Tuesday, November 22, 2011 St. Cecilia, Virgin, Martyr (Memorial)}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
Disorder in society is the result of disorder in the family.
-- St Angela Merici

READINGS FOR TODAY

First Reading: Daniel 2:31-45

31 “Your Majesty, in your vision you saw standing before you a giant statue, bright and shining, and terrifying to look at.

32 Its head was made of the finest gold; its chest and arms were made of silver; its waist and hips of bronze,

33 its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

34 While you were looking at it, a great stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it, struck the iron and clay feet of the statue, and shattered them.

35 At once the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold crumbled and became like the dust on a threshing place in summer. The wind carried it all away, leaving not a trace. But the stone grew to be a mountain that covered the whole earth.

36 “This was the dream. Now I will tell Your Majesty what it means.

37 Your Majesty, you are the greatest of all kings. The God of heaven has made you emperor and given you power, might, and honor.

38 He has made you ruler of all the inhabited earth and ruler over all the animals and birds. You are the head of gold.

39 After you there will be another empire, not as great as yours, and after that a third, an empire of bronze, which will rule the whole earth.

40 And then there will be a fourth empire, as strong as iron, which shatters and breaks everything. And just as iron shatters everything, it will shatter and crush all the earlier empires.

41 You also saw that the feet and the toes were partly clay and partly iron. This means that it will be a divided empire. It will have something of the strength of iron, because there was iron mixed with the clay.

42 The toes—partly iron and partly clay—mean that part of the empire will be strong and part of it weak.

43 You also saw that the iron was mixed with the clay. This means that the rulers of that empire will try to unite their families by intermarriage, but they will not be able to, any more than iron can mix with clay.

44 At the time of those rulers the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. It will never be conquered, but will completely destroy all those empires and then last forever.

45 You saw how a stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it and how it struck the statue made of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God is telling Your Majesty what will happen in the future. I have told you exactly what you dreamed, and have given you its true meaning.”

Psalms: Daniel 3:57-61

57 Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

58 Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

59 You heavens, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

60 All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

61 All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

Gospel: Luke 21:5-11

(Jesus Speaks of the Destruction of the Temple)

5 Some of the disciples were talking about the Temple, how beautiful it looked with its fine stones and the gifts offered to God. Jesus said,

6 “All this you see—the time will come when not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one will be thrown down.”

(Troubles and Persecutions)

7 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will this be? And what will happen in order to show that the time has come for it to take place?”

8 Jesus said, “Watch out; don't be fooled. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time has come!’ But don't follow them.

9 Don't be afraid when you hear of wars and revolutions; such things must happen first, but they do not mean that the end is near.”

10 He went on to say, “Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another.

11 There will be terrible earthquakes, famines, and plagues everywhere; there will be strange and terrifying things coming from the sky.