them, it seems unlikely that I will hear something new. Perhaps the wisdom of the liturgical calendar is not that we will hear something new, but instead be reminded of lessons that we learned but might have forgotten.
The theme for today is gratitude and how we can express it. Sirach says “bless the God of all.” The Psalmist pledges to “praise your name forever, Lord.” Paul gives thanks for the grace brought to us through Jesus. And Luke shares the story of the one grateful and nine ungrateful lepers that Jesus healed. Bless God, praise the Lord, give thanks to God . . . how do these phrases speak to me today?
In the past when I have expressed gratitude, or provided an invocation or a blessing before a meal, I have usually given thanks for the people who have provided us with the food, or grown it, or cooked it, etc. I think of the people around us who have given us something, the actors who did something that benefitted me or the group, and thank them for their efforts. This time, when I revisited the readings, I found myself focusing on a different person.
Like the nine lepers, it is easy for us to overlook the things right in front of us for which we should be grateful. I think our busy-ness seduces us into complacency and shallowness when we encounter what truly are marvels all about us. For example, how is it I am able to type this document and share it with you? If we break down all the essential events and steps throughout human history that collectively led to this moment (language, writing, mechanical writing, electronics, computers, etc. etc.), it is incredible. How is it we are able to do these things?
Or, consider the meals we eat today. How conscious are we of the chain of human development that has led to what we put on the table? How many tens (hundreds?) of thousands of years ago did one of our ancestors discover grains, and think of grinding them, and combining them with oil to produce dough, and then bread? Who thought it would make sense to domesticate some animals? Who thought of the idea to cook meat and other foods? Who figured out that not all parts of an animal should be eaten? How many of our ancestors learned by trial and error what nuts, and berries, and fruits, and vegetables, could and could not be eaten? Why did someone think to add spices to food to enhance their flavor, or to dry foods to preserve them? Who learned to plant seed and then to experiment by choosing better and stronger successors to the original plants?
It seems to me when we give thanks today, and every day, for our blessings we must first and always thank our Creator who made it all possible. Our species has been endowed with physical senses, an intellect with the ability to learn for ourselves and communicate with others, a restless curiosity to explore and discover, to create and adapt, to reason and to make conscious choices. Our most fundamental gratitude must be to God for the gift of life itself, a life in which we, spiritual beings that we are, experience this physical realm and, when we pause and reflect, are filled with the grace of wonder and awe. With the gift of self-awareness, we can recognize today our individual and collective mistakes from the past. With the gift of love for what our Creator has provided us, we can choose to atone for those times we have selfishly exploited these gifts and redirect our actions to help the kingdom of God on earth flourish.
My prayer today is simple – Thank you, Lord, for creating our world with all its beauty, and for generously sharing it with us. Thank you for the gift of my life. Thank you for this moment when I can pause and reflect on your glory and see it in all the creation that surrounds me.
* If you would like to visit the archives, go to the landing page for Daily Reflections. In the upper right part of the heading there is a link to the archives. The next page has a link for “read about, etc.” and clicking on that link takes you to a page where you can go to the Creighton Digital Repository (CDR) site. Once there you can browse by authors, and then once you select an author, you go to the archive for that person. There is a settings wheel above the listing and you can select a filter such as issue date and ascending. You then can scroll until you find the reflections you want to review.
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
R. S. V. P.
“Happy are they who have been invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” —Revelation 19:9
Today is a day of Thanksgiving in the U.S.A. Many people are invited to sumptuous feasts with family and friends, and they happily look forward to the Thanksgiving meal. You can imagine the joy of the hosts when their invited guests appear at the door.
God also has prepared a feast today that by comparison makes a Thanksgiving turkey look like a “disgusting bird” (Rv 18:2). In fact, He has also prepared this feast tomorrow, this weekend, and for all eternity. This feast is the ultimate: “the wedding feast of the Lamb” (Rv 19:9). It is celebrated without pause in heaven, and it is celebrated on earth in the Holy Mass.
As with a Thanksgiving meal, it is easy to imagine God eagerly anticipating the arrival of His guests, for “He invited many” (Lk 14:16). Instead of being thrilled at being invited, the guests incredibly begin “to excuse themselves, one and all” (Lk 14:18). Some simply ignore “the invitation and [go] their way” (see Mt 22:5). Many of the guests are more bothered than thankful to be invited.
