The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today present us with possible responses to persecution and imprisonment of people in our community.
In the Reading from 1 Maccabees, Pagan Worship is Refused and Resisted.
* [2:18] The King’s Friends: a regular order of nobility at Hellenistic courts (see 10:65; 11:27).
* [2:29] The wilderness: the sparsely inhabited mountain country southward from Jerusalem and west of the Dead Sea, in the region where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. (1 Maccabees, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 50 exhorts the sacrifice of praise accompanied by genuine obedience.
* [Psalm 50] A covenant lawsuit stating that the sacrifice God really wants is the sacrifice of praise accompanied by genuine obedience (cf. Mi 6:1–8). It begins with a theophany and the summoning of the court (Ps 50:1–6). Then in direct address God explains what is required of the faithful (Ps 50:7–15), rebukes the hypocritical worshiper (Ps 50:16–21), and concludes with a threat and a promise (Ps 50:22–23; cf. Is 1:19–20). (Psalms, PSALM 50 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus prays a Lament for Jerusalem.
* [19:41–44] The lament for Jerusalem is found only in Luke. By not accepting Jesus (the one who mediates peace), Jerusalem will not find peace but will become the victim of devastation.
* [19:43–44] Luke may be describing the actual disaster that befell Jerusalem in A.D. 70 when it was destroyed by the Romans during the First Revolt. (Luke, CHAPTER 19 | USCCB, n.d.)
Mike Cherney comments that today’s readings present faithfulness from two very different perspectives. The Old Testament passage portrays a fierce and even violent defense of fidelity to God’s covenant. The Gospel, however, reveals another kind of faithfulness, God’s compassionate response to our blindness and stubbornness.
I think of a group of retired nuns who I greatly admire. Their lives offer me a model of response. I see in them a deep lament for the world’s pain and for their own shortcomings in stewardship. Yet they remain steadfast as an aging group of women who are active in service, unafraid to openly speak against injustice, mutually supportive, and rooted in prayer. Their witness reminds me that faithfulness is both contemplation and action, grounded in love.
My prayer today is to seek my own faithful response.
Dear Lord, Give me a heart free from hardness.
Rooted in the Ignatian way of contemplation and action,
open my eyes, my ears, and my spirit as I pray,
and show me the path of faithful service.
Grant me the courage of Mattathias
and the compassion of Christ. (Cherney, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “Jesus fulfills the beatitude for those who weep,” by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)
"When our Lord and Savior approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept... By his example, Jesus confirms all the Beatitudes that he speaks in the Gospel. By his own witness, he confirms what he teaches. 'Blessed are the meek,' he says. He says something similar to this of himself: 'Learn from me, for I am meek.' 'Blessed are the peacemakers.' What other man brought as much peace as my Lord Jesus, who 'is our peace,' who 'dissolves hostility' and 'destroys it in his own flesh' (Ephesians 2:14-15). 'Blessed are those who suffer persecution because of justice.'
"No one suffered such persecution because of justice as did the Lord Jesus, who was crucified for our sins. The Lord therefore exhibited all the Beatitudes in himself. For the sake of this likeness, he wept, because of what he said, 'Blessed are those who weep,' to lay the foundations for this beatitude as well. He wept for Jerusalem and said,'If only you had known on that day what meant peace for you! But now it is hidden from your eyes,' and the rest, to the point where he says, 'Because you did not know the time of your visitation'" (excerpt from HOMILY ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 38.1-2) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 19:41-44 comments how comforting to remember that Jesus weeps with us!
Day after day, God continues to reach out to his children. Every day is a new “visitation” (Luke 19:44). Every moment, he offers your loved ones a fresh opportunity to return to him. And he will never stop.
“Thank you, Lord, that you love the person I am praying for even more than I do. Help them to see you and to welcome your salvation.” (Meditation on Luke 19:41-44, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments that 1 Maccabees presents the breakout of the rebellion and the response of leaders called to offer sacrifice to pagan gods. Mattathias reacts and kills the offending Jews to keep the faith of Israel against the Seleucid ruler, Antiochus IV, who persecuted Jews and tried to suppress their religion and outlawed Jewish practices. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is heading to the spiritual centre, Jerusalem. He tells them of the coming destruction. Friar Jude notes that Luke wrote the Gospel after the destruction in 70 AD. A lot of the description is fulfilled in that event and the Evangelist probably filled out Jesus' prediction with actual events.
Fr. Mike Schmitz reminds us that God gives us gifts so he can be known in the world and all great miracles are attributed to the name of Jesus. Fr. Mike also tells us why our suffering matters, and how God wastes nothing. Today’s readings are Acts 3, Romans 4-5, and Proverbs 27:1-3.
Father Richard explains how learning to see beyond our biases is essential for the ongoing conversion of faith. Brian McLaren describes why Jesus’ teachings so effectively freed people from an over-attachment to their own way of seeing.
Jesus inspired and “abducted” people through immersive and imaginative experiences—including parables and powerful metaphors, respectful conversations, encounters with “the other,” field trips, and other forms of experiential learning. Following his example, we discover that it’s usually a far more effective portal out of confirmation bias than purely intellectual arguments.
When you aggressively attack people’s familiar ideas, they tend to respond defensively. They dig in their heels and become even more firmly attached to the very ideas that they need to be liberated from. The doorway out of confirmation bias is not argument but imagination.
That’s why Jesus, like other effective communicators, constantly told stories, stories that grabbed people by the imagination and transported them into another imaginative world:
… there once was a woman who put some yeast into a huge batch of dough [Matthew 13:33]
… there once was a man who had two sons [Luke 15:11]
… this man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho [Luke 10:30]
… a woman once lost a coin [Luke 15:8] …
Through these short “imaginative vacations” to another world, Jesus helped people see from a new vantage point. He used imagination to punch a tiny hole in their walls of confirmation bias, and through that tiny hole, some new light could stream in and let them know of a bigger world beyond their walls…. (McLaren, n.d.)
We seek the guidance of the Spirit in our contemplation of the change we hope to create and the action we need to overcome resistance from our community.
References
Cherney, M. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved November 20, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-november-20-2025
Luke, CHAPTER 19 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/19?41
McLaren, B. (n.d.). Moving Beyond What We Already Know. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 20, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/moving-beyond-what-we-already-know/
Meditation on Luke 19:41-44. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved November 20, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/11/20/1432630/
1 Maccabees, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1maccabees/2?15
Psalms, PSALM 50 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/50?1
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Know the Time of Your Visitation. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 20, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/
No comments:
Post a Comment