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Word To Life
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Sunday Scripture Readings: Nov. 19, 2006
By Jeff Hensley
Catholic News Service
November 19, Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle B Readings:
1) Daniel 12:1-3
Psalms 16:5, 8-11
2) Hebrews 10:11-14, 18
3) Gospel: Mark 13:24-32
A few years ago America magazine published an article that raised the question of how many Catholics, Protestants, and men and women of good will made the heroic choice to shelter Jews from the Nazi Holocaust. The question was phrased something like "A half million Schindlers?" referring to the well-known story of German industrialist Oskar Schindler's acts and reflecting the estimate some scholars make of the numbers of rescuers.
The Scripture reading from Daniel for this week makes a promise for apocalyptic times: "At that time your people shall escape, everyone who is found written in the book [of life]." This reading goes on to speak of those who "lead the many to justice" being "like the stars forever."
How do men and women prepare themselves for acting in such a heroic way, for putting the safety and survival of others above their own?
The authors of "Rescuers, Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust," Gay Block and Malka Drucker, sought to answer some of those questions by profiling 49 of the 105 rescuers Block photographed and Drucker interviewed.
In her introduction, Drucker tries to answer why these people responded as they did: "It remains a mystery, perhaps a miracle. Many helped strangers, some saved friends and lovers. Some had humane upbringings, others did not. Some were educated, others were barely literate. They weren't all religious, they weren't all brave. What they did share, however, was compassion, empathy, an intolerance of injustice and an ability to endure risk beyond what one wants to imagine."
The vital questions for the rest of us to answer are asked by the author in her epilogue: "The rescuers not only raise the question, Could I have done what they did? They also force us to ask ourselves, What am I doing now?"
Believers can gain the courage to answer with their lives from the last verse of the psalm for this week: "You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever."
QUESTION:
How might God be asking you to use your gifts and talents, your presence, to offer compassionate service to others?
SCRIPTURE TO ILLUSTRATE:
"O Lord, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot" (Psalm 16:50).
END
Copyright © 2006 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS Word To Life column may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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