32nd Week in Ordinary Time
16th November 2023 (Thursday) Readings and Reflection
Psalter: Week 4
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Wisdom 7:22-8:1
For in wisdom there is a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, allpowerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent and pure and subtlest. For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is a breath of the power of God and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. Though she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets; for God loves nothing so much as the man who lives with wisdom. For she is more beautiful than the sun and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light, she is found to be superior, for it is succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail. She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well.
Psalm 119:89, 90, 91, 130, 135, 175 (R. 89a)
R/. Forever is your word, O Lord.
Alleluia
V/. Alleluia R/. Alleluia
V/. I am the vine; you are the branches, says the Lord. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel : Luke 17:20-25
At that time: Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
Daily Gospel Reflection
The Reflection by Fr. Thumma Mariadas Reddy MSFS{alertWarning}
Highlight: Kingdom is not a show or glow!
Guidlines: Often people are easily carried away by external displays and shows. Appearances arrest and block their vision and they fail to see the real and the interior{alertSuccess}
1. People of Jesus’ time were expecting God’s kingdom to come in all pomp and glory. They expected an irresistible intervention of God that would overthrow the Roman empire and re-establish the Judaic reign as in the OT. That is why they would ask Jesus when would it come. But Jesus quite candidly dispels their wrong notions.
2. The kingdom of God is not a place with fixed boundaries and demarcations. It is a situation, an ambience where God reigns. It is not material or social or political. It is essentially spiritual. It is profoundly interior. That is why, Jesus declares, “The Kingdom of God is within you, amidst you”.
3. In the light of the first reading from Wisdom, the kingdom of God is exactly where wisdom reigns in its full splendour. All the features of wisdom perfectly match with God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom is when and where the power of God pervades, when and where the glory of the Almighty purely emanates.
4. It is when and where there is a reflection of eternal light, when and where there is a spotless mirror of the working of God and an image of his goodness. The Kingdom of God is there when evil does not prevail against God and good.
5. We will belong to God’s kingdom to the extent we put on wisdom, clothing ourselves with her lofty qualities like holy, clear, unpolluted, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, free from anxiety, et cetera. We will experience God’s reign within and amidst us when we allow wisdom to penetrate us and make us friends of God.
Practice: It is foolish to hear eagerly false prophets and adhere to their false teachings about God’s kingdom. They are for sure false because they tie God’s kingdom to mere places and times. Little do they realize that God’s kingdom is reigning within and amidst us!{alertSuccess}