The 20th of November, 2021 is Saturday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time. The Bible scriptures for the holy mass readings for this day came from the Year 2021 of Liturgical Calendar.
Reading 1: 1 MC 6:1-13
The first reading from the Book of Maccabees.
King Antiochus was traveling through the upper countries; and he heard that in Elymais in Persia there was a city renowned for riches, for silver and gold, and that the temple which was in it was exceedingly rich, and that in it were golden shields, breastplates, and weapons which Alexander, son of Philip, the Macedonian king, who reigned first among the Greeks, left behind there.
So he came and tried to take the city and to pillage it; and he was not able, because his plan was known to them of the city, and they rose up against him in battle. He fled and returned to Babylon with great disappointment.
Then someone came into Persia bringing him news that the armies which went against the land of Judah had been put to flight, and that Lysias went first with a strong army and was put to shame before them, and that they had grown strong because of weapons, power, and a supply of plunder which they took from the armies that they had cut off, and that they had pulled down the abomination which he had built upon the altar that was in Jerusalem, and that they had surrounded the sanctuary with high walls, as before, and also Bethsura, his city.
It came to pass, when the king heard these words, he was astonished and moved exceedingly. He laid himself down on his bed, and fell sick for grief, because it had not turned out for him as he had planned.
He was there many days, because great grief continually gripped him, and he realized that he would die.
He called for all his friends, and said to them, “Sleep departs from my eyes, and my heart fails because of worry.
I said in my heart, ‘To what suffering I have come! How great a flood it is that I’m in, now! For I was gracious and loved in my power.’
But now I remember the evils which I did at Jerusalem, and that I took all the vessels of silver and gold that were in it, and sent out to destroy the inhabitants of Judah without a cause.
I perceive that it is because of this that these evils have come upon me. Behold, I am perishing through great grief in a strange land.”
Responsorial Psalm: PS 9:1-2, 3 and 5, 15 and 18
Response: I will rejoice in your salvation in the gates of the daughter of Zion.
I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
R: I will rejoice in your salvation in the gates of the daughter of Zion.
When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence.
You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.
R: I will rejoice in your salvation in the gates of the daughter of Zion.
The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.
For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
R: I will rejoice in your salvation in the gates of the daughter of Zion.
Gospel of the Day: LK 20:27-40
From the gospel verse according to Luke.
Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection.
They asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife and raise up children for his brother.
There were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless.
The second took her as wife, and he died childless.
The third took her, and likewise the seven all left no children, and died.
Afterward the woman also died.
Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”
Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage.
But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
For they can’t die any more, for they are like the angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.
But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”
Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you speak well.”
They didn’t dare to ask him any more questions.
