Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection November 16, 2024
Thirty-Second Week of Ordinary Time
16th November 2024 (Saturday)
Psalter: Week 4
Readings of the Day
First Reading: 3 John 1:5-8
Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
Psalm 112:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6 (R. 1b)
R/. Blessed the man who fears the Lord. or: Alleluia
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. God has called us through the gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel: Luke 18: 1-8
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Saturday – Thirty-Second Week of Ordinary Time
Guidelines: We can never emphasize enough the value and need of prayer in our life. It is only prayer that makes us stand erect and withstand all the possible assaults
1. Lack of patience and perseverance is one great defect and drawback of the present society. Many start well and big with great enthusiasm. But as time passes and when difficulties and adversities come on their way, they easily get discouraged and give up. The fact is not the closure of the road but the closure of their heart to see the road or seek a new one.
2. People seek quick results and are easily drawn to them. Not many have the patience to wait for the fruits. That is why we see people tampering with the natural process of growth and maturing, by injecting medicines and chemicals into chicks, animals, vegetables, fruits, and even humans. This becomes hazardous.
3. The same mentality is reflected in many youngsters who want to get to the top, who want to achieve many things within no time. Having no patience to wait and work hard, they resort to shortcuts and easy means. This leads to a lack of ethics. For what is important is not how a person gets something but that he gets it in whichever way possible.
4. The same mentality of impatience and lack of perseverance has crept into the religious sphere as well. People pray and they want immediate results. They make petitions and intercessions and they want God’s favours immediately at their doorsteps.
5. Many mistake this kind of expectation as a deep trust in things to happen. They may claim, “I prayed with deep faith and God immediately heard my prayer.” Subsequently, they feel that their faith is great and efficacious.
6. On the other hand, when things do not happen as prayed for or do not happen when expected, there is disappointment and the possibility to give up.
7. It is in this context, Jesus teaches us perseverance in our prayer. He sets before us a simple practical example of a widow who persists to plead with an unjust judge for justice till she gets justice. She does not lose her heart and give up her effort. She goes on approaching the judge to the extent of pestering him.
8. Jesus’ assurance that God will not delay long and will give justice speedily does not mean that things happen as soon as we pray. It also will not mean that all things will happen according to our prayer. It only means that God listens to our prayers, understands our needs, and grants them when and how needed.
Practice: True prayer is not pressuring God to do things as and when we want but surrendering to God to do things as and when He wants. Why we leave everything to Him is because He knows and can do the best
