Reading 1 Dn 7:15-27

I, Daniel, found my spirit anguished within its covering of flesh,
and I was terrified by the visions of my mind.
I approached one of those present
and asked him what all this meant in truth;
in answer, he made known to me the meaning of the things:
"These four great beasts stand for four kingdoms
which shall arise on the earth.
But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingship,
to possess it forever and ever."

But I wished to make certain about the fourth beast,
so very terrible and different from the others,
devouring and crushing with its iron teeth and bronze claws,
and trampling with its feet what was left;
about the ten horns on its head, and the other one that sprang up,
before which three horns fell;
about the horn with the eyes and the mouth that spoke arrogantly,
which appeared greater than its fellows.
For, as I watched, that horn made war against the holy ones
and was victorious until the Ancient One arrived;
judgment was pronounced in favor of the holy ones of the Most High,
and the time came when the holy ones possessed the kingdom.
He answered me thus:

"The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth
different from all the others;
It shall devour the whole earth,
beat it down, and crush it.
The ten horns shall be ten kings
rising out of that kingdom;
another shall rise up after them,
Different from those before him,
who shall lay low three kings.
He shall speak against the Most High
and oppress the holy ones of the Most High,
thinking to change the feast days and the law.
They shall be handed over to him
for a year, two years, and a half-year.
But when the court is convened,
and his power is taken away
by final and absolute destruction,
Then the kingship and dominion and majesty
of all the kingdoms under the heavens
shall be given to the holy people of the Most High,
Whose Kingdom shall be everlasting:
all dominions shall serve and obey him."

Responsorial Psalm Daniel 3:82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87

R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"You sons of men, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"O Israel, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"Holy men of humble heart, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.

Alleluia Lk 21:36

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Be vigilant at all times and pray
that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Lk 21:34-36

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life,
and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man."

Holy Spirit Interactive Kids: A Saint a Day

St. Catherine Laboure

Feast Day: November 28
Born: 1806 :: Died: 1876

Zoe Laboure, was born at Burgundy in France as the bells of the Angelus sounded. She was the ninth of eleven children that Peter and Louise Laboure had. Her father Peter, was a well-to-do French farmer.

When Zoe was just nine years old her mother died. Zoe was her father's favourite and he depended on her. When she was twelve, she received her First Holy Communion. From that day on she got up at 4:00 am every morning and walked many miles to church to attend Mass.

Then her older sister became a nun and Zoe had to run the house. Zoe, would have liked to enter the convent when she was in her early teens. But because she was needed at home, she waited until she was twenty-four. Zoe became a Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and took the name of Catherine.

Soon after she finished her training, Sister Catherine received a special favour. She prayed to St. Vincent de Paul that she might see with her own eyes the mother of God. Catherine was sure her wish would be granted.

One night, she was awakened from sleep by a brilliant light and the voice of a child saying "Sister Laboure, come to the Chapel; the Blessed Virgin awaits you."

Catherine followed the little angel who touched the locked Chapel doors and they swung open. The Blessed Virgin appeared with a rustle of silk in a blaze of glory and spoke with Catherine.

Then one Advent, in another vision, the Blessed Mother showed herself standing on a globe with streams of light coming from her hands. Underneath were the words: "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who turn to thee!"

The Virgin this time gave her a direct order: "Have a medal struck as I have shown you. All who wear it will receive great graces."

Sister Catherine told her confessor and he later told the bishop. So it was that the medal, which we call the miraculous medal, was made. Soon many, many people all over the world were wearing it. Yet no one in the convent knew that humble Sister Catherine was the one to whom Our Lady had appeared.

She spent the remaining forty-five years of her life doing ordinary convent tasks. She answered the door. She looked after the hens that provided the nuns with eggs. She also took care of elderly and sick people.

She was happy to keep her special privilege hidden, and was only interested in serving God as best she could. Then before she died in 1876, Mother Mary gave her permission to reveal her secret, which she shared with her Sister Superior. After she died, many miracles were reported at her tomb.

