Jerusalem Kills Her Prophets | Catholic Daily Readings and Reflection | October 30, 2025

Today's Catholic Daily Mass readings for Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time reveal the heartbreak of God offering protection while people refuse it, and why nothing can separate us from God's love even though we can scatter from God's shelter.

Some Pharisees warned Jesus that Herod wants to kill him. Jesus responds: Go tell that fox I'm casting out demons today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose. It's impossible for a prophet to die outside Jerusalem. Then he says something heartbreaking: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling.

The image is tender. A mother hen gathering chicks under her wings for protection. Jesus wanted to do this for Jerusalem. Yearned to. But they were unwilling. You can't protect people who refuse protection. Jerusalem's specialty is killing the people God sends to help them.

Paul asks: If God is for us, who can be against us? He didn't spare his own Son but handed him over for us all. What will separate us from Christ's love? Tribulation? Distress? Persecution? Nothing. In all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither present nor future nor any other creature will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

The tension is this: Jesus yearned to gather Jerusalem's children but they were unwilling. Nothing can separate us from God's love, yet we can refuse God's protection. The love is constant. The offer stands. But gathering requires willingness. The hen can't force the chicks under her wings.

The reflection explores why Jerusalem kills prophets while refusing their protection, how the hen and chicks image reveals God's yearning versus human unwillingness, what it means that nothing can separate us from Christ's love yet we can scatter from his shelter, and why Jesus heads toward Jerusalem knowing a prophet must die there but on the third day he accomplishes his purpose.

This video challenges you to examine where you're refusing God's protection while complaining you feel unprotected, how Paul's absolute guarantee about nothing separating you from Christ's love should change your response to tribulation, what makes you reject protection and still demand safety, and whether you see the cross as tragedy or accomplishment.

📖 Readings
Romans 8:31b-39
Psalm 109
Luke 13:31-35

⏱️ Timeline
00:00 Introduction
00:15 Reading I - Romans 8:31b-39
01:22 Psalm Response - Psalm 109
05:31 Gospel - Luke 13:31-35
06:26 Reflection

Perfect for: Catholics examining where they refuse God's protection, Christians learning why Jerusalem kills prophets, believers discovering the hen and chicks image, anyone studying Paul's guarantee about nothing separating us from Christ's love, people confronting their unwillingness to be gathered, those learning that the third day accomplishes God's purpose

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