33rd Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, 17-11-2025

1 Maccabees 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-64 / Luke 18:35-43   

By and large, we would prefer to live ordinary and quiet lives.

Never mind if life is rather routine and mundane.

We would rather be in a nice quiet place and live our lives peacefully.

We don’t see ourselves as leading any radical change, nor be the voice of the minority or majority.

But at times, we may have to shout in order to be heard.

Like how that blind man in the gospel called and shouted for Jesus.

The people around him scolded him and told him to keep quiet.

But that blind man shouted all the louder until Jesus stopped and asked the people to bring the blind man over to Him.

The 1st reading told of a dreadful wrath that came upon the people of Israel.

The voice of faith and prayer was suppressed by the threat of death.

As for us, we may not need to shout out our prayers in order for God to hear us.

God will listen to the prayers of the poor, the simple and the humble.

So, whether we softly offer up our prayer, or say it aloud, let us trust that the Lord our God will listen and answer to our prayer whenever we are in need.

33rd Sunday, OT, Year C, 16.11.2025

Malachi 3:19-20 / 2 Thess 3:7-12 / Luke 21:5-19

In almost every kind of sport, strength and stamina are required. 

Strength and stamina can only be achieved in one way, and that is by pushing the body, and the mind, when tiredness and fatigue set in. 

Strength and stamina cannot be developed if we were to stop the moment we feel tired. 

Of course, we need to stop when we feel exhausted, otherwise we might injure the body. 

So, strength and stamina can be built and developed progressively and gradually. 

In a way, it is like boiling water. The fire isn’t turned off just when the water is getting warm. 

The fire is kept burning as the water gets warmer and warmer until the water reaches boiling point. 

So it is with strength and stamina. We keep going when we are tired in order to increase strength and stamina, but at the same time being careful not to over-exert. 

But all this requires time, because nothing happens quickly or instantly. 

In fact, nature teaches us that growth and development requires time. 

And nature also teaches us that growth and development comes about through challenges and difficulties. 

Listening to the gospel passage can be rather challenging, difficult and even disturbing. 

At first, Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple, which was the most holy place for the People of God. 

Then, He talks about the chaos of war and calamities. 

And then, He talks about violence and persecution, but He also assures His protection to those who are faithful to Him. 

And finally, Jesus urges us to have endurance so as to overcome the turmoil and tribulation. 

But what Jesus said about the destruction of the Temple will leave a graphic image in our minds: Not a single stone will be left on another; everything will be destroyed. 

The Temple was like a fortified city with high and thick walls. To breach a fortified city, the walls must first be broken through and then the destruction will begin. 

The walls of the Temple brings to mind the tale of two walls. 

The first is the walls of Jericho, the first city that blocked the Israelites when they entered into the Promised Land. 

The fortified walls of Jericho were high and mighty, almost impossible to breach and break-through. 

The Israelites turned to God for help, and they were told to march around the city for seven days. 

Then on the seventh day, they were to blow trumpets and horns and God will make the way. 

As much as it sounded nothing like a battle plan, the people obeyed. 

And on the 7th day when the trumpets and horns were sounded, the mighty walls of Jericho simply crumbled and the city of Jericho was taken. 

So, it can be said that the walls of Jericho fell by faith and not by force. 

Marching on in faith and prayer requires endurance, but that will bring about the awesome power of God.

That is the first of the tale of the two walls.

The second is the Western Wall, or the Wailing Wall, which is a surviving remnant of the Temple of Jerusalem, that was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD.

A Jewish legend has it that when the Temple was being built, the work was divided among different sectors of the population. 

The building of the Western Wall fell to the poor, and they worked hard to construct it, as they could not afford to hire labourers to do their work for them.

When the enemy destroyed the Temple, the angels descended from on high and spread their wings over the Wall, because God said: "This Wall, the work of the poor, shall never be destroyed."

The tale of these two walls tells us this. In the case of the walls of Jericho, it was by the simple act of faith and not by might of force that brought down the walls of Jericho. 

As for the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, it can be said that the simple and humble prayer of the poor will endure. 

In life, there will be chaos, but with faith in God, out of chaos will come forth creation. 

In life, there will be tribulation, but every tribulation has a revelation. 

That revelation for us is that endurance will prevail over the chaos and turmoil. 

The walls of pride and might will be broken down. 

But the simple and humble prayer of those who endure in their faith in God will go up to heaven and bring forth God’s salvation.

32nd Week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, 15-11-2025

Wisdom 18:14-16; 19:6-9 / Luke 18:1-8  

In life, we will face disappointments and failures.

Disappointments and failures dishearten us and make us want to give us our goals and objectives.

But if we can see the purpose and meaning of our goals and objectives, we would push on.

In the gospel, Jesus told a parable about an unjust judge and a persistent widow.

The unjust judge had neither fear of God nor respect for men.

