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24th Week of Ordinary Time - Week Day Readings

September 15, 2025

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Monday, September 15, 2025

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091525.cfm

172. TRUSTING THE LORD (LK 7:1-10)

“Hold fast to the rudder of faith, that you may not be shaken by the heavy storms of this world.”

Luke 7:1-10

- St Ambrose

When he had come to the end of all he wanted the people to hear, he went into Capernaum. A centurion there had a servant, a favourite of his, who was sick and near death. Having heard about Jesus he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus they pleaded earnestly with him. ‘He deserves this of you,’ they said, ‘because he is friendly towards our people; in fact, he is the one who built the synagogue.’ So Jesus went with them, and was not very far from the house when the centurion sent word to him by some friends: ‘Sir,’ he said ‘do not put yourself to trouble; because I am not worthy to have you under my roof; and for this same reason I did not presume to come to you myself; but give the word and let my servant be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes; to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’ When Jesus heard these words he was astonished at him and, turning round, said to the crowd following him, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found faith like this.’ And when the messengers got back to the house they found the servant in perfect health.

CHRIST THE LORD Implicit in the title “lord” is superiority. Lords deserve to be obeyed. In human society, this obedience is based on a person’s position, not on his intrinsic worth. With Christ it is different. He deserves to be obeyed because he is the Lord; he actually possesses within his very nature as God the authority that commands all things: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). And yet, Jesus refuses to force people to obey him; his power is wedded to love, and his love seeks a heartfelt, joyful obedience, not one that’s compelled or robotic. The centurion recognizes both of these characteristics. Because he has come to believe in Christ’s true Lordship, he knows that all forces in the universe will obey him, and because he has perceived Christ’s love, he knows that Jesus will gladly use his power to cure this slave who was so valuable to him. Christ is a Lord both incomparably powerful and inestimably loving, and when we approach him with this in mind, he will work wonders for us.

Whenever we are given authority over others, we should keep Christ’s example as our standard. Christ always uses his power for serving others; his followers should do the same.

CHRIST THE TEACHER It is possible to amaze Jesus. The centurion did it by having more faith in him than those who should have had the most faith of all. This brief incident instructs us about one of life’s greatest mysteries: human freedom. Certainly God knows all things, but not because he directly determines them. He knows what we will do tomorrow only because for him there is no tomorrow; every “tomorrow” is present to him. We have difficulty understanding this, just as a blind man has difficulty understanding color, but our difficulty doesn’t alter the fact: God’s omnipotence and omniscience respect our freedom. In the core of our being we remain free to accept or reject God’s action in our lives – and to accept or reject it more or less intensely. God wants us to accept him with all our “heart, soul, mind, and strength” – in other words, as intensely as possible. But he also knows that we are burdened with selfishness and beset by the devil, so it will take a great effort on our part to correspond to his grace. When the centurion, who had no prior contact with Jesus and no tangible reasons to put his faith in him, shows that he has made that effort, Jesus is

amazed – and, most likely, immensely gratified. If we can learn from the centurion, we too can amaze and please our Lord.

Sometimes we put too much distance between faith and daily life. The centurion was facing the kind of crisis that happens only once in awhile, but we can imitate his faith even in normal situations. Every time our conscience nudges us to refrain from sharing or tolerating that little bit of gossip, every time we feel a tug in our hearts to say a prayer or give a little more effort, every time we detect an opportunity to do a hidden act of kindness to someone in need, we are faced with an opportunity to please the Lord by putting our faith in his will.

CHRIST THE FRIEND The words of the centurion have echoed down through the centuries as few others – “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed” has been repeated in every Mass on every continent for almost 2000 years. In putting them on our lips before we receive Holy Communion, the Church helps us to come to Christ with both reverence and confidence: reverence, because he is God and we have rebelled against God, and confidence, because instead of punishing our rebellion, he wants to come and win back our friendship.

