32nd Week in Ordinary Time
17th November 2023 (Friday) Readings and Reflection
Psalter: Week 4
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Wisdom 13:1-9
All men who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know him who exists, nor did they recognise the artisan while paying heed to his works; but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air or the circle of the stars or turbulent water or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world. If through delight in the beauty of these things people assumed them to be gods, let them know how much better than these is their Lord, for the author of beauty created them. And if people were amazed at their power and working, let them perceive from them how much more powerful is he who formed them. For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator. Yet these people are little to be blamed, for perhaps they go astray while seeking God and desiring to find him. For as they live among his works they keep searching, and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful. Yet again, not even they are to be excused; for if they had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?
Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5 (R. 2a)
R/. The heavens declare the glory of God.
Alleluia
V/. Alleluia R/. Alleluia
V/. Straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel : Luke 17:26-37
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
The Reflection by Fr. Thumma Mariadas Reddy MSFS{alertWarning}
Highlight: Life that transcends!
Guidlines: Quality of life depends on the propriety of our focus and orientation. If we are rightly focused and oriented, life also becomes qualitative{alertSuccess}
1. As our perspectives are, so will be our direction of life, our interests, pursuits and accomplishments. When our perspectives are short-sighted and earth-bound, what we strive for and accomplish will also be short-sighted and earth-bound. This is the problem with many today.
2. They are so much caught up with the things of this world. Their interests and pursuits revolve around mundane matters like money, possessions, power, position, name, popularity, temporary pleasures, instant gratifications, et cetera.
3. In simple terms, the meaning and direction of life are reduced to be earth-bound. They do not rise beyond and above the world and the earthly life. This is the same problem that happened in the OT in the time of Noah and Lot. People were immersed in worldly preoccupations and peripheral affairs.
4. They lost sight of the spiritual and higher concerns. They busied themselves with eating, drinking, making merry, pursuing mundane interests and seeking worldly gains. They were totally unprepared for the flood or the fire respectively.
5. This is what the author of Wisdom observes and implicates in the first reading as the grave fault of the worldly people. They are intelligent but are deliberately ignorant, arrogant and deviant. Because they ignore the presence and the power of God that is so evident in His created nature.
6. They are arrogant depending on their own human capacities or worldly resources. They are totally deviated because they go astray “As they live among his works they keep searching, and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful”.
7. This is what Jesus cautions about in the gospel. He reminds us about the suddenness and unexpectedness of the coming of the Lord. Therefore, let us not be engrossed in merely worldly matters, temporary and temporal interests. Let us raise ourselves to the higher realm, what is more lasting and more noble.
Practice: Let these words of Jesus constantly ring within us: “Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life (for my sake) will preserve it{alertSuccess}