The widow wanted justice against her enemy and she kept pestering that judge to give her justice and her rights.

In the end, the judge relented from the widow’s persistence and gave her what she wanted.

Yes, persistence will prevail over reluctance and indifference.

So, we must persist in our faith and persevere in the face of disappointments and failures.

But the parable also tells us something about the nature of God.

God persist in His love for us because He wants to save us.

We are weak and feeble and when we think that God does not answer our prayers, we may be reluctant to keep praying and become indifferent in our faith.

But God will keep prompting us and nudging us and keep calling out to us.

May we see the signs that God is showing us, may we listen to His promptings.

When we keep our hearts open to God, we will receive God’s answer to our prayers and receive His blessings.

32nd Week, Ordinary Time, Friday, 14-11-2025

Wisdom 13:1-9 / Luke 17:26-37  

The purpose of religion is not to prove the existence of God.

The primary purpose of religion is to state that there is a God, and religion helps believers to come to know God.

In Christianity, we come to believe in God because it was God who revealed Himself to us.

We believe that God created everything, and through creation, God continues to reveal His presence among us.

So, we know God from what He has revealed to us, and also that all creation points to the existence and the presence of God.

The 1st reading tells us that human beings can be so attracted to the beauty and wonders of this world that they make creatures and creation into gods that they worship.

As for us Christians, there is a weakness and a failing to be aware of.

We can be so caught up with the busyness of life and the things of this world that we can forget about God.

We can even neglect our duty to God and forget about prayer and be numbed to His promptings in our life.

As Jesus says in the gospel, during Noah’s day and during Lot’s day, people were so caught up with the things of life that they didn’t see what God is showing them or hear what God is saying to them.

May we always remember the teachings of our faith and be faithful in prayer.

Let us read the Bible so that we will hear the voice of the Lord God and be able to see what He is showing us.

32nd Week, Ordinary Time, Thursday, 13-11-2025

Wisdom 7:22 - 8:1 / Luke 17:20-25 

We have our expectations in life.

We try to manage our expectations so that we will not be faced with too many disappointments.

But we will wish that we can know something about the future so that we can be prepared for what will happen.

So we will plan for the future and then wait to see how life will turn out.

But our faith will tell us that the present and the future lie in the hands of God.

In the gospel, the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God will come about.

For the Pharisee, and the people in general, the kingdom of God means freedom from oppression and independence as a nation.

But what Jesus told them is beyond their expectations.

Jesus told them that the kingdom of God is already here among them, but they need to be wise enough to recognize it.

As for Jesus, He knows that He must suffer grievously in order to bring the kingdom of God to fulfilment.

As for us, let us ask God to grant us the Wisdom who will lead us to truth and love.

Where is there is truth and love, there the kingdom of God will be.

When we live our lives in truth and love, there will be peace and joy in our lives.

32nd Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 12-11-2025

Wisdom 6:1-11 / Luke 17:11-19 

Illnesses and diseases are the realities of human life.

They do not respect personages or titles or status.

We do not deny that some of the illnesses or diseases are of our own doing.

Unhealthy lifestyles like excessive eating and unhealthy habits can contribute to the rise of illness and diseases.

In the biblical times, illness and disease were thought of as punishments from God, and there are also traces of such thinking in our modern times.

When the ten lepers approached Jesus, they saw Him as someone sent by God and that He can heal their leprosy.

When Jesus saw them and heard their pleas, He told them to go and show themselves to the priests.

So if those ten lepers had the thinking that the leprosy is a punishment from God, then Jesus is also telling them that God has forgiven them and God will heal their disease.

And indeed as they went on their way, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

But only one, the foreigner, a Samaritan, came back to Jesus to give thanks.

And even Jesus wondered why only one came back to give thanks.

That reminds us that when we are afflicted with illness and disease, we turn desperately to God for help and healing.

But with a thankful and grateful heart, we will also know how much God loves us and cares for us.

May our faith in God lead us to always give thanks to God, for in thanking God, we will also be filled with the saving love of God.

32nd Week, Ordinary Time, Tuesday, 11-11-2025

Wisdom 2:23 - 3:9 / Luke 17:7-10  

Human beings have the tendency to be ambitious.

They desire to be better than the rest and to even rise above the rest.

In other words, human beings want to be masters instead of being servants.

They want to be served and not to serve.

But when God created man, God made him in the image of His own image.

God even entrusted man to be the master of all creation.

Yet, as the 1st reading tells us, it was the devil’s envy that brought about the fall of man.

In the gospel, Jesus reminds us that we are merely servants and we have a duty to fulfil.

But beyond that, we are also called to serve, just as our Master Jesus came to serve and not to be served.

May our service to others express the love of God for them.

And by our service, may we also discover our dignity in Jesus, that we too serve just as Jesus our Master came to serve.