Let’s happily and thankfully accept God’s invitation and go to Mass today. As we enter the Church for the feast, let us “enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise” (Ps 100:4). “Happy are those who are called to His supper!”
Prayer: “I will give thanks to You, O Lord, with all of my heart...I will worship at Your holy temple” (Ps 138:1, 2).
Promise: “When these things begin to happen, stand erect and hold your heads high, for your deliverance is near at hand.” —Lk 21:28
Praise: St. Anthony Peter Dich, a Vietnamese farmer who sowed in the seed-ground of the Spirit (Gal 6:8), was beheaded for sheltering Fr. James Nam and now rejoices in God’s heavenly Kingdom.
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
Do you believe that the world as we know it is going to end just as Jesus foretold? Jesus' prophetic description of the destruction of the holy city Jerusalem, the destruction of the world, and the day of final judgment, was not new to the people of Israel. The prophets had foretold these events many centuries before. Behold the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it (Isaiah 13:9-13; see also Joel 2:1-2; Amos 5:18-20; Zephaniah 1:14-18).
Indifference and rejection of the Gospel lead to destruction
Jesus warns of the imminent destruction of Jerusalem as a consequence of the rejection of the Gospel. According to the historian Josephus, over a million inhabitants died when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem with its temple in 70 A.D. Jerusalem's vengeance resulted from her indifference to the visitation of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:44).
Jesus also speaks about the judgment at the end of the world. Only spiritual blindness can keep us from recognizing the obvious signs of approaching disaster which awaits the day of judgment for those who refuse to heed God's word of grace and salvation. Jesus was completely honest. He told his disciples what it would cost to follow him. And he promised that he would never leave them alone, even in their time of tribulation. The saints and martyrs who underwent torment and death made their prisons a temple of praise and their scaffolds a throne to the glory of God. They knew the saving presence of Jesus Christ with them in all circumstances. Jesus offers us safety in the face of earth's threats. Not a hair of your head will perish (Luke 21:18). The disciple who walks with Christ may lose their body but not their soul.
We hope for what is to come - full redemption of our bodies and a new heavens and earth
The greatest gift which no one can take from us and which we can be most thankful for is our redemption through the precious blood of Jesus, which was shed on the cross for our sins, and our adoption through Christ as children of God our heavenly Father. Jesus Christ has redeemed us from slavery to sin, from fear of death, and from final destruction. We can be eternally thankful because our hope is anchored in heaven and in the promise that Jesus will return to fully establish his reign of peace and righteousness. The Lord Jesus will raise our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body which is no longer subject to illness, death and corruption.
Jesus speaks of his second coming as a known fact, a for certain event which we can confidently expect to take place in the Lord's time of choosing. This coming will be marked by signs that all will recognize - signs which will strike terror and grief in those who are unprepared and wonder and joy in those who are ready to meet the Lord. When the Lord Jesus returns he will fully establish his kingdom of justice and righteousness and he will vindicate all who have been faithful to him. His judgment is a sign of hope for those who have placed their trust in him. Do you hope in God and in the promise of Christ to return again to create new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17 and Revelation 21:1)?
Lord Jesus, fill me with gratitude for the gift of redemption and increase my hope and longing for your return again in glory. May that day bring joy to my heart rather than sorrow. Help me to serve you faithfully and to make the best use of my time now in the light of your coming again.
Psalm 100:1-5
1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the lands!
2 Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
3 Know that the LORD is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him, bless his name!
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures for ever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: The signs have been accomplished, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"The signs given in the Gospel and in prophecy and fulfilled in us show the coming of the Lord... We know that the coming is near by the fact that we see the fulfillment of certain signs of that coming that have been accomplished... The signs that Christ told them to look for are listed in the Gospel of Saint Luke: 'Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the nations are fulfilled.' This has happened and no one doubts that it has happened... It is plain that there is no country or place in our time that is not harassed or humbled according to the words 'for fear and expectation of what will come on the whole world.' All the signs that the gospel describes in the earlier verses have mostly been accomplished." (excerpt from Letter 198)
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More Homilies
November 26, 2020 Thursday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time