Catholic Culture

Ordinary Time: November 28th

Saturday of the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time

MASS READINGS

November 28, 2015 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

Stir up the will of your faithful, we pray, O Lord, that striving more eagerly to bring your divine work to fruitful completion, they may receive in greater measure the healing remedies your kindness bestows. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

show

Recipes (7)

show

Activities (17)

show

Prayers (7)

show

Library (7)

Old Calendar: St. Catherine Laboure, virgin & religious; St. James of the Marches, priest (Hist)

Traditionally today is the feast of St. Catherine Laboure. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her, a member of the Daughters of Charity, three times in 1830 and commissioned her to have made the Miraculous Medal and to spread a devotion to it. St. Catherine Laboure was canonized in 1947. It is also the feast of St. James of the Marches who grew up in the turbulence of early 15th Century Europe. Wars were being waged across Western Europe, and the Papal seat of authority was divided between Italy and France.

During the final week of the ecclesiastical year, the language of the liturgy becomes very earnest and impressive. The Last Judgment with all its terrors is approaching. By this reminder the Church desires to make us realize our responsibilities, but she also desires to show us in Christ's judgment His crowning victory and the completion of His work of redemption. We should be inspired with confidence and very great hope at the thought that He who will come to judge us is the very same who came into this world to save us. Throughout the liturgical year the Church never ceases to remind us of this.

St. Catherine Laboure
St Catherine Laboure was born on the 2nd of May 1806 at Fainles-Moutiers, a picturesque village of Burgundy, France. She was the ninth child in a happy family of eleven. God made known the choice of this soul by marking her at an early age with the seal of suffering, for when she was only nine years old she lost her mother.

Saint Catherine Laboure responded to the divine call by entering the Community of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in Paris. Here, during the first months of her novitiate, she was favored with a number of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, who confided to her the mission of having the Miraculous Medal made.

Until shortly before her death Saint Catherine kept a strict silence concerning these apparitions, speaking of them only to her confessor, according to the instructions of Our Lady.

During 46 years Saint Catherine witnessed the wonders and miracles wrought through the Medal. During all this time, carefully guarding her secret of the apparitions, she humbly performed her commonplace duties, devoting herself especially to the care of the infirmed men of Enghien, a suburb of Paris. For this she is called the patroness of seniors.

On the 31st of December 1876, Saint Catherine left this earth for heaven, to contemplate there her Immaculate Queen whose love and beauty had captured her heart on earth.

Her body was exhumed 57 years later and found in perfect condition. Even death respected her who had enjoyed the extraordinary privilege of resting her hands on the knees of the Blessed Virgin for more than two hours during one of the apparitions. Saint Catherine was canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 27, 1947.

The simplicity of Saint Catherine's life endears her to everyone. She became a saint by doing her commonplace duties well, for God. This "Saint of Ordinary People" has the secret of sanctity for us all.

Excerpted from Central Association of the Miraculous Medal

Things to Do:

Read more about St. Catherine Laboure, here and here.
Make a virtual visit to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

St. James of the Marches
The small town of Montebrandone, on the eastern coast of Italy, called the March of Ancona, gave birth to this Saint in the year 1391. While still young he was sent to the University of Perugia, where his progress in learning soon qualified him to be chosen preceptor to the children of a young gentleman of Perugia. He went with him to Florence, to aid in the administration of a juridical office the nobleman had obtained there; but realizing that he was about to be engulfed in the whirlpool of worldly excesses in which he found himself, Saint James applied himself to prayer and recollection, and thought of entering the Carthusian Order.

When traveling one day near Assisi, however, he went into the Church of the Portiuncula to pray, and moved by the fervor of the holy men who there served God and by the example of their blessed founder Saint Francis, he determined to petition in that very place for the habit of the Order. He was then twenty-one years of age; he received the habit near Assisi, at the convent of Our Lady of the Angels. He began his spiritual war against the world, the flesh and the devil in prayer and silence in his cell, joining extraordinary fasts and vigils to his assiduous prayer. He fell ill with a number of different illnesses which for thirty years he endured with heroic patience, without ever exempting himself from saying Holy Mass or assisting at the offices in common. For forty years he never passed a day without taking the discipline.

