Thursday of the Thirty-third week in Ordinary Time

2nd book of Maccabees

2,15-29.

The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices.
Many of Israel joined them, but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart.
Then the officers of the king addressed Mattathias: "You are a leader, an honorable and great man in this city, supported by sons and kinsmen.
Come now, be the first to obey the king's command, as all the Gentiles and the men of Judah and those who are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons shall be numbered among the King's Friends, and shall be enriched with silver and gold and many gifts."
But Mattathias answered in a loud voice: "Although all the Gentiles in the king's realm obey him, so that each forsakes the religion of his fathers and consents to the king's orders,
yet I and my sons and my kinsmen will keep to the covenant of our fathers.
God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments.
We will not obey the words of the king nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree."
As he finished saying these words, a certain Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein according to the king's order.
When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal; his heart was moved and his just fury was aroused; he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar.
At the same time, he also killed the messenger of the king who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar.
Thus he showed his zeal for the law, just as Phinehas did with Zimri, son of Salu.
Then Mattathias went through the city shouting, "Let everyone who is zealous for the law and who stands by the covenant follow after me!"
Thereupon he fled to the mountains with his sons, leaving behind in the city all their possessions.
Many who sought to live according to righteousness and religious custom went out into the desert to settle there.

Psalms

50(49),1-2.5-6.14-15.

God the LORD has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
“Gather my faithful ones before me,
those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
And the heavens proclaim his justice;
for God himself is the judge.
“Offer to God praise as your sacrifice
and fulfill your vows to the Most High.
Then call upon me in time of distress;
I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me.”

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke

19,41-44.

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it,
saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."

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St. Clement I(Pope and martyr († 100))

SAINT CLEMENT I POPE AND MARTYR( 100)Dear Brothers and Sisters, Let us devote our attention to the Apostolic Fathers, that is, to the first and second generations in the Church subsequent to the Apostles. And thus, we can see where the Church's journey begins in history.St. Clement, Bishop of Rome during the last years of the first century, was the Successor of Peter after Linus and Anacletus. The most important testimony concerning his life comes from St. Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons until 202. He attests that Clement "had seen the blessed Apostles," "had been conversant with them," and "might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes" (Adversus Haer. 3, 3, 3).The authority and prestige of St. Clement were such that various writings were attributed to him, but the only one that is certainly his is the Letter to the Corinthians. Eusebius of Caesarea, the great "archivist" of Christian beginnings, presents it in these terms: "There is extant an Epistle of this Clement which is acknowledged to be genuine and is of considerable length and of remarkable merit. He wrote it in the name of the Church of Rome to the Church of Corinth, when a sedition had arisen in the latter Church. We know that this Epistle also has been publicly used in a great many Churches both in former times and in our own" (Hist. Eccl. 3, 16).An almost canonical character was attributed to this Letter. At the beginning of this text - written in Greek - Clement expressed his regret that "the sudden and successive calamitous events which have happened to ourselves" had prevented him from intervening sooner (1, 1). These "calamitous events" can be identified with Domitian's persecution. Therefore, the Letter must have been written just after the Emperor's death and at the end of the persecution: immediately after the year 96.Clement's intervention was prompted by the serious problems besetting the Church in Corinth. The elders of the community had been deposed by some young contestants. The sorrowful event was recalled once again by St. Irenaeus who wrote: "In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred among the brethren in Corinth, the Church in Rome dispatched a most powerful Letter to the Corinthians exhorting them to peace, renewing their faith and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from the Apostles" (Adv. Haer. 3, 3, 3).Thus, we could say that this Letter was a first exercise of the Roman primacy after St. Peter's death. Clement's Letter touches on topics that were dear to St. Paul, who had written two important Letters to the Corinthians, in particular the theological dialectic, perennially current, between the indicative of salvation and the imperative of moral commitment.First of all came the joyful proclamation of saving grace. The Lord forewarns us and gives us his forgiveness, gives us his love and the grace to be Christians: his brothers and sisters. It is a proclamation that fills our life with joy and gives certainty to our action. The Lord always forewarns us with his goodness and the Lord's goodness is always greater than all our sins. However, we must commit ourselves in a way that is consistent with the gift received and respond to the proclamation of salvation with a generous and courageous journey of conversion.The Letter's immediate circumstances provided the Bishop of Rome with ample room for an intervention on the Church's identity and mission. If there were abuses in Corinth, Clement observed, the reason should be sought in the weakening of charity and of the other indispensable Christian virtues. He therefore calls the faithful to humility and fraternal love, two truly constitutive virtues of being in the Church: "Seeing, therefore, that we are the portion of the Holy One," he warned, "let us do all those things which pertain to holiness" (30, 1)."The Lord (delegated) peculiar services (Baptism, Last Supper, etc.) to the high priest, and their own proper place is prescribed to the priests, and their own special ministries devolve on the Levites. The layman is bound by the laws that pertain to laymen" (40, 1-5). It can be noted that here, in this early first-century Letter, the Greek word "laikós" appears for the first time in Christian literature, meaning "a member of the laos"(that is, "of the People of God"). ... Each one (in the Church) ... exercises his ministry in accordance with the vocation he has received.The Father sent Jesus Christ, who in turn sent the Apostles. They then sent the first heads of communities and established that they would be succeeded by other worthy men. Everything, therefore, was made "in an orderly way, according to the will of God" (42). With these words, St. Clement underlined that the Church's structure was sacramental and not political. The action of God who comes to meet us in the liturgy precedes our decisions and our ideas. The Church is above all a gift of God and not something we ourselves created. Consequently, this sacramental structure not only guarantees the common order, but also this precedence of God's gift which we all need.Finally, the "great prayer" confers a cosmic breath to the previous reasoning. ... The prayer for rulers and governors acquires special importance. Subsequent to the New Testament texts, it is the oldest prayer extant for political institutions. Thus, in the period following their persecution, Christians, well aware that the persecutions would continue, never ceased to pray for the very authorities who had unjustly condemned them. The reason is primarily Christological: it is necessary to pray for one's persecutors as Jesus did on the Cross. But this prayer also contains a teaching that guides the attitude of Christians towards politics and the State down the centuries. In praying for the Authorities, Clement recognized the legitimacy of political institutions in the order established by God; ... and expressed his concern that the Authorities would be docile to God, "devoutly in peace and meekness exercising the power given them by [God]" (61, 2).Another sovereignty emerges whose origins and essence are not of this world but of "the heavens above": it is that of Truth, which also claims a right to be heard by the State. ... Let us make our own the invocations of the "great prayer" in which the Bishop of Rome made himself the voice of the entire world: "O Lord, make your face to shine upon us for good in peace, that we may be shielded by your mighty hand ... through the High Priest and Guardian of our souls, Jesus Christ, through whom be glory and majesty to you both now and from generation to generation, for evermore" (60-61).BENEDICT XVI General audience (March 7, 2007)

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St. Columban(abbot († 615))

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SAINT COLUMBAN Abbot( 615) St. Columban was born in Ireland during the seventh century. He discerned a religious vocation early in life, and nurtured his spirit through leisure reading and theology. After entering the monastic life, Columban went to France and founded several Catholic monasteries. After denouncing the immoral practices of royal and clerical personalities, he was exiled. He afterward went to Italy and founded the monastery of Bobbio. St. Columban passed away in 615. His legacy was reforming clerical organizations and evangelizing distant peoples. The proofs of his heroic virtues and the miracles proceeding from his intercession show that he attained the beatific vision: seeing God face to face forever.

misalcatolico.com

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2023 / Catholic Missal of november 2023