DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

NOVEMBER 23, 2025

SUNDAY - THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE

FIRST READING

2 SAMUEL 5:1-3

1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, "Behold, we are your bone and flesh. 2 In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you that led out and brought in Israel; and the Lord said to you, 'You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.'" 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALMS 121(122):1-5

Response: Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD!”
Our feet have been standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem!

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Jerusalem, built as a city
which is bound firmly together,
to which the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

SECOND READING

COLOSSIANS 1:12-20

12 Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; 16 for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities all things were created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. 19 For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

The Word of the Lord
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GOSPEL

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom

LUKE 23:35-43

35 And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!" 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar, 37 and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" 38 There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews." 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." 42 And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 43 And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

My kingdom is not of the world, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"Listen, everyone, Jews and Gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised. Listen, all kings of the earth. I am no hindrance to your rule in this world, for 'my kingdom is not of this world.' Banish the groundless fear that filled Herod the Great on hearing that Christ was born. More cruel in his fear than in his anger, he put many children to death (Matthew 2:3,16), so that Christ would also die. But 'my kingdom is not of this world,' says Christ. What further reassurance do you seek? Come to the kingdom that is not of this world. Do not be enraged by fear, but come by faith. In a prophecy Christ also said, 'He,' that is, God the Father, 'has made me king on Zion his holy mountain' (Psalm 2:6). But that Zion and that mountain are not of this world.
"What in fact is Christ's kingdom? It is simply those who believe in him, those to whom he said, 'You are not of this world, even as I am not of this world.' He willed, nevertheless, that they should be in the world, which is why he prayed to the Father, 'I ask you not to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one' (John 17:15-16). So here also he did not say, 'My kingdom is not' in this world but 'is not of this world.' And when he went on to prove this by declaring, 'If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have fought to save me from being handed over to the Jews,' he concluded by saying not 'my kingdom is not here' but 'my kingdom is not from here.'
"Indeed, his kingdom is here until the end of time, and until the harvest it will contain weeds. The harvest is the end of the world, when the reapers, who are the angels, will come and gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin (Matthew 13:48-41). And this could not happen if his kingdom were not here. But even so, it is not from here, for it is in exile in the world. Christ says to his kingdom, 'You are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world' (John 15:19). They were indeed of the world when they belonged to the prince of this world, before they became his kingdom. Though created by the true God, everyone born of the corrupt and accursed stock of Adam is of the world. [But] everyone who is reborn in Christ becomes the kingdom that is no longer of the world. For God has snatched us from the powers of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). This is that kingdom of which he said, 'My kingdom is not of this world; my kingly power does not come from here."

(excerpt from TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 115.2)
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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.