- Admin
- Nov 15
- 3 min read
November 17 - November 22, 2025
St Elizabeth of Hungary, religious
1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-6 In the middle of the second century BC, a Syrian king, Antiochus IV, initiated a terrible persecution against the Jews and tried to obliterate their Temple and their religion. In Jewish tradition, he is remember till today as ha-rasha, the wicked one. From this reading you can see why.
Luke 18:35-43 Stories like this one are meant to be read at two levels. Jesus did indeed heal people; yet, the story is retold to help us to acknowledge our own need of light, faith and salvation.
Dedication of the basilicas of Sts Peter and Paul
2 Maccabees 6:18-31 The story of the persecution is illustrated in this fascinating vignette. The temptation to pretend is subtle, but the old man is not taken in.
Luke 19:1-10 This story—unique to Luke—is one of the stories most beloved of children, perhaps so account of the stature of Zacchaeus. The word “today” brings us into our own present moment.
2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31 The stories of martyrs always fascinate and challenge us. But there is even more to this one than a noble of witness and fidelity. In this chapter 7, we begin to see the traces of faith in the resurrection and life after death. It wasn’t speculation that brought them to believe in life after death. Instead, it was a deep desire to believe in a faithful God, who would be faithful beyond death to those who were faithful to him to the point of death.
Luke 19:11-28 The image of the gentle Luke is somewhat dislodged by this challenging parable and even more by its conclusion. Perhaps originally, there were two separate stories, joined together here for greater impact. At the time of writing, those who refused the king would be understood to be Jesus’ contemporaries.
1 Maccabees 2:15-2 Under pressure of vicious persecution, the Jews eventually rebelled. We see the start of the Maccabean (the word means hammer) revolt in this story. There were many battles and, as is the way, the stability of the victory was assured by the chance death of Antiochus IV.
Luke 19:41-44 A church on the Mount of Olives commemorates this vignette—no doubt historical. The actually happened later to Jerusalem is read back, with the 20:20 vision of hindsight.
Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
1 Maccabees 4:36-37,52-59 The story moves quickly to the restoration of the Temple. This rededication is still marked today with the eight-day festival of Hanukkah.
Luke 19:45-48 The Temple action—a very disturbing challenge at the time—is very briefly recounted here. Luke’s kindly attitude to the Temple accounts for the brevity and even the lightness of the reference.
St Cecilia, virgin and martyr
1 Maccabees 6:1-13 The last days of Antiochus IV are told with grim satisfaction. It is unlikely he made the conversion placed on his lips here, but it does tell us how the Jews understood his sudden death!
Luke 20:27-40 Jesus was an apocalyptic Jew, who believed along with the Pharisees in the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees were more committed traditionalists and rejected the relatively new teaching about life after death.
References
-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025cs, November 16). Thirty-third Sunday in ordinary time. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111625.cfm
-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings
