26 November 2021
Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
The long 1st reading focuses on the final judgment and today, as the year winds down, the lesson is simple and most pertinent. In the setting described, the Father gives permanent glory to his Son, the savior and redeemer, and to the saved, those who are members of his body.
The reading therefore encourages us to live today in a spirit of hope and joy, not to become discouraged by present sufferings, persecutions and the passing victories of evil.
The Gospel picks up the theme and reinforces its meaning. The world turns, history shows how it changes. What is permanent, unchangeable is the Word of God . We make progress in so far as we live the Word of God contained in the Gospel and become members of the Word of God, Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body, the Church.
In a spirit of thanksgiving, let us pray this fact will become better known and better lived by ourselves and our contemporaries. Because we seem to be more and more engulphed in a culture of relentless negativity, it is easy to become discouraged. The up-beat Gospel is the witness to this error.
Created in the image of God, and by our baptism incorporated into Christ’s Body, we who are now God’s adopted children, are destined ultimately to share his glory. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit dwelling in each of us, makes us men, women and children of faith, hope and charity and apostles charged with spreading that message.