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32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, 12 November 2023 Note: Homilies & Angelus / Regina Caeli of Pope Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI & Pope Francis I had been compiled for you after the Mass Readings below. Happy Reading! Liturgical Colour: Green.
Mass Readings from USCCB, ETWN, Universalis (Christian Art). 1st Reading: Wisdom 6: 12-16; Responsorial: Psalm 63:2, 3-4. 5-6, 7-8; 2nd Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 or 13-14; Gospel Reading: Matthew 25:1-13, Gospel Video. Commentaries of the Saints: Matthew Chapter 25 from CATENA AUREA BY SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS.
Others: Venerable Fulton J. Sheen Predicts 2020 Demonic - Venerable Fulton J. Sheen The Holy Spirit – Venerable Fulton J. Sheen Joseph: King of Dreams (2000) Movie Clips. See Joseph’s Profile. See the “Media Tweets” of @Michael65413248 (we have not endorsed on their other Retweets). Many Thanks Michael Lewis & Friends.
Please refer to https://twitter.com/Michael65413248/with_replies for some latest record. Take care, put on your facemask and stay healthy, because we love you! 8-) This is how you can DEFEAT Dementia! New
1. Criminal Investigation Department, Singapore Police Force harassed Law-abiding Citizen. Latest! https://twitter.com/Michael65413248/status/1510086218851270658 (2 April 2022) #Singapore Police Force harassing the same law abiding business owner again from 92298844, 97397514, 83487591, 96645914, 63914706, 82825465, 97378102, 90360045, 92981234! They can’t perform to contain COVID, so they bully to appear busy? Shameless? You decide! 2. See another Police case to frame against the Innocent! Please spread the News to help them who commit no crime. Many Thanks. Till this day, the harassment continues and there is no apology from the Rulers and no compensation paid for damages inflicted. 3. See the Bloggers went MISSING before / after the Singapore General Election on 10 July 2020. Please pray for their safety as we search for them actively. Many Thanks. 5. Do you want this kind of “pastoral care”? Latest updates!
Homilies, Angelus / Regina Caeli of
Extracts: 4. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5). These words of Saint John in today’s Gospel speak to us of Jesus Christ. His life and work are the light which illumines our journey to our transcendent destiny. The Good News of the Saviour’s Incarnation, and of his Death and Resurrection for our sake, illumines the Church’s path as she makes her pilgrim way through history towards the fullness of Redemption. The Synod which we are closing today rejoiced at the thought of Jesus’s birth on Asian soil. The Eternal Word took flesh as an Asian! And it was on this continent, through the preaching of the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, that the Church went forth to spread the Good News. With Christians throughout the world, the Church in Asia will cross the threshold of the new millennium, giving thanks for all that God has worked from those beginnings until now. Just as the first millennium saw the Cross firmly planted in the soil of Europe, and the second in that of America and Africa, so may the Third Christian Millennium witness a great harvest of faith on this vast and vital continent (cf. Ecclesia in Asia, 1).
5. As we stand on the threshold of the Great Jubilee which will commemorate the two thousandth anniversary of the Birth of Jesus Christ, the community of his disciples is called to redress the great refusal mentioned in the Prologue of Saint John’s Gospel: "the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to his own, but his own did not accept him" (1:10-11). The Eternal Word, "the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world" (ibid., 1:9). But instead of spreading freely, that light is often hindered and obscured by darkness. In the heart of the sinner, that light is rejected. And the sins of individuals coalesce and harden into social structures of injustice, into economic and cultural imbalances which discriminate against people and force them to the margins of society. The sign that we are truly celebrating the Jubilee as the year of the Lord’s favour (cf. Isaiah 61:2) will be our conversion to the light and our efforts to restore equity and to advance justice at every level of society.