We should be grateful for Christ’s willingness to come into our lives, as the centurion was surely grateful for all Jesus had done for him. But having received Christ, having become his brothers and sisters, his ambassadors, we should also imitate his example. The people around us who don’t know Jesus should find in us an advertisement for following him. Thecenturion sensed Christ’s divinity and his goodness without ever having met him personally – he knew Jesus only from hearing about others’ experience of him and seeing the lives that Jesus had changed. Would that we were such effective messengers to the centurions all around us! Our friend deserves that we at least give it our best shot – he’ll take it from there.

CHRIST IN MY LIFE When I take time to reflect on the beauties of the world around me, I can’t help but marvel at your power and your wisdom. All of this came forth from your heart and your hands. You are the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and yet you deign to dwell with us in the humble silence of the Eucharist. Come and reside in my heart, come to rule me gently...

I do believe in you, Lord. I have put my trust in you. You know I have. But my faith is scrawny. I know you have wonderful things you want to do in my life and through my life. You have called me to be a saint, an oasis of virtue and fruitfulness in this fallen world. You just need me to trust you more. Increase my faith, Lord; teach me to follow you and do your will...

How many needy hearts are yearning for your light, your grace, and your forgiveness! You long to hear everyone express a firm and simple faith like the centurion’s. When I repeat his words before receiving Holy Communion, let me speak them with a vibrant faith. And make me an instrument through which you can stir up faith in hardened hearts...

QUESTIONS FOR SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

1. What struck you most in this passage? What did you notice that you hadn’t noticed before?

2. Did Christ grant the centurion’s miracle for the same reasons the Jewish leaders used to persuade him to do so? If not, why did he grant it?

3. What practical things can we do to increase our faith?

4. How can we approach Holy Communion with more reverence and confidence? How can we help others do so as well?

Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 142-165 on the nature and necessity of faith; 547- 550 on the meaning of Christ’s miracles

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091625.cfm

173. LOVE CONQUERS DEATH (LK 7:11-17)

“He was indeed the true God and hence brought it about that the blind saw, the lame walked, the deaf heard, he cleansed those afflicted with leprosy, and by a simple command called the dead back to life.”

- St Gregory Agrigentinus

Luke 7:11-17

Now soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a great number of people. When he was near the gate of the town it happened that a dead man was being carried out for burial, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable number of the townspeople were with her. When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her. ‘Do not cry,’ he said. Then he went up and put his hand on the bier and the bearers stood still, and he said, ‘Young man, I tell you to get up.’ And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Everyone was filled with awe and praised God saying, ‘A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.’ And this opinion of him spread throughout Judaea and all over the countryside.

CHRIST THE LORD Jesus commands a dead man to rise, and he is obeyed. He shows that he is the Lord of life. And yet, when he commands us, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” or “Do not worry about tomorrow,” or “Follow me,” we resist. Does his Lordship work only on the dead? Hardly. Rather, he refuses to force his way into our hearts; he is Lord, but he is also Love. He makes his Lordship known, and then he invites us to fight under his banner – but there are no mercenaries in his army, only friends who serve the Lord of Love out of love for the Lord.

When he asks us something difficult, we should remember this passage. The same power which raised this dead man to life is at work in his commands to us. In baptism, this power floods our soul with grace through the words of the priest and the sign of water. In confession, this same power cleanses and renews our souls. Every word that Jesus speaks to us has the power to raise us up, to lift us into the kind of life we long to live.

CHRIST THE TEACHER The lesson is so simple that we may miss it: God cares. “Do not cry,” he tells the woman, as if to say, “I can’t bear to see you suffer. Let me help.” No one asked him to perform this miracle – not even his disciples, who should have. The same motive behind his journey from heaven to earth through the Incarnation moves him to comfort this lonely widow. And the same motive is behind everything else he did before that moment and everything he accomplished since then: he cares. Such a simple lesson – but one that’s so easy to forget!

Another more subtle lesson is hidden in this passage as well. The woman was a widow, like Jesus’ own mother, Mary. (Joseph had died, tradition tells us, before Jesus set out on his public ministry.) The woman had only one son, again like Mary. Mary too will watch her only son die and be buried. Jesus’ reaching out to this suffering woman reveals one of the most attractive characteristics of his Sacred Heart: his truly filial love for his Mother. How could Mary not have an entirely unique place in the perfect heart of the Redeemer? The Church’s ancient practice of invoking Mary’s intercession is, in this sense, an act of reverence made to Christ’s Incarnation: only because he shares completely our humanity does he have a mother in the first place, and because faithful sons honor and respect their mothers – all the more so when the son is a perfect King and the mother a wise and selfless Queen – Jesus gives Mary a throne at his side. And just as he couldn’t resist the heart’s desire of this weeping widow of Nain, how can he resist Mary’s heartfelt intercession on our behalf?

