Monday 8 November 2021
Monday of week 32 in Ordinary Time
Office of Readings
Introduction (without Invitatory)
If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, use the version with the Invitatory Psalm instead.
O God, come to our aid.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Alleluia.
________
Hymn
Come, Spirit blest, with God the Son
and God the Father, ever one:
shed forth your grace within our breast
and live in us, a ready guest.
By every power, by heart and tongue,
by act and deed, your praise be sung.
Inflame with perfect love each sense,
that others’ souls may kindle thence.
________
Psalm 72 (73):1-12
Why should the just suffer?
“Blessed is the man who does not lose faith in me” (Mt 11:6).
How good God is to Israel, to those who are pure of heart.
How good God is to Israel,
to those who are pure of heart.
Yet my feet came close to stumbling,
my steps had almost slipped
for I was filled with envy of the proud
when I saw how the wicked prosper.
For them there are no pains;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
They have no share in men’s sorrows;
they are not stricken like others.
So they wear their pride like a necklace,
they clothe themselves with violence.
Their hearts overflow with malice,
their minds seethe with plots.
They scoff; they speak with malice;
from on high they plan oppression.
They have set their mouths in the heavens
and their tongues dictate to the earth.
So the people turn to follow them
and drink in all their words.
They say: ‘How can God know?
Does the Most High take any notice?’
Look at them, such are the wicked,
but untroubled, they grow in wealth.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
How good God is to Israel, to those who are pure of heart.
________
Psalm 72 (73):13-20
Their rejoicing will be turned to weeping, their joy to sorrow.
How useless to keep my heart pure
and wash my hands in innocence,
when I was stricken all day long,
suffered punishment day after day.
Then I said: ‘If I should speak like that,
I should abandon the faith of your people.’
I strove to fathom this problem,
too hard for my mind to understand,
until I pierced the mysteries of God
and understood what becomes of the wicked.
How slippery the paths on which you set them;
you make them slide to destruction.
How suddenly they come to their ruin,
wiped out, destroyed by terrors.
Like a dream one wakes from, O Lord,
when you wake you dismiss them as phantoms.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
Their rejoicing will be turned to weeping, their joy to sorrow.
________
Psalm 72 (73):21-28
All those who abandon you shall perish; but to be near God is my happiness.
And so when my heart grew embittered
and when I was cut to the quick,
I was stupid and did not understand,
no better than a beast in your sight.
Yet I was always in your presence;
you were holding me by my right hand.
You will guide me by your counsel
and so you will lead me to glory.
What else have I in heaven but you?
Apart from you I want nothing on earth.
My body and my heart faint for joy;
God is my possession for ever.
All those who abandon you shall perish;
you will destroy all those who are faithless.
To be near God is my happiness.
I have made the Lord God my refuge.
I will tell of all your works
at the gates of the city of Sion.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
All those who abandon you shall perish; but to be near God is my happiness.
Psalm-prayer
It is good to be with you, Father; in you is fullness of life for your faithful people; in you all hope resides. May you lead us to everlasting happiness.
Or:
In your wisdom, Father, you allowed your Son to be fearful and saddened at the prospect of his cross; death, the penalty of sin, was changed into glory by his death. Grant that on our journey to you the cross may not be a stumbling block but rather a beacon to guide us.
________
℣. Your promise is sweet to my taste, Lord.
℟. It is sweeter than honey in the mouth.
________
Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
Daniel 2:26-47
A vision of statue and stone. God’s eternal Kingdom
The king said to Daniel (who had been given the name Belteshazzar), ‘Can you tell me what my dream was, and what it means?’ Facing the king, Daniel replied, ‘None of the sages, enchanters, magicians or wizards has been able to tell the king the truth of the mystery which the king propounded; but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and who has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what is to take place in the days to come. These, then, are the dream and the visions that passed through your head as you lay in bed:
‘O king, on your bed your thoughts turned to what would happen in the future, and the Revealer of Mysteries disclosed to you what is to take place. This mystery has been revealed to me, not that I am wiser than any other man, but for this sole purpose: that the king should learn what it means, and that you should understand your inmost thoughts.
