From the responsorial psalm: "Know that the LORD is God; he made us, his we are; his people, the flock he tends. Blessed are they who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb."

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 21:20-28)

"And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”

Jesus describes to the disciples the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place in A.D. 70. Luke's Gospel, written several years later, relates what had already taken place. What Jesus predicts about Jerusalem gives assurance to the disciples that the final judgment will also be fulfilled. In Jesus' words, "a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a wrathful judgment upon his people. . . . People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world." As difficult as this time is to imagine—nations in dismay and terrible signs on earth and in the sky—Jesus will come with "power and great glory" as our hope and redeemer comes to call us to the "wedding feast of the Lamb."

God, in the midst of the greatest distress you are not absent to your people but here among us in the risen Christ, who will come again to judge the living and the dead. Help me trust in you and remain steadfast in the trials of daily life and in preparation for the fulfillment of your kingdom in the Second Coming of Jesus. Keep me in your care, Lord, let me be grateful for the many blessings of each day. On Thanksgiving Day, grant me the grace to be a means of hope and love, especially for those in distress who most need your mercy.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.