CHRIST THE FRIEND We never have to suffer alone. Some time before, the widow had lost her husband, and now she loses her only son; she certainly must have felt as alone as a person can feel, inconsolable in her grief even while surrounded by the crowd. Who can fathom the depths of a mother’s love? And yet, she found someone who shared her pain – Jesus. Not only did he perceive her moral agony, her utter loneliness, but he had compassion on her; he suffered with her (which is what the word compassion means). Because of this, he knew how to relieve her suffering; when he came over to her and placed her resurrected son’s hand in hers, she was no longer alone.

Sometimes we do feel like we are suffering alone – Christ seems far away; at least he doesn’t intervene so dramatically as he did in Nain. But indulging such feelings shows a lack of faith. This poor widow did not know about Calvary; she had never seen a crucifix. The only way Christ had to show her his compassion was to restore her son to life. But we have seen Calvary. We know to what depths God’s compassion has gone. And we can always go to the Tabernacle, where we find the Eucharist, the living memorial of Calvary – the revelation of God’s unfathomable compassion, his “suffering with” each and every one of us. Truly, we never have to suffer alone. And so, when we choose to do so anyway, we not only increase our own pain, but we double Christ’s as well, by turning a blind eye to his cross.

CHRIST IN MY LIFE Lord, I know I have to obey someone in life: either myself, with all my ignorance and limitations, or some other teacher or guru, or the shallow advice of popular culture (which only cares about turning me into a good consumer) – or you. I want to obey

you. I choose once again to follow you. Lord Jesus, I believe that you are the way, the truth, and the life...

I know that you are with me in every moment of my life, the good moments and the bad ones. You suffer with me, because you know that having to suffer alone would double my pain. Why do I insist on walking alone? Why do I insist on resisting your compassion and comfort and the soothing balm of your Church’s doctrine? Jesus, teach me to bear my cross with you...

Mary, you are my mother as well as Christ’s, because my baptism made me a child of God. Teach me to be like Jesus. Teach me to trust in him, to know his goodness and his power so deeply that I never doubt him – so that I never fall back into self-absorption and angry frustration. Teach me to be bold and faithful ambassador of his Kingdom. Queen of peace,pray for me...

QUESTIONS FOR SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

1. What struck you most in this passage? What did you notice that you hadn’t noticed before?

2. What evidence should there be in a Christian’s day-to-day life that says to other people around him: “God really does care”?

3. What can we do now to learn how to suffer as a Christian, uniting our sufferings to Christ’s on the cross, so as to be ready for bigger crosses that will come later?

4. Every committed Christian makes a definitive option to fight under Christ’s banner no matter how difficult the battle may get. What aspects of popular culture make it hard to stay true to that decision?

Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1-3, 27-30, 50-67 on how much God cares; 901, 1508, 556 on the role of trials and tribulations in the Christian life

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Wednesday of The 24th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091725.cfm

174. IT’S UP TO YOU (LK 7:18-35)

“For this reason the Word of God became man and the Son of God became the son of man, in order that man, being mingled with the Word of God and being granted adoption, should become the son of God.”

- St Irenaeus

Luke 7:18-35

The disciples of John gave him all this news, and John, summoning two of his disciples, sent them to the Lord to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or must we wait for someone else?’ When the men reached Jesus they said, ‘John the Baptist has sent us to you, to ask, Are you the one who is to come or have we to wait for someone else?’ It was just then that he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and of evil spirits, and gave the gift of sight

to many who were blind. Then he gave the messengers their answer, ‘Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see again, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the Good News is proclaimed to the poor and happy is the man who does not lose faith in me.’