6. "To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (John 1:12). In the Eucharist we give thanks to God the Father for his many gifts to us, and especially for the gift of his beloved Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the faithful and true witness (cf. Revelation 3:14). The Synod reminds Asian Christians that "Jesus' perfectly human life, devoted wholly to the love and service of the Father and of man, reveals that the vocation of every human being is to receive love and give love in return" (ibid., 13). In the Saints we marvel at the inexhaustible capacity of the human heart to love God and man, even when this involves great suffering. Does not also the legacy of so many wise teachers in India and in the other lands of Asia point in a similar direction? Such teaching is still valid today. Indeed, it is needed more than ever! The world will only be transformed if men and women of good will, and whole nations, genuinely accept that the only path worthy of the human family is the path of peace, of mutual respect, understanding and love, and solidarity with those in need. Dear brothers and sisters, what does the Church need of her members at the dawn of a new millennium? Above all, that you be witnesses who are convincing because you embody in your lives the message you proclaim. As Ecclesia in Asia reminds us all: a fire can only be lit by something that is itself on fire. The Gospel can only be preached if Bishops, clergy, those in the consecrated life, and the laity are themselves on fire with the love of Christ and burning with zeal to make him known, loved and followed (cf. No. 23). This is the Synod’s message: a message of love and hope for the peoples of this continent. May the Church in Asia heed this message so that all "may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Pope Saint John Paul II (Homily, 7 November 1999)
Extracts: At the end of this Eucharistic celebration, we turn with confidence to Mary, Mother of God. Two thousand years ago the Blessed Virgin gave birth to the incarnate Word on Asian soil. Today, Mary continues to cooperate in the birth and growth of divine life in the souls of the baptized. In their daily lives, may the Church’s sons and daughters follow the example of Mary, imitating her ability to discern God’s will in every circumstance; her total self-offering in love; her boundless fidelity and tireless devotion; her strength, capable of bearing the greatest sorrows; her capacity always to speak words of support and encouragement. Pope Saint John Paul II (Angelus, 7 November 1999)
1. On this second Sunday of November, in Italy we observe Thanksgiving Day, promoted by the National Confederation of Farmers. It is beautiful and proper to thank God for the gifts received in the course of the year and to be grateful to the men and women who reap them from the earth with their work. Farmers, not often recognized in industrial societies, merit instead universal thanks for the essential service they render to the whole human family. The protection of creation is a commitment for which all must feel responsible. As the Italian bishops said in their message, "we must never forget that the earth belongs to God, though put in human hands to govern it" (cf. Genesis 1,28; n. 1). For this reason, a radical cultural change is necessary: there must be a "conversion" from the indiscriminate exploitation of its resources to a responsible stewardship of the goods that God gives us in creation.
2. The United Nations declared 2002 the "Year of the Mountain". For this reason, on Thanksgiving Day this year we consider in a particular way the sector of the mountains and remember the splendid gift that they represent for the human person. Mountains are always able to fascinate the human spirit to the point of being considered in the Bible a favourite place for meeting God. They become the symbol of the ascent of the human person to the Creator. However, mountains are not only places of rest and vacation. For many people they are the realm of daily effort, often endured in solitude and isolation. Mountains are the patrimony of all, and must be respected, loved and carefully protected by all. In fact, they are a common good, whose integrity is of great value for all humanity.
3. How many times, when walking along mountain paths, we come across little churches and shrines dedicated to Mary. From on high, the Virgin Mother watches silently over her children. Sunday's Gospel (cf. Matthew 25,1-13) suggests to us that we recognize in her the "Wise Virgin", the model of the Church attentively awaiting the glorious return of Christ. We now invoke her with confidence, so that she may help us to be wise stewards of the riches and resources of nature. Pope Saint John Paul II (Angelus, 10 November 2002)
Extracts: The Church does not live for herself but for the Gospel, and it is always in the Gospel that she finds the direction for her journey.
The conciliar Constitution Dei Verbum emphasized appreciation for the Word of God, which developed into a profound renewal for the life of the Ecclesial Community, especially in preaching, catechesis, theology, spirituality and ecumenical relations. Indeed, it is the Word of God which guides believers, through the action of the Holy Spirit, towards all truth (cf. John 16: 13).
Among the many fruits of this biblical springtime I would like to mention the spread of the ancient practice of Lectio divina or "spiritual reading" of Sacred Scripture. It consists in pouring over a biblical text for some time, reading it and rereading it, as it were, "ruminating" on it as the Fathers say and squeezing from it, so to speak, all its "juice", so that it may nourish meditation and contemplation and, like water, succeed in irrigating life itself.
One condition for Lectio divina is that the mind and heart be illumined by the Holy Spirit, that is, by the same Spirit who inspired the Scriptures, and that they be approached with an attitude of "reverential hearing".
This attitude was typical of Mary Most Holy, as the icon of the Annunciation symbolically portrays: the Virgin receives the heavenly Messenger while she is intent on meditating upon the Sacred Scriptures, usually shown by a book that Mary holds in her hand, on her lap or on a lectern.
This is also the image of the Church which the Council itself offered in the Constitution Dei Verbum: "Hearing the Word of God with reverence..." (n. 1).
Let us pray that like Mary, the Church will be a humble handmaid of the divine Word and will always proclaim it with firm trust, so that "the whole world... through hearing it may believe, through belief... may hope, through hope... may come to love" (ibid.). Pope Benedict XVI (Angelus, 6 November 2005)
The Biblical Readings of this Sunday’s Liturgy invite us to extend the reflection on eternal life that we began on the occasion of the commemoration of the faithful departed. On this point there is a clear difference between those who believe and those who do not believe or, one might likewise say, between those who hope and those who do not hope.
Indeed St Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: “but we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Faith in the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ in this sphere too is a crucial divide. St Paul always reminded the Christians of Ephesus that before accepting the Good News they had been “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Indeed the religion of the Greeks, the pagan cults and myths, were unable to shed light on the mystery of death; thus an ancient inscription said: “In nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidmus” which means: “how quickly we fall back from nothing to nothing”. If we remove God, we remove Christ and the world falls back into emptiness and darkness. Moreover, this is also confirmed in the expressions of contemporary nihilism that is often unconscious and, unfortunately, infects a great many young people.
