Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
November 15, 2021
Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 497
Reading I
1 Mc 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63
[From the descendants of Alexander’s officers]
there sprang a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes,
son of King Antiochus, once a hostage at Rome.
He became king in the year one hundred and thirtyseven
of the kingdom of the Greeks.
In those days there appeared in Israel
men who were breakers of the law,
and they seduced many people, saying:
“Let us go and make an alliance with the Gentiles all around us;
since we separated from them, many evils have come upon us.”
The proposal was agreeable;
some from among the people promptly went to the king,
and he authorized them to introduce the way of living
of the Gentiles.
Thereupon they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem
according to the Gentile custom.
They covered over the mark of their circumcision
and abandoned the holy covenant;
they allied themselves with the Gentiles
and sold themselves to wrongdoing.
Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people,
each abandoning his particular customs.
All the Gentiles conformed to the command of the king,
and many children of Israel were in favor of his religion;
they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath.
On the fifteenth day of the month Chislev,
in the year one hundred and forty-five,
the king erected the horrible abomination
upon the altar of burnt offerings
and in the surrounding cities of Judah they built pagan altars.
They also burned incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets.
Any scrolls of the law which they found they tore up and burnt.
Whoever was found with a scroll of the covenant,
and whoever observed the law,
was condemned to death by royal decree.
But many in Israel were determined
and resolved in their hearts not to eat anything unclean;
they preferred to die rather than to be defiled with unclean food
or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die.
Terrible affliction was upon Israel.
Responsorial Psalm
119:53, 61, 134, 150, 155, 158
- (see 88) Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
Indignation seizes me because of the wicked
who forsake your law.
R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
Though the snares of the wicked are twined about me,
your law I have not forgotten.
R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
Redeem me from the oppression of men,
that I may keep your precepts.
R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
I am attacked by malicious persecutors
who are far from your law.
R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
Far from sinners is salvation,
because they seek not your statutes.
R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
I beheld the apostates with loathing,
because they kept not to your promise.
R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
Alleluia
- Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
As Jesus approached Jericho
a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging,
and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening.
They told him,
“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”
The people walking in front rebuked him,
telling him to be silent,
but he kept calling out all the more,
“Son of David, have pity on me!”
Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him;
and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
He replied, “Lord, please let me see.”
Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.”
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.
Readings for the Optional Memorial of Saint Albert the Great, bishop and doctor of the Church
Reflection: SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS
St. Albert the Great was the teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas. Together they presented Christian theology with the help of Greek philosophy as an acceptable, reasonable, and respectable compendium of thought without losing its element of faith. The Catholic Church and its teachings are what they are due to these gifted persons inspired by the Spirit of God. They wanted faith to shine forth in a world that considered it as blindness and superstition. The giving of sight to the blind man of Jericho becomes an occasion for Jesus to reveal the greatness and the providence of his heavenly father. The pain and the experience of physical blindness is something exceedingly difficult for us to understand. We can praise those who are visually challenged that they have sharp ears and sensitive to touch and smell. While this may be true, physical blindness remains a pain and suffering. What Jesus wants to tell his onlookers by curing the blind man is to show a deeper kind of blindness that all of us carry. Blindness that is the result of faithlessness! When Jesus made the statement, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you," he seems to show an intimate link between faith and healing. If it were only the restoring of sight, Jesus' message would not be anything novel. When he said, 'your faith has healed you', he alludes to spiritual blindness that the world society carries where we too are vital part. Very often we can come across people who think that having faith in God and living that faith are signs of infancy in a person and someone who has not come of age! Faith is seen as blindness in the eyes of the modern world whereas reason and experiment are enlightenment! What a contrast? What is true blindness and what is true enlightenment? A deeper reflection would tell us that not having faith in God is like losing a powerful way of knowing the real nature of things.