Monday 16^th November – Monday of week 33 of the year

Reflection: 1 Maccabees 1: 10-15, 41-43, 54-47, 62-64

WHERE DO YOU STAND?

“Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles round about us, for since we separated from them many evils have come upon us” (1 Macc 1:11)

An attentive listening to today’s first reading will necessarily stir our hearts to wonder at the behavior of the Jews. They were God’s own people. They and their fathers had seen God’s mighty power at work in their midst over the centuries. Yet, many allowed themselves to be misled, attracted to the practices of the gentile nations around them and abandoning the true God and the covenant they had with Him. How could they ever do this? Even in the midst of difficulties, was there anything better than having God close to them?

Yet this same question is what each of us is faced with in our day-to-day lives. The Jews are not alone. We who have been chosen by God and covenanted to Him through the waters of baptism, we the new Israel often act just like the Israelites did. In the midst of an increasingly secular age, do we stand with God, obedient to His word and determined on pleasing him or do we submit ourselves to the standards of this world, seeking the easiest way out?

Beloved, just like the blind man in today’s gospel reading, let us cry out with all our strength to the Lord so that He may rescue us from spiritual blindness, so that He may open our eyes to recognize the privilege we have of being his children and we may not allow the lure of the world to draw us away from Him.

PRAYER: Thank you dear Lord for the privilege of being called by your name. Please help me to be faithful to my call especially when in the face of temptation. Amen.

KNOW YOUR FAITH: YOUCAT 203: What is Confirmation?

Confirmation is the sacrament that compeletes baptism; it it the gift of the Holy Spirit is bestowed upon us. Anyone who freely decides to live a life as God’s child and asks for God’s Spirit under the signs of the imposition of hands and anointing with chrism receives strength to witness to God’s love and might in word and deed. He is now a full-fledged, responsible member of the Catholic Church.

HIDE A TREASURE: “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 RSV-CE

Today’s Readings: 1 Macc 1: 10-15, 41-43, 54-47, 62-64; Psalm 119: 53, 61, 134, 150-158; Luke 18: 35-43