When John’s messengers had gone he began to talk to the people about John, ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No? Then what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Oh no, those who go in for fine clothes and live luxuriously are to be found at court! Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet: he is the one of whom scripture says: See, I am going to send my messenger before you; he will prepare the way before you. ‘I tell you, of all the children born of women, there is no one greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he is.’ All the people who heard him, and the tax collectors too,acknowledged God’s plan by accepting baptism from John; but by refusing baptism from him the Pharisees and the lawyers had thwarted what God had in mind for them. ‘What description, then, can I find for the men of this generation? What are they like? They are like children shouting to one another while they sit in the market place: We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn’t dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn’t cry. ‘For John the Baptist comes, not eating bread, not drinking wine, and you say, He is possessed. The Son of Man comes, eating and drinking, and you say, Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet Wisdom has been proved right by all her children.’

CHRIST THE LORD John the Baptist has already recognized and acknowledged Jesus as the promised Messiah. But some of his disciples are still not convinced. Nothing John tells them can shake their doubt, so he sends them to ask Jesus directly, point blank, whether he is the Messiah. Jesus’ answer seems evasive; he doesn’t simply say, “Yes, I am.” In fact, however, the answer is much more convincing than such a direct statement would be.

St Luke has just described all the remarkable healings and exorcisms that Jesus was performing at this time. So Jesus invites John’s disciples to simply look around them and see the evidence: the prophets all announced that the Messianic era would be marked by giving the blind their sight, the deaf their hearing, the lame their health, the imprisoned freedom, and the dead new life (e.g., Isaiah 35:4-6, 61:1). These are the exact signs that Jesus is performing. Jesus lets his actions speak for themselves, and leaves it up to his questioners to accept or reject his claim. And he does the same thing today.

CHRIST THE TEACHER This passage teaches a harrowing lesson. St Luke points out that the sinners who believed in John the Baptist’s preaching have also come to believe in Christ; they have “acknowledged God’s plan” for salvation and for their own lives. As a result, God’s plan is unfolding itself for them. But the apparently pious and religious people, the Pharisees and scribes, “thwarted what God had in mind for them,” and so found themselves excluded from the Kingdom. Jesus himself gives a portrait of those resistant souls. They are like immature children who care only about satisfying their whims, regardless of how much God tries to accommodate them.

The lesson is clear, but so frightening that we can easily miss it: it is possible for a human person – for me – to thwart God’s purpose for my life. We can, by abusing our freedom through self-indulgence and arrogance, shut out God’s grace from our lives. When we live focused on our feelings, our petty desires, and our whims, we blind ourselves to God’s will(which always demands self-mastery and self-sacrifice), and we frustrate his glorious plan and beautiful hopes for us. The scariest part of this lesson, however, isn’t merely the fact of this possibility; it’s the fact that the Pharisees, who had fallen into just such a state, truly thought they were doing the right thing by rejecting John and Jesus. They were so full of self-importance that they were literally blinded to the truth. May God save us from such a tragedy!

CHRIST THE FRIEND Jesus explains that, although John was the greatest of prophets, “the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is.”

Jesus: This shows how much I want to give you. I not only want you to become citizens of my everlasting Kingdom, but I want to be your brother. I want you to dwell with me forever – not just as guests, but as members of my family; I came to make that possible. If you truly understand this generosity, this desire of my heart, you will begin to grasp how much I really love you. And knowing that will sets you free from your fears and from your self-imposed (and unnecessary) pressure to try and earn my love. It also equips you to love others on a whole new level, since you are able to give them something that has everlasting value – you are able to help them come into the Kingdom.

CHRIST IN MY LIFE All of history was leading up to your appearance, Lord, and now all of history points to your final victory. I believe in you, Lord; I believe you are the Messiah sent by God to atone for our sins and to teach us the way to go. I believe that you govern all things with your providential wisdom and love. I believe that you will come again. ThyKingdom come, thy will be done...

It scares me to think that I could become so self-absorbed as to be completely deaf to your voice. Never let me be separated from you, Lord. Many times your teaching and your will go against my whims and personal preferences, but these are just opportunities to show you that I love you and trust you. Hold me close to your side, Lord; keep me on the path of life...

