Mass Reading and Reflection for Tuesday November 11th 2025

First Reading: Wisdom (2:23–3:9)

Responsorial Psalm – (Psalm 34)

Response: I will bless the Lord at all times.

Gospel Reading: Luke (17:7–10)

Reflection

Today's first reading, the book of Wisdom teaches us how to understand death. Humans as God created us were never meant to die. When God created us, He made us in His image and likeness, and since God is immortal, He created us to share in that immortality. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lived in God’s constant presence, seeing Him face to face, that was the gift of immortality.

But through sin, humanity lost that divine gift of immortality. The devil, out of envy, tempted Adam and Eve, causing them to lose the beauty of eternal life in God’s presence. Thus, death entered the world, not as a creation of God, but as a consequence of sin.

Now, death has become the door through which we return to God. It is the passage to eternity. Yet, only the virtuous shall regain the fullness of immortality.

Those who live righteously, even though they die, will rise again to live forever in peace. The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God, and no torment shall ever touch them. But those who die in sin will rise only to die again, eternally, in separation from God.

To the foolish, death seems to be the end, a tragedy or destruction. But the Book of Wisdom tells us that for the virtuous, death is not an end, but a beginning, a passage into eternal life.

So, the question is: Am I, and are we living a virtuous life so as to gain immortality?
Are we living a virtuous life so that we too may live forever?

When others weep because we have died, we who lived righteously will rejoice, because our souls are at peace with God.

How then can we live virtuous lives, By doing what God asks of us, Shunning evil and doing good, Loving God and our neighbor, Forgiving those who hurt us, Feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, and welcoming the stranger. If live this way, we shall be virtuous. And when we die, we will rise to live forever in the joy of immortality.

Even when we fall through human weakness, the Sacrament of Confession is always available to help us begin again. Let us therefore live in this constant awareness:

May God grants us the grace to live righteously, love sincerely, and serve faithfully, that we may share in the eternal life God prepared for the virtuous after this life.
Amen.

God bless you and have a wonderful day.