Life Goes On
The Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time 2021
November 14, 2021
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Daniel 12:1-3; Psalm 16; Hebrews 10:11-18; Mark 13:24-32
When we Catholics speak of death, we speak of life. The readings show us signs of the end-of-days with an exhortation that we are to be mindful of the events that are to come. The prophet Daniel reminds us that the wise will have acted rightly and will shine brightly like the stars at night. A Christian will not fear these times, including death, because Jesus is the one who will steer the faithful ones to eternal life.
It makes sense then for us to prayerfully review with Christ where we might want to make changes in our life as we comprehend that life passes quickly and we cannot escape looking at our inevitable death. Let’s not do this on our own because we will most likely judge ourselves harshly, but when we ask God to reveal to us our life of goodness, God has a lot to say that is positive. Let’s heighten our senses and pay attention to the signs and then ask Christ how to respond to these movements.
I know many faith-filled, practicing Catholics that are afraid of aging and death. This world is all we know, and many cannot even consider that they will one day no longer exist in this world. On the one hand, who wouldn’t be afraid? The thought of being forgotten in the memories of others is frightening. On the other hand, why would someone be afraid? If the goal of life is to exist with God in the next world, then where does fear come in? It seems that we will have reached the goal of our faith.
It seems then, we want today’s life to have great meaning. We want to be remembered for our kindness and character; we want harmony; we want our holidays to be filled with warmth and goodwill; we want family life to be filled with sweetness and tenderness; we want to be loved so much that it will be hard to part with anyone; we want something that seems like an idyllic dream, the way life should be, and yet we do not believe it to be possible. This is where we must rely upon Christ.
We need to look those new lenses that change around our perspectives for those things are possible, even though life is filled with suffering. Come to know your goodness. Come to know your lovableness. Come to see the virtue and righteousness. For when we see these attributes, and look for them, we are attracted to them, and we become like them. Christ is working with you to get there. Just trust that you are redeemed and be with Christ in heaven as He is with you now.
Scripture for Daily Mass
Monday: (1 Maccabees 1) In those days there appeared in Israel men who were breakers of the law, and they seduced many people, saying: “Let us go and make an alliance with the Gentiles all around us; since we separated from them, many evils have come upon us.”
Tuesday: (2 Maccabees 6) Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of advanced age and noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork. But preferring a glorious death to a life of defilement, he spat out the meat, and went forward of his own accord to the instrument of torture.
Wednesday: (2 Maccabees 7) It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law.
Thursday: (1 Maccabees 2) The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices. Many of Israel joined them, but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart.
Friday (1 Maccabees 4) Judas and his brothers said, “Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.” So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion.
Saturday (1 Maccabees 6) When the king heard this news, he was struck with fear and very much shaken. Sick with grief because his designs had failed, he took to his bed.
There he remained many days, overwhelmed with sorrow, for he knew he was going to die.
Gospel:
Monday: (Luke 18) As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”
Tuesday: (Luke 19) At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.
Wednesday (Luke 19) While people were listening to Jesus speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God
would appear there immediately.
Thursday (Luke 19) As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes.
Friday (Luke 19) Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”
Saturday (Luke 20) 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.
Saints of the Week
November 14: Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Superior General (1917-1991) was the 28th Superior General of the Jesuits. He was born in the Basque region of the Iberian Peninsula. He is considered one of the great reformers of the Society because he was asked by the Pope to carry out the reforms of Vatican II. November 14th is the commemoration of his birth.
November 14: Joseph Pignatelli, S.J., religious and Superior General (1737-1811) was born in Zaragosa, Spain and entered the Jesuits during a turbulent era. He was known as the unofficial leader of the Jesuits in Sardinia when the Order was suppressed and placed in exile. He worked with European leaders to continue an underground existence and he was appointed Novice Master under Catherine the Great, who allowed the Society to receive new recruits. He secured the restoration of the Society partly in 1803 and fully in 1811 and bridged a link between the two eras of the Society. He oversaw a temperate reform of the Order that assured their survival.
November 15: Albert the Great, bishop and doctor (1200-1280), joined the Dominicans to teach theology in Germany and Paris. Thomas Aquinas was his student. With his reluctance, he was made bishop of Ratisbon. He resigned after four years so he could teach again. His intellectual pursuits included philosophy, natural science, theology, and Arabic language and culture. He applied Aristotle's philosophy to theology.
November 16: Roch Gonzalez, John del Castillo, and Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J. (1576-1628) were Jesuit priests born to Paraguayan nobility who were architects of the Paraguayan reductions, societies of immigrants based on religious faith. They taught the indigenous population how to plant farms and other basic life skills that would protect them from the insidious slave trades of Spain and Portugal. By the time the Jesuits were expelled, 57 such settlements were established. Roch was a staunch opponent of the slave trade. He, John, and Alphonsus were killed when the envy of a local witch doctor lost his authority at the expense of their growing medical expertise.
November 16: Margaret of Scotland (1046-1093) was raised in Hungary because the Danes invaded England. She returned after the Norman Conquest in 1066 and sought refuge in Scotland. She married the king and bore him eight children. She corrected many wayward abuses within the church and clarified church practices.
November 16: Gertrude the Great (1256-1302) was placed for childrearing into a Benedictine monastery at age 5 in Saxony. She lived with two mystics named Mechthild and as she developed her intellectual and spiritual gifts, she too became a mystic. Her spiritual instructions are collected into five volumes. She wrote prayers as a first advocate of the Sacred Heart.
November 17: Elizabeth of Hungary, (1207-1231) was the daughter of Andrew II, king of Hungary. She married Ludwig IV of Thuringia and as queen supported many charities. When her husband died in a crusade in 1227, she entered the Third Order of Franciscans.
November 18: The Dedication of the Basilicas of Peter and Paul celebrates churches in honor of the two great church founders. St. Peter's basilica was begun in 323 by Emperor Constantine - directly over Peter's tomb. A new basilica was begun in 1506 and it was completed in 1626. Many great artists and architects had a hand in building it. St. Paul Outside the Walls was built in the 4th century over Paul's tomb. It was destroyed by fire in 1823 and subsequently rebuilt.
November 18: Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852) joined the Sisters of the Sacred Heart and at age 49, traveled to Missouri to set up a missionary center and the first free school west of the Mississippi. She then founded six more missions. She worked to better the lives of the Native Americans.
This Week in Jesuit History
- November 14, 1854. In Spain, the community left Loyola for the Balearic Isles, in conformity with a government order.
- November 15, 1628. The deaths of St Roch Gonzalez and Fr. Alphonsus Rodriguez. They were some of the architects of the Jesuit missions in Uruguay and Paraguay.
- November 16, 1989. In El Salvador, the murder of six Jesuits connected with the University of Central America together with two of their lay colleagues.
- November 17, 1579. Bl Rudolph Acquaviva and two other Jesuits set out from Goa for Surat and Fattiphur, the Court of Akbar, the Great Mogul.
- November 18, 1538. Pope Paul III caused the governor of Rome to publish the verdict proclaiming the complete innocence of Ignatius and his companions of all heresy.
- November 19, 1526. The Inquisition in Alcala, Spain examined Ignatius. They were concerned with the novelty of his way of life and his teaching.
November 20, 1864. In St Peter's, Rome, the beatification of Peter Canisius by Pope Pius IX.
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