When, through the response of the Mother of Heaven to his prayers, he became able to preach, he carried out that ministry with such great fervor and power that he never failed to touch the most hardened hearts and produce truly miraculous conversions. He joined Saint John of Capistrano to preach a crusade against the Turks, who had become masters of Constantinople and were terrorizing Western Europe. At Buda he effected the miraculous cessation of a furious sedition by simply showing the crucifix to the people; the rebels themselves took him upon their shoulders and carried him through the streets of the city. At Prague he brought back to God many who had fallen into error, and when a magician wanted to dispute with him, he rendered him mute and thus obliged him to retire in confusion. He traveled through the northern Provinces, into Germany, Dalmatia, Hungary, Poland, Norway and Denmark and many other places; he went without any provisions other than his confidence in God. If he found no aid or was without lodging he rejoiced in his union with Lady Poverty, to whom he was joined by his religious profession.

When he was called back to Italy to labor against a heresy, he acquired new persecutors who attempted in several ways, including ambushes, poison, calumny and the arousing of seditions against him, to do away with him. But God delivered him each time from the most adroitly conceived artifices. When chosen as Archbishop of Milan, he fled, and could not be prevailed on to accept the office. He brought about several miracles at Venice and at other places, often by the simple Holy Name of Jesus written on a paper. He raised from dangerous illness the Duke of Calabria and the King of Naples. The Saint died in the Franciscan convent of the Holy Trinity near Naples, to which city the Holy Father had sent him at the prayer of its King, Ferdinand. The date was the 28th of November of the year 1476; he was ninety years old, and had spent seventy of those years in religion.

Excerpted from Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guerin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 13; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Luke 21:34-36

Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy. (Luke 21:34)

What’s your go-to remedy for drowsiness? Perhaps you set aside obligations and take a power nap so that you have more energy to devote to the task when you wake up. Maybe you drink extra coffee and keep plugging away or take a jog around the block. Perhaps you take a look at what made you drowsy in the first place. You may end up adjusting your schedule so that you can sleep longer at night, seeing if you might be able to delegate some of the more monotonous aspects of your work.

These are all viable, logical solutions, and they may be effective in dealing with everyday drowsiness. But spiritual drowsiness calls for something more than human logic. To help illustrate this point, Scripture uses images like water to describe God’s power to energize and nourish us: “The angel showed me the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Revelation 22:1).

Many factors can contribute to spiritual drowsiness, and Jesus suggests two that are polar opposites to each other. One is “carousing,” a self-indulgence that deafens us to God’s call to put off sin and put on the new life of Christ. The other is “the anxieties of daily life” (Luke 21:34). This has to do with our tendency to feel our responsibilities too intensely and thus get weighed down by the worries that come with them. As noble as this may sound, it can make us forget that all we have and all we are come to us as precious gifts from our heavenly Father.

So what’s the answer? Drink deeply of the river of life. If you are going to expend extra energy to fight off drowsiness, do it in prayer. Push through any sense of monotony that has crept into your prayer life. Change your routine. Instead of sitting and meditating, stand up and sing. Recite the creed over and over until you feel the words coming alive. Devote one prayer time a week to doing nothing but listing God’s attributes and praising him for them, one by one. Do anything that will propel you into the presence of the Lord, and let him refresh you and renew your energy.

“Holy Spirit, when I am weary, refresh me in your life-giving stream.”