Today’s Gospel is a famous parable that speaks of ten maidens invited to a wedding feast, a symbol of the Kingdom of Heaven and of eternal life (Matthew 25:1-13). It is a happy image with which, however, Jesus teaches a truth that calls us into question. In fact five of those 10 maidens were admitted to the feast because when the bridegroom arrived they had brought the oil to light their lamps, whereas the other five were left outside because they had been foolish enough not to bring any. What is represented by this “oil”, the indispensable prerequisite for being admitted to the nuptial banquet?
St Augustine (cf. Discourses 93, 4), and other ancient authors interpreted it as a symbol of love that one cannot purchase but receives as a gift, preserves within one and uses in works. True wisdom is making the most of mortal life in order to do works of mercy, for after death this will no longer be possible. When we are re-awoken for the Last Judgement, it will be made on the basis of the love we have shown in our earthly life (cf. Matthew 25:31-46). And this love is a gift of Christ, poured out in us by the Holy Spirit. Those who believe in God-Love bear within them invincible hope, like a lamp to light them on their way through the night beyond death to arrive at the great feast of life.
Let us ask Mary, Sedes Sapientiae, to teach us true wisdom, the wisdom that became flesh in Jesus. He is the Way that leads from this life to God, to the Eternal One. He enabled us to know the Father’s face, and thus gave us hope full of love. This is why the Church addresses the Mother of the Lord with these words: “Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra” [our life, our sweetness and our hope]. Let us learn from her to live and die in the hope that never disappoints. Pope Benedict XVI (Angelus, 6 November 2011)
This Sunday, the Gospel (cf. Matthew 25:1-13) indicates the condition that would allow us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and it does so with the parable of the 10 virgins: it is about those maiden brides who were designated to welcome and accompany the bridegroom to the wedding ceremony and, since at that time it was customary to celebrate the ceremony at night, the maiden brides were provided with lamps. The parable states that five of these maidens are wise and five are foolish: indeed, the wise ones have brought oil for their lamps, while the foolish have brought none. The bridegroom’s arrival is delayed and they all fall asleep. At midnight the bridegroom’s arrival is announced; at that moment the foolish maidens realize they have no oil for their lamps, and they ask the wise ones for some. But the latter reply that they cannot give them any because there would not be enough for everyone. Thus, while the foolish maidens go in search of oil, the bridegroom arrives; the wise maidens go in with him to the marriage feast and the door is shut. The five foolish maidens return too late; they knock on the door, but the response is “I do not know you” (v. 12), and they remain outside.
What does Jesus wish to teach us with this parable? He reminds us that we must be ready for the encounter with him. Many times, in the Gospel, Jesus exhorts keeping watch, and he also does so at the end of this narrative. He says: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (v. 13). But with this parable he tells us that keeping watch does not only mean not to sleep, but to be ready; in fact all the maidens are asleep before the bridegroom’s arrival, but upon waking some are ready and others are not. Thus, here is the meaning of being wise and prudent: it is a matter of not waiting until the last minute of our lives to cooperate with the grace of God, but rather to do so as of now. It would be good to consider for a moment: one day will be the last. If it were today, how prepared am I? But I must do this and that.... Be ready as if it were the last day: this does us good.
The lamp is a symbol of the faith that illuminates our life, while the oil is a symbol of the charity that nourishes the light of faith, making it fruitful and credible. The condition for being prepared for the encounter with the Lord is not only faith, but a Christian life abundant with love and charity for our neighbour. If we allow ourselves to be guided by what seems more comfortable, by seeking our own interests, then our life becomes barren, incapable of giving life to others, and we accumulate no reserve of oil for the lamp of our faith; and this — faith — will be extinguished at the moment of the Lord’s coming, or even before. If instead we are watchful and seek to do good, with acts of love, of sharing, of service to a neighbour in difficulty, then we can be at peace while we wait for the bridegroom to come: the Lord can come at any moment, and even the slumber of death does not frighten us, because we have a reserve of oil, accumulated through everyday good works. Faith inspires charity and charity safeguards faith.
May the Virgin Mary help our faith to be ever more effective through charity; so that our lamp may already shine here, on the earthly journey and then for ever, at the marriage feast in heaven. Pope Francis I (Angelus, 12 November 2017)
Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica – See Encouragements-522 –524.
Important Note: We found these News record (on 19 April 2023). We prayed to God for direction on what to do next, we were instructed to stop updating the Homilies, Regina Caeli/ Angelus and the General Audiences from the Vatican (until the matters are resolved) as we lay persons are unable to discern quickly what is beneficial/detrimental to our souls and yours, and this work is supposed to be a Thanksgiving to Him who loves us and has blessed us. Thanks for following us.
Daily Blessings to You from Emmanuel Goh & Friends
Note: This webpage has many hyperlinks to the Vatican Webpage. The above extracts were compiled for your easy reading. This Publication is aimed to encourage all of Goodwill around the World. It is not for business or profit purposes but it is our way to thank our Creator for His continuous blessings!
Compiled on 4 November 2020, 19:43 SGT Last updated: 10 November 2023, 19:38 SGT
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