It-33 Ħadd matul is-Sena 'B'
Messalin 'B' pp 515
Daniel 12:1-3
In those days, I Daniel, heard this word of
the Lord: "At that time there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian
of your people; it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began
until that time. At that time your people shall escape, everyone who is found
written in the book. "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake; some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and
disgrace. "But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the
firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars
forever."
L-Ewwel Qari
mill-Ktieb tal-Profeta Danjel 12,
1-2
F'dak iż-żmien
iqum Mikiel, il-prinċep il-kbir, dak li qiegħed fuq ulied il-poplu
tiegħek. Imbagħad jiġi żmien ta' għawġ,
li qatt ma jkun deher ieħor bħalu minn minn
Responsorial Psalm
PSALM 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11
R. (1) You are my inheritance, O Lord!
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. R/
you it is who hold fast my lot.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. R/
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul
rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption. R/
my body, too, abides in confidence;
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption. R/
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever. R/
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever. R/
Salm Responsorjali
Salm 15 (16))
R/
Ħarisni, o Allaj, għax fik
jien nistkenn.
Mulej, inti
s-sehem tal-wirt u r-riżq tiegħi,
inti żżomm
f'idejk xortija.
Inżomm
il-Mulej dejjem quddiemi,
għax bih
f'leminti qatt ma nitħarrek. R/
Hekk tifraħ
qalbi u tithenna ruħi,
u ġismi wkoll jistrieħ bil-kwiet.
Għax inti ma titlaqnix fl-imwiet,
ma tħallix il-maħbub tiegħek jara l-qabar. R/
Inti tgħallimni t-triq tal-ħajja,
hemm il-milja tal-ferħ quddiemek,
hemm għaxqa għal dejjem f'lemintek. R/
Hebrews 10:11-14, 18
Brothers and sisters: Every priest stands
daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never
take away sins. But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat
forever at the right hand of God; now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool.
For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being
consecrated. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering
for sin.
It-Tieni Qari
mill-Ittra
lil Lhud 10, 11- 14-18
Kull qassis ieħor imur
kuljum biex jaqdi l-ministeru tiegħu, u joffri
u jerġa' joffri l-istess sagrifiċċju, bla ma jistgħu qatt ineħħu
d-dnubiet. Imma, Kristu, wara li offra
sagrifiċċju wieħed għad-dnubiet, qagħad għal dejjem fuq in-naħa tal-lemin ta'
Alla, fejn qiegħed jistenna sa ma l-għedewwa tiegħu jitqiegħdu mirfes taħt riġejh. Għax hu, b'offerta waħda għamel perfetti
għal dejjem lil dawk, li hu jqaddes. Issa, fejn hemm il-maħfra
tad-dnubiet, ma hemmx għalfejn issir aktar l-offerta għad-dnubiet. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Gospel Mark
13:24-32
Jesus said to his disciples: "In those
days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not
give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in
the heavens will be shaken. "And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming
in the clouds' with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels
and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end
of the sky. "Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes
tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when
you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates. Amen, I say
to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken
place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. "But
of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father."
L-Evanġelju
Qari
skond San Mark 13, 24-32
F'dak iż-żmien, Ġesu' qal lid-dixxipli tiegħu:
"Wara jiem ta' dwejjaq kbar, ix-xemx
tiddallam, il-qamar jitlef id-dija tiegħu, il-kwiekeb jibdew jaqgħu mis-sema, u l-qawmiet tas-smewwiet jitqallbu.
Imbagħad jaraw lil Bin il-bniedem ġej fis-sħab b'qawwa
kbira u bi glorja. U mbagħad
jibgħat l-anġli biex jiġbor flimkien il-maħturin tiegħu mill-erbat
irjieħ, minn Meta l-fergħa tagħha tirtab u tarmi l-weraq, intom
tintebħu li s-sajf fil-qrib. Hekk ukoll
meta taraw dan jiġri, kunu afu li hu
fil-qrib, fil-bieb. Tassew ngħidilkom,
li ma jgħaddix dan in-nisel qabel ma jiġri dan kollu. Is-sema
u l-art jgħaddu, imma kliemi ma jgħaddix. Dwar dak il-jum u s-siegħa
ħadd ma jaf meta se jaslu, anqas l-anġli fis-sema, u anqas l-Iben; ħadd ħlief il-Missier. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
///////////////////////////
Fr
Cantalamessa on the End of the World
Here is a translation of a commentary by the
Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, on the
readings from this Sunday’s liturgy.
* * *
The Gospel of the second to last Sunday of the
liturgical year is the classic text on the end of the world. There has always
been someone who has taken it upon themselves to wave this page of the Gospel
in the face of their contemporaries and provoke psychosis and fear. My advice
is to be calm and to not let yourself be in the least bit troubled by these
visions of catastrophe.
Just read the last line of the same Gospel passage:
“But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father.” If neither the angels nor the Son (insofar as he is
man and not insofar as he is God) know the day or hour of the end, is it
possible that a member of some sect or some religious fanatic would know and be
authorized to announce it? In the Gospel Jesus assures us of the fact of his
return and the gathering his chosen ones from the “four winds”; the when and
the how of his return (on the clouds between the darkening of the sun and the
falling of the stars) is part of the figurative language of the literary genre
of these discourses.
Another observation might help explain certain
pages of the Gospel. When we talk about the end of the world on the basis of
the understanding of time that we have today, we immediately think of the
absolute end of the world, after which there can be nothing but eternity. But
the Bible goes about its reasoning with relative and historical categories more
than with absolute and metaphysical ones. Thus, when the Bible speaks of the
end of the world, it intends quite often the concrete world, that which in fact
exists for and is known by a certain group of people, their world. It is, in
sum, the end of a world that is being treated not the end of the
world, even if the two perspectives at times intertwine.
Jesus says: “This generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place.” Is he mistaken? No, it was the world
that was known to his hearers that passed away, the Jewish world. It tragically
passed away with the destruction of Jerusalem Rome Rome
None of this diminishes the seriousness of the
Christian charge but only deepens it. It would be the greatest foolishness to
console oneself by saying that no one knows when the end of the world will be
and forgetting that, for any of us, it could be this very night. For this
reason Jesus concludes Sunday’s Gospel with the recommendation that we “be
vigilant because no one knows when the exact moment will be.
”We must, I think, completely change the attitude
with which we listen to these Gospels that speak of the end of the world and
the return of Christ. We must no longer regard as a punishment and a veiled
threat that which the Scriptures call “the blessed hope” of Christians, that
is, the return of our Lord Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).
The mistaken idea we have of God must be corrected.
The recurrent talk about the end of the world which is often engaged in by
those with a distorted religious sentiment, has a devastating effect on many
people. It reinforces the idea of a God who is always angry, ready to vent his
wrath on the world. But this is not the God of the Bible which a psalm
describes as “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast
love, who will not always accuse or keep his anger forever … because he knows
that we are made of dust” (Psalm 103:8-14).
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