DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
NOVEMBER 24, 2023
FRIDAY - MEMORIAL OF SAINT ANDREW DŨNG-LẠC, PRIEST, AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
FIRST READING
1 MACCABEES 4:36-37, 52-59 OR (WISDOM 3:1-9)
36 Then said Judas and his brothers, "Behold, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it." 37 So all the army assembled and they went up to Mount Zion. 52 Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, 53 they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they had built. 54 At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. 55 All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them. 56 So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise. 57 They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and furnished them with doors. 58 There was very great gladness among the people, and the reproach of the Gentiles was removed. 59 Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
1 CHRONICLES 29:10-12 OR (PSALMS 126:1-6)
Response: We praise thy glorious name, O mighty God.
Therefore David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly;
and David said: “Blessed art thou, O LORD,
the God of Israel our father,
for ever and ever."
R. We praise thy glorious name, O mighty God.
"Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power,
and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty;
for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine."
R. We praise thy glorious name, O mighty God.
"Thine is the kingdom, O LORD,
and thou art exalted as head above all.
Both riches and honor come from thee."
R. We praise thy glorious name, O mighty God.
"And thou rulest over all.
In thy hand are power and might;
and in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength to all."
R. We praise thy glorious name, O mighty God.
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GOSPEL
All the people hung upon his words
LUKE 19:45-48 OR (MATTHEW 10:17-22)
45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, "It is written, `My house shall be a house of prayer'; but you have made it a den of robbers." 47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him; 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon his words.
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
The home of sanctity, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"God does not want his temple to be a trader's lodge but the home of sanctity. He does not preserve the practice of the priestly ministry by the dishonest duty of religion but by voluntary obedience. Consider what the Lords actions impose on you as an example of living... He taught in general that worldly transactions must be absent from the temple, but he drove out the money changers in particular. Who are the money changers, if not those who seek profit from the Lord's money and cannot distinguish between good and evil? Holy Scripture is the Lord's money."
(excerpt from EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 9.17.18)
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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.