Daniel 7:15-27
(Psalm) Daniel 3:82-87

Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 21
34.	And take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly.	Attendite autem vobis, ne forte graventur corda vestra in crapula, et ebrietate, et curis hujus vitÃ¦, et superveniat in vos repentina dies illa :	Ï€ÏÎ¿ÏƒÎµÏ‡ÎµÏ„Îµ Î´Îµ ÎµÎ±Ï…Ï„Î¿Î¹Ï‚ Î¼Î·Ï€Î¿Ï„Îµ Î²Î±ÏÎ·Î¸Ï‰ÏƒÎ¹Î½ Ï…Î¼Ï‰Î½ Î±Î¹ ÎºÎ±ÏÎ´Î¹Î±Î¹ ÎµÎ½ ÎºÏÎ±Î¹Ï€Î±Î»Î· ÎºÎ±Î¹ Î¼ÎµÎ¸Î· ÎºÎ±Î¹ Î¼ÎµÏÎ¹Î¼Î½Î±Î¹Ï‚ Î²Î¹Ï‰Ï„Î¹ÎºÎ±Î¹Ï‚ ÎºÎ±Î¹ Î±Î¹Ï†Î½Î¹Î´Î¹Î¿Ï‚ ÎµÏ† Ï…Î¼Î±Ï‚ ÎµÏ€Î¹ÏƒÏ„Î· Î· Î·Î¼ÎµÏÎ± ÎµÎºÎµÎ¹Î½Î·
35.	For as a snare shall it come upon all that sit upon the face of the whole earth.	tamquam laqueus enim superveniet in omnes qui sedent super faciem omnis terrÃ¦.	Ï‰Ï‚ Ï€Î±Î³Î¹Ï‚ Î³Î±Ï ÎµÏ€ÎµÎ»ÎµÏ…ÏƒÎµÏ„Î±Î¹ ÎµÏ€Î¹ Ï€Î±Î½Ï„Î±Ï‚ Ï„Î¿Ï…Ï‚ ÎºÎ±Î¸Î·Î¼ÎµÎ½Î¿Ï…Ï‚ ÎµÏ€Î¹ Ï€ÏÎ¿ÏƒÏ‰Ï€Î¿Î½ Ï€Î±ÏƒÎ·Ï‚ Ï„Î·Ï‚ Î³Î·Ï‚
36.	Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of man.	Vigilate itaque, omni tempore orantes, ut digni habeamini fugere ista omnia quÃ¦ futura sunt, et stare ante Filium hominis.	Î±Î³ÏÏ…Ï€Î½ÎµÎ¹Ï„Îµ Î¿Ï…Î½ ÎµÎ½ Ï€Î±Î½Ï„Î¹ ÎºÎ±Î¹ÏÏ‰ Î´ÎµÎ¿Î¼ÎµÎ½Î¿Î¹ Î¹Î½Î± ÎºÎ±Ï„Î±Î¾Î¹Ï‰Î¸Î·Ï„Îµ ÎµÎºÏ†Ï…Î³ÎµÎ¹Î½ Ï€Î±Î½Ï„Î± Ï„Î± Î¼ÎµÎ»Î»Î¿Î½Ï„Î± Î³Î¹Î½ÎµÏƒÎ¸Î±Î¹ ÎºÎ±Î¹ ÏƒÏ„Î±Î¸Î·Î½Î±Î¹ ÎµÎ¼Ï€ÏÎ¿ÏƒÎ¸ÎµÎ½ Ï„Î¿Ï… Ï…Î¹Î¿Ï… Ï„Î¿Ï… Î±Î½Î¸ÏÏ‰Ï€Î¿Ï…

34. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
35. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
36. Watch you therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

THEOPHYL. Our Lord declared above the fearful and sensible signs of the evils which should overtake sinners, against which the only remedy is watching and prayer, as it is said, And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time, &c.

BASIL; Every animal has within itself certain instincts which it has received from God, for the preservation of its own being. Wherefore Christ has also given us this warning, that what comes to them by nature, may be ours by the aid of reason and prudence: that we may flee from sin as the brute creatures shun deadly food, but that we seek after righteousness, as they wholesome herbs. Therefore said He, Take heed to yourselves, that is, that you may distinguish the noxious from the wholesome. But since there are two ways of taking heed to ourselves, the one with the bodily eyes, the other by the faculties of the soul, and the bodily eye does not reach to virtue; it remains that we speak of the operations of the soul. Take heed, that is, Look around you on all sides, keeping an ever watchful eye to the guardianship of your soul. He says not, Take heed to your own or to the things around, but to yourselves. For you are mind and spirit, your body is only of sense. Around you are riches, arts, and all the appendages of life, you must not mind these, but your soul, of which you must take especial care. The same admonition tends both to the healing of the sick, and the perfecting of those that are well, namely, such as are the guardians of the present, the providers of the future, not judging the actions of others, but strictly searching their own, not suffering the mind to be the slave of their passions but subduing the irrational part of the soul to the rational. But the reason why we should take heed He adds as follows, Lest at any time your hearts be overcharged, &c.