Grant me, Lord, a clearer vision of your dream for my life. Sometimes I just don’t know what to do with all the yearnings that I find in my heart. But you put them all there. They have their true object in you and your Kingdom. Help me to live entirely for my true vocation, and help me help those I love find theirs...

QUESTIONS FOR SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

1. What struck you most in this passage? What did you notice that you hadn’t noticed before?

2. In what ways does popular culture encourage us to give first priority to our passing whims and fancies, like the immature children Jesus uses in his parable?

3. If you had to explain “the Kingdom of God” to a non-believing friend, how would you do it?

4. Jesus performed many signs that indicated he was the Messiah. Why do you think it was so hard for the John’s disciples to accept him?

Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 456-460 on why the Word became flesh, 436-440 on Jesus as the “Christ” or “Messiah”; 547-550, 560, 670, 1505 on the signs of the Kingdom of God

Thursday, September 18, 2025

Thursday of The 24th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/0091825.cfm

175. HUMBLE PIE (LK 7:36-50)

“There will be no defense left to you on the day of judgement, when you will be judged according to the sentence you passed on others and you will be dealt with as you have dealt with others.”

- St Cyprian

Luke 7:36-50

One of the Pharisees invited him to a meal. When he arrived at the Pharisee’s house and took his place at table, a woman came in, who had a bad name in the town. She had heard he was dining with the Pharisee and had brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment. She waited behind him at his feet, weeping, and her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them away with her hair; then she covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know who this woman is that is touching him and what a bad name she has.’ Then Jesus took him up and said, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Speak, Master’ was the reply. ‘There was once a creditor who had two men in his debt; one owed him five hundred denarii, the other fifty. They were unable to pay, so he pardoned them both. Which of them will love him more?’ ‘The one who was pardoned more, I suppose,’ answered Simon. Jesus said, ‘You are right’. Then he turned to the woman. ‘Simon,’ he said ‘you see this woman? I came into your house, and you poured no water over my feet, but she has poured out her tears over my feet and wiped them away with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she has been covering my feet with kisses ever since I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. For this reason I tell you that her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love. It is the man who is forgiven little who shows little love.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven’. Those who were with him at table began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this man, that he even forgives sins?’ But he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’

CHRIST THE LORD How did this woman enter the dining room? Sheepishly? If she were self-conscious, she wouldn’t have come at all. She must have swept into the room, searching the faces with an alarming intensity, until she saw Jesus. Then her eyes lit up, her frown relaxed into a smile, and she rushed to his feet. He had given her something she had

long been searching for. We don’t know how she had met him. Maybe she had only seen him from a distance and listened to his teaching. However it happened, the power of his grace had reached through the layers of self-protection that she had erected around her heart and touched her soul. She had finally found someone who truly knew her, who truly valued her the way she had yearned to be valued, and who wanted nothing from her except trust and friendship. She had been searching for her self – her true self, her true worth – all these years, in all the wrong places. Now Jesus had shown her the way.

Jesus also reveals himself in this encounter. He shows his full identity in response to this woman’s humble love and faith. No longer could people simply call him a great teacher, or a mighty prophet, or a wonderworker. No, he had publicly forgiven this woman’s sins, something that God alone can do. Now the die was definitively tossed: either Jesus was the divine Messiah, or he was a lunatic pretending to be God. There is no evidence at all for lunacy, so we must conclude that he is, indeed, the Lord.

How much confidence and peace this conviction would give to our souls if we would simply let it sink in! Jesus is the Lord. He is Lord of history, of life, of good, of circumstances, hopes, and obstacles. And he is my Lord. His Lordship is exercised on my behalf, for the sake of my salvation, to free me from my sins and set me on the path of true love and joy – a path so fulfilling that this fashionable and pleasure-loving woman wept for happiness when she found herself upon it.

