For 26 November 2025, Wednesday of week 34 in Ordinary Time, based on Luke 21:12-19
Jesus said to the crowd: they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defence in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls. The word of the Lord
———
Just before today’s gospel selection, Jesus told the crowd that was very positively impressed by the beauty and grandeur of the Jerusalem Temple, that it would be destroyed, “all will be thrown down”, he told them. They wanted to know ‘when’ this would happen. He only told them: “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
He had in mind another temple. In John’s gospel we read that, when cleansing the temple Jesus told the Jews: “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. But he was speaking of the temple of his body” (Jn 2, 16-19. 21).
It is interesting that in 14 verses Luke tells us that Jesus was in fact speaking of the destruction of two important temples, one built by humans and, “had been under construction for forty-six years” (Jn 2, 20). The other temple is made of humans, but not by humans. St Paul teaches us that “In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others (Rm 12:5). This temple, the Church, is still under construction, and we who are already members are asked to help in its construction. However , “No one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ” (Cor 3, 11).
Today’s selection tells us three important things. First, Persecutions that Christians are still suffering in too many parts of the world, are an opportunity to testify for Christ, for as Tertullian said: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church”. Jesus said: “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12, 24). Second, Christ does not abandon those who suffer because of his name. He said: “Make up your minds not to prepare your defence in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom”. Jesus promised: “I am with you always” (Mt 28:20). Third, Christ promised: “By your endurance you will gain your souls.” Not only but also our bodies for he said: “Not a hair of your head will perish” for “all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ (1 Cor 15, 23)… “ We shall all indeed rise again”. (1 Cor 15, 51).
So let us not be afraid to walk in Christ’s footsteps, for He, said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
About Costantino Mamo, OP
Cost is a friar of the province of Malta and is currently serving as a missionary in Durrës, Albania. More information can be found at his homepage at http://costmamo.blogspot.com/.
26 Nov 2025
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Jesus said to the crowd: they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defence in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls. The word of the Lord
———
Just before today’s gospel selection, Jesus told the crowd that was very positively impressed by the beauty and grandeur of the Jerusalem Temple, that it would be destroyed, “all will be thrown down”, he told them. They wanted to know ‘when’ this would happen. He only told them: “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
He had in mind another temple. In John’s gospel we read that, when cleansing the temple Jesus told the Jews: “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. But he was speaking of the temple of his body” (Jn 2, 16-19. 21).
It is interesting that in 14 verses Luke tells us that Jesus was in fact speaking of the destruction of two important temples, one built by humans and, “had been under construction for forty-six years” (Jn 2, 20). The other temple is made of humans, but not by humans. St Paul teaches us that “In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others (Rm 12:5). This temple, the Church, is still under construction, and we who are already members are asked to help in its construction. However , “No one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ” (Cor 3, 11).
Today’s selection tells us three important things. First, Persecutions that Christians are still suffering in too many parts of the world, are an opportunity to testify for Christ, for as Tertullian said: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church”. Jesus said: “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12, 24). Second, Christ does not abandon those who suffer because of his name. He said: “Make up your minds not to prepare your defence in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom”. Jesus promised: “I am with you always” (Mt 28:20). Third, Christ promised: “By your endurance you will gain your souls.” Not only but also our bodies for he said: “Not a hair of your head will perish” for “all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ (1 Cor 15, 23)… “ We shall all indeed rise again”. (1 Cor 15, 51).
So let us not be afraid to walk in Christ’s footsteps, for He, said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
About Costantino Mamo, OP
Cost is a friar of the province of Malta and is currently serving as a missionary in Durrës, Albania. More information can be found at his homepage at http://costmamo.blogspot.com/.