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Commentary on the Gospel – November 26, 2025
The Writing on the Wall
In today’s first reading, Daniel is given the words of denunciation he must speak before the king. The writing on the wall speaks directly to power: your days are numbered, you have been weighed and found wanting; your kingdom will be divided. These powers present themselves as almost omnipotent, masters of the world, convinced of their own strength. And although the time we spend enduring them feels long—until the next elections, and then the next, and the next—today we are told with certainty that their days truly are numbered.
Then in the Gospel we hear this message for all of us: Do not be afraid; you will be given the words you need for your defense. Yes, these evil powers have been judged deficient, and they will fall. But when?
A deeper look invites us to stand before a mirror. I think that sometimes we all want to be Daniel—sure in our denunciation, confident in our own innocence. But at other times we find ourselves trembling, because perhaps the writing on the wall could just as easily be about us: that our days are numbered, that we have been found wanting, that the strength and self-sufficiency we thought we had aren’t as solid as we imagined.
Sometimes we want to search frantically for layers, hiding places, ways to cover up that deficiency written on the wall that stares back at us like a mirror. We start to wonder whether those who accuse us might actually have a point. And indeed, our days are numbered. And we know well our own limits and weaknesses.
But then we must return to the consoling word of the Gospel. Despite the frightening words on the wall, we know that not a single hair on our heads will perish, because of God’s immense mercy. Even if we are not Daniel with justice in our hands. Even if we are the ones with cracks and deficiencies. You will be persecuted and handed over, but not a hair on your head will be lost… Because the one who writes on our wall will not be a punishing judge, but a merciful one. And he himself will give us the words for our defense—when, ashamed, we cannot find them.
All that remains is to turn to him in trust.