CHRIST THE TEACHER Jesus teaches us how he wants to forgive our sins: through real words spoken with a real, audible voice: “Your sins are forgiven.” Just as this incomprehensibly mundane and human way of administering divine forgiveness shocked and scandalized Simon and his fellow Pharisees, so it continues to shock people today. If God has chosen to send his forgiveness through the tangible ministry of the sacrament of confession, he must have his reasons (and you can probably think of plenty). Of course, that doesn’t make it any easier to go to confession. The sinful woman was doubly shamed, having to lay bare her guilt and repentance not only to her Lord (whom she trusted), but to everyone there at the table with him. We can feel the same shame and humiliation when we have to honestly tell our sins to the priest in the confessional. But Jesus wants to give us that chance. He wants to make it possible for us to confess our sins and our repentance in a physical, tangible way – that’s why he became man in the first place. And he also wants us to be able to receive his forgiveness in a physical, tangible way. Christ’s final words, “Your sins are forgiven...Your faith has saved you, go in peace” are quoted almost verbatim in the sacrament of confession. And just as we can imagine how deeply pleased he was at this encounter, so is his heart filled with joy whenever we give him a chance to shower us with his love in the confessional.

One thing that often keeps us away from this precious sacrament is the same thing that kept Simon from understanding why Jesus let this woman bathe his feet: we think we don’t need God’s forgiveness. We belittle our sin and selfish tendencies; we trust in our own strength to keep us on track; we readily admit others’ weaknesses, but purposely ignoreour own. Regular and frequent confession is one the surest signs of spiritual growth – skipping it is usually an equally trustworthy sign of spiritual stagnation.

CHRIST THE FRIEND How gently Jesus rebukes and teaches Simon the Pharisee! He doesn’t yell or humiliate him; instead, he simply asks a couple of questions that quietly light up his conscience. And it had its effect. Many spiritual writers identify this Simon with the Simon who later threw a banquet for Jesus in Bethany just before his passion (it was common for the wealthy to have more than one house in Palestine). We know that by the time of the second banquet this Simon believed in Jesus and honored him. But even if the two Simons are different, the example of Christ’s eagerness to win souls over to his Kingdom and the sweet meekness of his manner remains. St Frances de Sales used to say that one drop of honey will attract more flies than a whole barrel of vinegar. Jesus is dripping honey all over the place in the Gospels – which shows that he is more concerned about our good than his own vanity (patience, gentleness, and mercy aren’t typical ways to assert one’s self-esteem).

This is how Jesus dealt with Simon, and this is how he deals with us. Just recall how he has acted in your life up to now – steadily, surely, but very gently and respectfully. And if he does so with us, showing himself to be a true friend, shouldn’t we do the same with the Simons we run across?

CHRIST IN MY LIFE You know I believe in you, but you also know how shaky my faith can be. Jesus, convince me of your wisdom, your nearness, your greatness. Help me to see your hand at work in all things. Pour your Holy Spirit upon me again, with his gifts of understanding and knowledge. My mind is so caked with the mud of this fallen world! Lord Jesus, be my light...

I don’t know why it’s still hard for me to go to confession. Shouldn’t I be used to it by now? I’m glad I’m not. I’m glad I feel humiliated at confessing my petty selfishness and tantrums of self-indulgence – I should feel humiliated by such things. And what better way to become humble than to exercise humility? Thank you, Lord for your wise and mysterious mercy...

Jesus, you told me to learn from you because you are meek and humble of heart. I want to be a faithful ambassador of your Kingdom. And that means reaching out to those around me with the same gentleness and humility that you always showed. But I need your grace to control my temper, my tendency to arrogance, and my impatience. Lord Jesus, help me...

QUESTIONS FOR SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

1. What struck you most in this passage? What did you notice that you hadn’t noticed before?

2. How do you think Christ feels when we make a good confession? How do you think he feels when we systematically avoid or put off confession?

3. What aspects of popular culture encourage us to be like the sinful woman (recognizing our sins and our need for God), and which aspects encourage us to be like Simon the Pharisee (oblivious of our sins and full of self-righteousness and arrogance)?

4. When Christ comes to us in Holy Communion, how can we better welcome him with the love and attention of the sinful woman instead of the cold aloofness of Simon the Pharisee?

Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1420-1484 on the sacrament of confession; 3, 863- 865 on the need God has of our collaboration to extend his Kingdom

Friday, September 19, 2025

Friday of The 24th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091925.cfm

176. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH GRACE (LK 8:1-15)

“Obedience is the backbone of faith.”

