Today is Friday November 20, 2015Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

A Reading from First Macabees 1 Mc 4:36-37, 52-59

Then said Judas and his brothers, "Behold, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it." So all the army assembled and they went up to Mount Zion.

Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year,

they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they had built. At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals.

All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them. So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise.

They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and furnished them with doors. There was very great gladness among the people, and the reproach of the Gentiles was removed. Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.

The Word of the Lord.

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The Responsorial is from First Chronicles 1 Chronicles 29:10bcd, 11abc, 11d-12a, 12bcd

R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.“Blessed may you be, O LORD,God of Israel our father,from eternity to eternity.”

R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

“Yours, O LORD, are grandeur and power,majesty, splendor, and glory.For all in heaven and on earth is yours.”

R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

“Yours, O LORD, is the sovereignty;you are exalted as head over all.Riches and honor are from you.”

R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

“You have dominion over all,In your hand are power and might;it is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.”

R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

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A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke Lk 19:45-48

And Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold,

[46] saying to them, "It is written, `My house shall be a house of prayer'; but you have made it a den of robbers."

And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon his words.

The Gospel of the Lord.