TIT. BOST. As if He says, Beware lest the eyes of your mind wax heavy. For the cares of this life, and surfeiting, and drunkenness, scare away prudence, shatter and make shipwreck of faith.

CLEM. ALEX. Drunkenness is an excessive use of wine; crapula is the uneasiness, and nausea attendant on drunkenness, a Greek word so called from the motion of the head. And a little below. As then we must partake of food lest we suffer hunger, so also of drink lest we thirst, but with still greater care to avoid falling into excess. For the indulgence of wine is deceitful, and the soul when free from wine will be the wisest and best, but steeped in the fumes of wine is lost as in a cloud.

BASIL; But carefulness, or the care of this life, although it seems to have nothing unlawful in it, nevertheless if it conduce not to religion, must be avoided. And the reason why He said this He shows by what comes next, And so that day come upon you unawares.

THEOPHYL. For that day will not come when men are expecting it, but unlooked for and by stealth, taking as a snare those who are unwary. For as a snare shall it come upon all them that sit upon the face of the earth. But this we may diligently keep far from us. For that day will take those that sit on the face of the earth, as the unthinking and slothful. But as many as are prompt and active in the way of good, not sitting and loitering on the ground, but rising from it, saying to themselves, Rise up, be gone, for here there is no rest for you. To such that day is not as a perilous snare, but a day of rejoicing.

EUSEB. He taught them therefore to take heed to the things we have just before mentioned, lest they fall into the indolence resulting therefrom. Hence it follows, Watch you therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all those things that shall come to pass.

THEOPHYL. Namely, hunger, pestilence, and such like, which for a time only threaten the elect and others, and those things also which are hereafter the lot of the guilty for ever. For these we can in no wise escape, save by watching and prayer.

AUG. This is supposed to be that flight which Matthew mentions; which must not be in the winter or on the sabbath day. To the winter belong the cares of this life, which are mournful as the winter, but to the sabbath surfeiting and drunkenness, which drowns and buries the heart in carnal luxury and delight, since on that day the Jews are immersed in worldly pleasure, while they are lost to a spiritual sabbath.

THEOPHYL. And because a Christian needs not only to flee evil, but to strive to obtain glory, He adds, And to stand before the Son of man. For this is the glory of angels, to stand before the Son of man, our God, and always to behold His face.

BEDE; Now supposing a physician should bid us beware of the juice of a certain herb, lest a sudden death overtake us, we should most earnestly attend to his command; but when our Savior warns us to shun drunkenness and surfeiting, and the cares of this world, men have no fear of being wounded and destroyed by them; for the faith which they put in the caution of the physician, they disdain to give to the words of God.

Catena Aurea Luke 21

Regnum Christi

Ready or Not?

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

November 28, 2015. Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

By Father Edward Hopkins, LC

Luke 21:34-36

Jesus said to his disciples: "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."

Introductory Prayer: Dear Jesus, I believe in you and in the Kingdom you are building in and through me. I believe in the value of my sacrifice and struggles united to yours. I hope to arrive to heaven when you say it is time. I wish to spend myself for those I should love the most.

Petition: Rouse my heart, Lord, to live in you!

Drowsy Hearts: Our life is a time of preparation, not only for an eternal friendship with God, but for the “assault” of the “tribulations” that must come first. The spiritual battle is real, whether or not we are aware of it, whether or not we want it. We fight each day and in many ways, but the battle is ultimately won in the depths of our hearts. All that puts our hearts to sleep and gives us a false sense of security must be avoided. I may not “carouse and get drunk” in the typical fashion, but do I wander about seeking satisfaction from the world? Am I superficial in my judgments? Do I become so engrossed and absorbed in material matters, works and worries that I am unable to pursue my spiritual life and vocation with a clear and focused attention?