Luke 8:1-15

- St Thérèse of Lisieux

- St Francis of Paola

Now after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching, and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources.

With a large crowd gathering and people from every town finding their way to him, he used this parable: ‘A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell on the edge of the path and was trampled on; and the birds of the air ate it up. Some seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered away, having no moisture. Some seed fell amongst thorns and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell into rich soil and grew and produced its crop a hundredfold.’ Saying this he cried, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!’ His disciples asked him what this parable might mean, and he said, The mysteries of the kingdom of God are revealed to you; for the rest there are only parables, so that they may see but not perceive, listen but not understand ‘This, then, is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God. Those on the edge of the path are people who have heard it, and then the devil comes and carries away the word from their hearts in case they should believe and be saved. Those on the rock are people who, when they first hear it, welcome the word with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of trial they give up. As for the part that fell into thorns, this is people who have heard, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life and do not reach maturity. As for the part in the rich soil, this is people with a noble and generous heart who

have heard the word and take it to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance.

CHRIST THE LORD Jesus is humble. He has all knowledge and all power, and he wants to give us a share for our happiness and salvation, but he constantly shows an attentive respect for our freedom. The passage illustrates this characteristic respect in two ways.

First, St Luke has Jesus start using parables. A parable presents a truth in brilliant clarity, but leaves it up to the listener to apply that truth to his own life. Jesus wants us to do this, saying, “Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!” At the same time, he knows that many who hear him are so attached to their own ideas and way of living that they are not really looking for wisdom, and so they will not search the parable for how it applies to their lives – “They may see but not perceive, listen but not understand...” If Jesus had taught more directly, those who were eager to learn would have assimilated it less completely – because when we have to make an effort to understand, we learn more deeply – and those who were just hanging around to see the show would have been immediately turned off, losing even the small chance they had of getting hit by a stray spark of grace.

Second, the parable itself reveals God’s astonishing methodology of salvation. His grace is the seed, and our souls are the soil. Without the soil, the seed is completely useless. But without the seed, the soil is utterly barren. Each is made for each other. God’s grace cannot work in our lives unless we receive it with a “noble and generous heart,” unless we recognize our need for God, even if only in a vague and partial way, and seek his guidance. But no matter how intensely we may be seeking answers and wisdom and meaning, unless God intervenes with his grace, we will remain completely in the dark, like the barren blackness of a lifeless field.

How humble the Lord is to enter into an equal partnership with the very sinners who banished his grace from their souls!

CHRIST THE TEACHER God always supplies his grace. He always does his part in our spiritual lives. We can count on it. But we don’t always do our part. Our attitude towards God’s will determines the fate of his grace. If we are “noble and generous,” his grace will have plenty of room to fill our lives with the fruits of holiness and happiness. If we give upwhen God’s will requires us to persevere through tough times, his grace will wither. If we try to two-time God and the world, as if the cares and pleasures of life on earth were on an equal footing with our friendship with Christ, his grace will be sterile. Unless we make God’s will – especially as discerned in our conscience and through Church teaching – ourhighest priority, we aren’t really letting God be God, and so he can’t make our life what he created it to be.

But the parable has yet another lesson. The first obstacle to God’s grace appears to be the devil – represented by the birds that pick the seed up off the path.

Actually, however, the occasion that gives the devil a chance to get in there is, once again, due to the quality of the soil, the attitudes of our soul. The soil on the path is hardened. The seed can’t sink in. This is the superficial soul, the person who never takes time to reflect, to

pray, to think deeply, the person who lets himself be “distracted from distractions by distractions,” as T. S. Eliot put it. In a culture more and more dominated by information and mass media, this is perhaps the greatest danger of all. The constant flow of images, ideas, opinions, advertisements, chats, noise, music, entertainment, news, and everything else can, if we let it, create such a quantity of traffic in our minds that we become unable to savor truth, even on the off chance that we recognize it amidst the din. The same mind we use all day long, the one we fill with idle chatter and sensationalized news and everything else – that’s the same mind we bring to prayer. Unless we put a fence around what we attend to in our minds, unless we practice self-mastery and discipline in our thoughts, the graces God constantly sends us will bounce onto the top of the beaten track and sit there, easy pickings for the devil.