‘You have had a vision, O king; this is what you saw: a statue, a great statue of extreme brightness, stood before you, terrible to see. The head of this statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet part iron, part earthenware. While you were gazing, a stone broke away, untouched by any hand, and struck the statue, struck its feet of iron and earthenware and shattered them. And then, iron and earthenware, bronze, silver, gold all broke into small pieces as fine as chaff on the threshing-floor in summer. The wind blew them away, leaving not a trace behind. And the stone that had struck the statue grew into a great mountain, filling the whole earth. This was the dream; now we will explain to the king what it means.
‘You, O king, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength and glory – the sons of men, the beasts of the field, the birds of heaven, wherever they live, he has entrusted to your rule, making you king of them all – you are the golden head. And after you another kingdom will rise, not so great as you, and then a third, of bronze, which will rule the whole world. There will be a fourth kingdom, hard as iron, as iron that shatters and crushes all. Like iron that breaks everything to pieces, it will crush and break all the earlier kingdoms. The feet you saw, part earthenware, part iron, are a kingdom which will be split in two, but which will retain something of the strength of iron, just as you saw the iron and the clay of the earthenware mixed together. The feet were part iron, part earthenware: the kingdom will be partly strong and partly weak. And just as you saw the iron and the clay of the earthenware mixed together, so the two will be mixed together in the seed of man; but they will not hold together any more than iron will blend with earthenware. In the time of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms, and itself last for ever – just as you saw the stone untouched by hand break from the mountain and shatter iron, bronze, earthenware, silver and gold. The great God has shown the king what is to take place. The dream is true, the interpretation exact.’
At this, King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel; he gave orders for Daniel to be offered an oblation and a fragrant sacrifice. The king said to Daniel, ‘Your god must be the God of gods, the master of kings, and the Revealer of Mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.’
Responsory
Dn 2:44; Lk 20:17-18
℟. The God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; it will shatter and absorb all other kingdoms,* and that kingdom of God will last for ever.
℣. The stone which the builders rejected has become the main cornerstone: if it falls on a man it will crush him,* and that kingdom of God will last for ever.
________
Second Reading
A sermon of the second century
Let us acknowledge God by our actions
It is one of God’s greatest mercies to us that we, being alive, do not sacrifice to dead gods or worship them, but through Christ we have come to know the Father of truth. That knowledge consists in not denying Christ through whom we know the Father. As he himself has said, If anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father. This is our reward, to acknowledge him who saves us.
How, then, do we acknowledge him? By doing what he has told us to do, by not rejecting his commands. By not honouring him with our lips but with all our heart and all our mind. As it is written in Isaiah: This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me.
It is not enough for us to call him “Lord.” That will not save us. As he says: It is not those who say to me, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does what is right. We must acknowledge him by our actions, by loving one another, by not committing adultery, by avoiding calumny and jealousy. We must live continently, compassionately, virtuously. We must let love for each other take precedence over love of riches. It is by these actions that we acknowledge Christ, not by doing the opposite; and remember that it is not human beings that we should fear and respect, but God. The Lord has said to you: If you are gathered together into my arms and do not obey my commands I will cast you from me and say to you, “I do not know where you come from. Away from me, all you wicked men!”
So, my brethren, let us move forward to face the contest before us. In the contests of this world victory does not come to all competitors but only to a few who have trained hard and fought well; but in our contest, let us fight so that all may have the victory. Let us run the straight race, let us compete in the eternal contest, and let whole crowds of us steer our course towards the crown of victory. If we cannot all be victors let us at least come close.
Remember also that in the worldly games cheats are flogged and thrown out of the arena. What do you think will happen if you cheat in the eternal contest? What God has said will happen: their worm will not die, nor will their fire go out; and all flesh will see them.
Responsory
℟. You turned from idols to be servants of the living and true God, and to wait expectantly for the appearance from heaven of his Son, whom he raised from the dead:* Jesus, our deliverer from the terrors of judgement to come.
℣. Even now, my children, dwell in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming:* Jesus, our deliverer from the terrors of judgement to come.
________
Let us pray.
Defend us, Lord, against every distress
so that, unencumbered in body and soul,
we may devote ourselves to your service in freedom and joy.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
________
Let us praise the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.
Copyright © 1996-2021 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.