Ordinary Time: November 16th
Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time -- (Margaret of Scotland; Gertrude)
MASS READINGS
November 16, 2003 (Readings on USCCB website)
COLLECT PRAYER
Father of all that is good, keep us faithful in serving you, for to serve you is our lasting joy. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Today the Church celebrates the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time; readings are taken from cycle B. The memorials of Sts. Margaret of Scotland and St. Gertrude are superceded by the Sunday liturgy.
The first reading is from the book of the Prophet Daniel, 12:1-3, and describes the end of Daniel's fourth apocalyptic vision. "At that time there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian of your people; it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time."
The second reading is from Hebrews, 10:11-14, 18, and shows the universal efficacy of Christ's sacrifice. Christ has taken possession of heaven for ever more and has merited royal dignity; all that remains to happen is for all his enemies to submit to him. The source of holiness in men is the sacrifice of Calvary. "For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated."
The Gospel reading is from St. Mark, 13:24-32, "But in those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken." This reading is an apocalyptic description. Jews at the time could not conceive the destruction of Jerusalem as separate from the end of the world; and also, there is a connection between the two events, in that the former is a prefigurement of the latter.