That Day: It seems that none of us will escape the trial of that last day. For some it will be sudden and painful, for others it will be prolonged and difficult. But we are all mortal creatures. The great saints all lived with their end in mind. Death was a healthy meditation that moved them to live the present day to the full. Death is the door to my real life. The anticipation of that day need not rob us of joy; rather, it must call us to love. How I live this day determines how I will live “that day” and the everlasting day of eternal life with God. How do I want to live that day?

Vigilance and Prayer: This is how Jesus invited his closest friends, the apostles, to live “that day” of his Passion: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). The final words of the Our Father must find resonance with how we live. Vigilance requires awareness not only of the enemies and threats that surround us, but also of the weaknesses within us. These elements are at work each day, and so we must be on guard each day to check their influence. This must be the simple and serene priority in our life. But it must always lead us to Christ, to stand before him sincerely and trustingly in prayer. Prayer and vigilance lead to each other. If we do not make prayer the air we breathe, we will suffocate in a polluted world. How much importance am I giving to my habits and life of prayer?

Conversation with Christ: Grant me, dear Jesus, a sense of urgency. Wake me up from any drowsiness or spiritual carelessness. Allow me to see both the threats and opportunities for my life of grace. Keep before my eyes the real meaning of my life and the limited time I have to conquer and to grow in love.

Resolution: I will pray today for the soul in purgatory who was most distracted or least prepared for “that day” of his death.

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | EspaÃ±ol

All Issues > Volume 31, Issue 6

<< Saturday, November 28, 2015 >>

Daniel 7:15-27
View Readings

Daniel 3:82-87

Luke 21:34-36
Similar Reflections

THE WATCHTOWER

"Be on the watch. Pray constantly for the strength to escape whatever is in prospect." â€”Luke 21:36

On this last day of the Church's year, we read about the last day of all years. This last day is called the "great day." Jesus warns us: "The great day will suddenly close in on you like a trap. The day I speak of will come upon all who dwell on the face of the earth" (Lk 21:34-35). If we watch and pray constantly for strength, we will stand secure before Jesus as He returns to take us off this burning planet into the perfect happiness of heaven (Lk 21:36; see also 2 Pt 3:10).

The last day will be great for us if we are strong. We will be strong if we pray constantly. We will pray constantly if we are "on the watch." "Therefore, let us not be asleep like the rest, but awake and sober!" (1 Thes 5:6) We must "stay sober and alert," for "the devil is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Pt 5:8). "Be on guard lest your spirits become bloated with indulgence and drunkenness and worldly cares" (Lk 21:34). "Stay awake, therefore! You cannot know the day your Lord is coming" (Mt 24:42). "Be on guard, and pray that you may not undergo the test" (Mt 26:41).

We must be ready for this last day of the Church's year to be the last day of our lives or the last day of all. Watch and pray.

Prayer: Jesus, come back today or as soon as possible. Maranatha! (Come, Lord Jesus!) (see Rv 22:20)

Promise: "The kingship and dominion and majesty of all the kingdoms under the heavens shall be given to the holy people of the Most High, Whose kingdom shall be everlasting." â€”Dn 7:27

Praise: Regina strives to live her life by the example of St. John Bosco, who stated that if he knew the world would end that day, he would continue to do what he was doing.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

November 28, 2015

Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Dn 7:15-27

Responsorial Psalm Daniel 3:82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87

Alleluia Lk 21:36

Gospel Lk 21:34-36

St. Catherine Laboure

Ordinary Time: November 28th

Saturday of the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time

MASS READINGS

COLLECT PRAYER

Recipes (7)

Activities (17)

Prayers (7)

Library (7)

Meditation: Luke 21:34-36

By Father Edward Hopkins, LC

Luke 21:34-36

One Bread, One Body

THE WATCHTOWER

Prayer to End Abortion