CHRIST THE FRIENDSusanna: Many things were different about Jesus. His words, his miracles, his presence.... But from the very first time I met him, what struck me most was how he treated women. He had no fear of us, and he put on no airs of superiority or false dignity. He treated us as equals. He knew us. He respected us. He let us help him and take care of him. With Jesus we were colleagues; we shared in his projects, in his work. And we were also friends, because we shared his needs. He depended on us. He chose to need us. In him, I learned that real friendship with God is possible. All distances collapsed. Much later, after he had risen from the dead and gone back to his Father, some of the disciples were frightened and, well, confused and hesitant. Mary told us then that we should be afraid of nothing; he left us with a mission, because he wanted to continue in our friendship. He left his Kingdom in our hands because he wanted to continue needing us. He gave us the most precious gift he could think of: he entrusted to us the task of leading others into eternal life. For Jesus, everyone mattered; everyone was worthy.

CHRIST IN MY LIFE I want to kneel down and thank you for being so patient with me. You want to save me, but not at the cost of obliterating my humanity. How wise you are, Lord! But how slow and distracted I am in response to your wisdom! Teach me, Jesus; I want to learn the secrets of your Kingdom. I have ears, and I want to hear you, but I need you to take me by the hand, every day...

Once and for all, Lord, I want to take control of how I use the mass media. My spiritual progress depends on it. Help me, guide me, teach me, somehow show me the way to make good use of these wonderful inventions, which you surely want to be put at the service of our good, but which are so easy to abuse. Give me the strength of will and mind to guard the soil of my heart...

Thank you for coming into my life. Lord, I think of the thousands, maybe millions, of people who don’t know you, who don’t know that they can be friends with God and sharers in your incomparable mission. Send messengers to bring them your truth and grace! Send me! I want to want what you want, to do what you want, to want what you do...

QUESTIONS FOR SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

1. What struck you most in this passage? What did you notice that you hadn’t noticed before?

2. We all have all three of the bad types of soil in our souls, but one of them predominates. How can we discover which one?

3. What tactics can we come up with to make good use of mass media in our lives, so we can make sure that the media culture doesn’t devour us?

4. Is there anything we can do for the people who really seem to have no interest at all in discovering transcendent meaning in life?

Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 683-686 on God’s action in our souls; 164 on temptations and difficulties on the path of faith; 412, 679, 1861 on the refusal and privation of grace; 2729-2733 on humble vigilance of heart

Saturday, September 20, 2025

Memorial of Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092025.cfm

176. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH GRACE (LK 8:1-15)

“Obedience is the backbone of faith.”

Luke 8:1-15

- St Thérèse of Lisieux

- St Francis of Paola

have heard the word and take it to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance.

How humble the Lord is to enter into an equal partnership with the very sinners who banished his grace from their souls!

CHRIST THE TEACHER God always supplies his grace. He always does his part in our spiritual lives. We can count on it. But we don’t always do our part. Our attitude towards God’s will determines the fate of his grace. If we are “noble and generous,” his grace will have plenty of room to fill our lives with the fruits of holiness and happiness. If we give up when God’s will requires us to persevere through tough times, his grace will wither. If we try to two-time God and the world, as if the cares and pleasures of life on earth were on an equal footing with our friendship with Christ, his grace will be sterile. Unless we make God’s will – especially as discerned in our conscience and through Church teaching – our highest priority, we aren’t really letting God be God, and so he can’t make our life what he created it to be.

But the parable has yet another lesson. The first obstacle to God’s grace appears to be the devil – represented by the birds that pick the seed up off the path.

QUESTIONS FOR SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

1. What struck you most in this passage? What did you notice that you hadn’t noticed before?

2. We all have all three of the bad types of soil in our souls, but one of them predominates. How can we discover which one?

3. What tactics can we come up with to make good use of mass media in our lives, so we can make sure that the media culture doesn’t devour us?

4. Is there anything we can do for the people who really seem to have no interest at all in discovering transcendent meaning in life?

24th Week of Ordinary Time - Week Day Readings

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