Resistance Contemplation and Action

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today present us with possible responses to persecution and imprisonment of people in our community.

Action to Resist

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/ 

Wisdom and Law

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to attend to both the Law and the prompting of the Spirit on our journey as disciples of Christ.

Law and Life

In the reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses commands Obedience.

Psalm 147 offers praise for God’s Care for Jerusalem.

* [Psalm 147] The hymn is divided into three sections by the calls to praise in Ps 147:1, 7, 12. The first section praises the powerful creator who restores exiled Judah (Ps 147:1–6); the second section, the creator who provides food to animals and human beings; the third and climactic section exhorts the holy city to recognize it has been re-created and made the place of disclosure for God’s word, a word as life-giving as water. (Psalms, PSALM 147 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Matthew teaches about the Law and the Prophets.

* [5:17–20] This statement of Jesus’ position concerning the Mosaic law is composed of traditional material from Matthew’s sermon documentation (see note on Mt 5:1–7:29), other Q material (cf. Mt 18; Lk 16:17), and the evangelist’s own editorial touches. To fulfill the law appears at first to mean a literal enforcement of the law in the least detail: until heaven and earth pass away nothing of the law will pass (Mt 5:18). Yet the “passing away” of heaven and earth is not necessarily the end of the world understood, as in much apocalyptic literature, as the dissolution of the existing universe. The “turning of the ages” comes with the apocalyptic event of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and those to whom this gospel is addressed are living in the new and final age, prophesied by Isaiah as the time of “new heavens and a new earth” (Is 65:17; 66:22). Meanwhile, during Jesus’ ministry when the kingdom is already breaking in, his mission remains within the framework of the law, though with significant anticipation of the age to come, as the following antitheses (Mt 5:21–48) show.

* [5:19] Probably these commandments means those of the Mosaic law. But this is an interim ethic “until heaven and earth pass away.” (Matthew, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB, n.d.)

Joan Blandin Howard comments that while the light of the bombastic directives of the Pharisees and the scribes is harsh and burning.  Hard to warm up to. The Beatitudes are the fulfillment of the law.

What is this saying to me, to us. Possibly, we are being invited to move closer, to sit near and to follow this soft warming glow of these folks.  Possibly, we are encouraged to move close enough to touch a mourning stranger, to stand with and encourage the peacemaker and the meek. To soothe and care for the persecuted.  Of all the senses, I think that touch is the most consoling.  We were all born skin hungry. At birth we reach for the warmth, comfort and nourishment of our mother’s breasts. Toddlers and children yearn for the hug and sweet kisses of loved ones.  Teenagers, especially teenage girls – hug each other all the time!  When schools reopened after the COVID year, school corridors were full of joyful giggling and hugging as friends reunited.  A glorious, sacred reuniting to behold. All of us live out our days yearning for the touch of someone – family, stranger or friend.  We will diminish and die longing to hold a hand, to be held in the arms of another– until we are held in Jesus’ arms. (Blandin Howard, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Making daily progress towards God,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"As Christians, our task is to make daily progress toward God. Our pilgrimage on earth is a school in which God is the only teacher, and it demands good students, not ones who play truant. In this school we learn something every day. We learn something from the commandments, something from examples, and something from Sacraments. These things are remedies for our wounds and materials for our studies." (excerpt from Sermon 16A,1) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9 comments that remembering also helps us to see who we are: children of God. It shows us that we are beloved. We understand that we are his adopted children, his very own possession. And we see that in Baptism, we have become members of his own body, the Church.

In prayer today, ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of the many ways God has moved in your life and the lives of your loved ones. Let him remind you of who he is and who you are. And let your remembering fill you with joy!

“Lord God, help me to recall your goodness and your great works!” (Meditation on Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the great gift of the Law presented by Moses to an ancient people who may have lived in terror of the consequences of not knowing what laws of God they may be breaking. There is a contrast between the view of the Law in the very Jewish Gospel of Matthew and the mission to the Gentiles of Paul. Friar Jude notes the influence of the growth of the Church among Gentiles on our understanding of Law.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Howard Thurman (1899–1981) who offers instructions for practicing stillness and silent meditation.

One is engaged in doing nothing at all except being still. At first one may get drowsy and actually go to sleep. The time will come, however, when one may be quiet for a spell without drowsiness, but with a quality of creative lassitude that makes for renewal of mind and body. Such periods may be snatched from the greedy demands of one’s day’s work; they may be islanded in a sea of other human beings; they may come only at the end of the day, or in the quiet hush of the early morning. We must, each one of us, find [our] own time and develop [our] own peculiar art of being quiet. [1] (Rohr, n.d.)

We ponder the role of law and tradition in building our wisdom, understanding, and directing our decisions about truth, love, and mercy.

References

Blandin Howard, J. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. Creighton University's Online Ministries. https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/032625.html 

Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved March 26, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/4?1 

Matthew, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved March 26, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5?17 

Meditation on Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved March 26, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/03/26/1234991/ 

Psalms, PSALM 147 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved March 26, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/147?12 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). The Power of Stillness. CAC Daily Meditations. Retrieved March 26, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-power-of-stillness/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Whoever Relaxes One of the Commandments. Daily Scripture net. Retrieved March 26, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=mar26