Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

As soon as we limit our future to some particular moment in this fleeting world we experience a vain form of anxiety. Our true future is eternal life with God in heaven, and if we aim our souls at that unending moment we are delivered from all fruitless forms of anxiety.

Providence liberates us from the suffering caused by our believing that we will not have what we really need, but it does not spare us from the suffering that is a balm for our selfishness and pride.

Even that suffering which is occasioned unjustly at the hands of the enemies and adversaries of God calls the heart of the believer to dwell in peace beyond this valley of tears. The citizens of heaven are not spared torments here below, but from the depths of their hearts they can freely unite themselves with the King of Peace.

CHRYSOSTOM:

For what condemned criminals can be so wretched as those who, once having God for their Lord, do from that mild rule desert to this grievous obsession for money? Even in this life such idolatry trails immense harm in its path, with losses unspeakable. Think of the lawsuits! The harassments, the strife and toil and blinding of the soul! More grievous, one falls away thereby from the highest blessing—to be God’s servant.¹

CASSIODORUS:

Paul begged that the flesh’s thorn be removed from him, but he was not heard by the Lord. The devil prayed that he might strike Job with the harshest of disasters, and we know that this was subsequently granted him. But Paul was denied the fulfillment of his prayer for his glory, whereas the devil was granted his for the devil’s pain. Thus it is often an advantage not to be heard even though postponement of our desires depresses us.²

CHRYSOSTOM:

Accordingly, whether we have our requests granted or not, let us persist in asking and render thanks not only when we gain what we ask but also when we fail to. Failure to gain, you see, when that is what God wants, is not worse than succeeding; we do not know what is to our advantage in this regard in the way he does understand.³

PELAGIUS:

We learn from this that even a wrong prayer will receive an answer, even if it does not get what it wants.⁴

SEVERIAN OF GABALA:

God’s power is made perfect in persecutions and sufferings.⁵

Footnotes

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 21.2. Simonetti, M. (Ed.). (2001). Matthew 1–13 (pp. 143–144). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 21.3. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 305). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
HOMILIES ON GENESIS 30.16. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 306). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 12. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 307). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 307). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

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.

Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

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