Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s first reading from the Book of Kings presents us with an overburdened Elijah. There is a fascinating parallel with the prophet Jonah: both of these prophets find themselves under a plant asking the Lord for death, but the Lord responds in two very different ways to their request. In the case of Jonah, when he asks for death, he was very angry at the way things had turned out. Jonah was angry at God’s providence, he was angry at being sent on a mission that – in his mind – was pointless. Jonah was angry that the plant that miraculously grew and protected him from the sun suddenly died and exposed him again to the blistering heat. The Lord’s response to Jonah comes in the form of a rebuke: God wanted Jonah to rejoice at His marvelous work of salvation, the sincere repentance and conversion of the Ninevites. God wanted Jonah to rejoice that they were forgiven, but Jonah was angry because they didn’t receive the punishment they deserved.

Elijah’s case is quite different and a good reminder that the external circumstances of life are secondary when it comes to God’s providence. We know that God looks at the heart. When He examines Elijah’s heart, He sees a man who wishes for death because he realizes that he is just as big a sinner as everyone who has come before him. The anger and unforgiveness of Jonah against the sorrow for sin and humility of Elijah. God’s providence for Elijah works in a very different way – sin is death, and God seeks to heal and bring life wherever death is. A miraculous meal is provided to Elijah, giving him strength, restoring life. The bread of God is that which gives life to the world. Just as we need food to recover our physical strength, we need God in order to recover our spiritual strength. Again we read the Gospel of John and receive the food that only God can give, Jesus the bread of life. It is so imperative that we receive God in our lives and in our hearts, that Jesus quite literally makes himself the food for our earthly journey and pilgrimage. When we receive the Eucharist, His most precious Body and Blood, we receive restoration from our vices and sin. If we have the inner attitude of Elijah, who recognizes that he is no better than anyone else, the Father’s bread, Jesus, feeds and heals our deepest hunger for life.

Daily Readings

Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
by USCCB on November 23, 2024 at 9:30 am
Reading Rv 11:4-12 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me: Here are my two witnesses: These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain. They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying. They also have power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them. Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city, which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,” where indeed their Lord was crucified. Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days, and they will not allow their corpses to be buried. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and be glad and exchange gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth. But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them. When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.” So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 144:1, 2, 9-10 R. (1b) Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!Blessed be the LORD, my rock,who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!My mercy and my fortress,my stronghold, my deliverer,My shield, in whom I trust,who subdues my people under me.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!O God, I will sing a new song to you;with a ten stringed lyre I will chant your praise,You who give victory to kings,and deliver David, your servant from the evil sword.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock! Alleluia See 2 Tm 1:10 R. Alleluia, alleluia. Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 20:27-40 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything. Readings for the Optional Memorial of Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, priest and martyrReadings for the Optional Memorial of Saint Columban, abbotReadings for the Optional Memorial of Saint Clement I, pope and martyr - - - Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Like this:

Related

Share this:

Like this:

Related