September 19, 2025
Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 447
Reading 1
Beloved:
Teach and urge these things.
Whoever teaches something different
and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the religious teaching
is conceited, understanding nothing,
and has a morbid disposition for arguments and verbal disputes.
From these come envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions,
and mutual friction among people with corrupted minds,
who are deprived of the truth,
supposing religion to be a means of gain.
Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world,
just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it.
If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that.
Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap
and into many foolish and harmful desires,
which plunge them into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is the root of all evils,
and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith
and have pierced themselves with many pains.
But you, man of God, avoid all this.
Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion,
faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
Compete well for the faith.
Lay hold of eternal life,
to which you were called when you made the noble confession
in the presence of many witnesses.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm
49:6-7, 8-10, 17-18, 19-20
R. Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven
is theirs!
Why should I fear in evil days
when my wicked ensnarers ring me round?
They trust in their wealth;
the abundance of their riches is their boast.
R. Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Yet in no way can a man redeem himself,
or pay his own ransom to God;
Too high is the price to redeem one's life; he would never have enough
to remain alive always and not see destruction.
R. Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Fear not when a man grows rich,
when the wealth of his house becomes great,
For when he dies, he shall take none of it;
his wealth shall not follow him down.
R. Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Though in his lifetime he counted himself blessed,
"They will praise you for doing well for yourself,"
He shall join the circle of his forebears
who shall never more see light.
R. Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another,
preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Accompanying him were the Twelve
and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities,
Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza,
Susanna, and many others
who provided for them out of their resources.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091925.cfm
Commentary on 1
Timothy 6:2-12
We come now to the last chapter of this letter. Having told
Timothy what he should concentrate on in his teaching, Paul warns him against
those who do not follow the “sound words” of Jesus, i.e. teachings which are in
accordance with true religion. Paul says that such people are “conceited,
understanding nothing”. They have a weakness for questioning everything and
love to argue about words. They have an obsession with polemics and controversy
for its own sake.
We still meet such people in our Church today. They do
absolutely nothing to help the cause of Christ and the building of the Kingdom.
As Paul says, they simply create:
…envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and
wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth,
imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
They claim to be the sole possessors of the truth and can
even find fault with the Pope’s orthodoxy, as well as certainly believing that
the Second Vatican Council and its developments are anathema.
The only result of this kind of behaviour is jealousy,
incessant arguing, verbal abuse and a deep sense of mistrust. It ends up in
unending disputes by people with depraved minds and deprived of the truth, who
even see religion as a means of personal gain. They did receive the true
message, but have wandered far from it. They also regard Paul’s teaching with
contempt because he does not ask for money. There are still quite a number of
people around who see religion as a good way to make money. What kind of
religion it is—well, that’s another question.
Paul says that religion does bring large profits but,
paradoxically, only to those who are satisfied with what they have:
Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with
contentment…
In other words the profits in question touch the growth of
the interior person and not their material advancement. The really rich are
those whose needs are the least in the areas of possessions, power and status.
This leads Paul to recommend living our lives with just what
we basically need. As he says:
…for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can
take nothing out of it, but if we have food and clothing, we will be content
with these.
As they say, you can’t take it with you. And even the having
of it in this life can be a source of endless anxiety.
Those who hanker after material wealth are prey to all kinds
of problems; they get trapped into all sorts of foolish and harmful ambitions,
which plunge people into ruin and destruction. Paul then quotes a contemporary
proverb:
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…
Who are the really rich? One thinks of St Teresa of Calcutta
(Mother Teresa) or Paul himself and many other saints and holy men and women of
all religions. And, of course, of Jesus himself, who just had the clothes on
his back and “nowhere to lay his head”. None of these people were poor in the
sense of being deprived. They had everything they needed and much more.
There is no doubt that a great deal of the world’s problems
and its miseries arise out of material greed, or out of the determination to
hold on to wealth, power and prestige. Most of the world’s international
tensions arise from this, causing endless misery to millions. Some call it
‘national security’, but it really concerns the security of the ‘haves’, not to
mention the ‘have lots‘.
Even some Christians, Paul says, have abandoned the Way of
the Gospel because of their desires for wealth, power and status as:
…in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away
from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
But as someone called by God to special service, Timothy is
urged to keep away from all this. Instead he is to aim to:
…pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance,
gentleness.
Paul also tells him to:
Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the
eternal life to which you were called and for which you made the good
confession in the presence of many witnesses.
When did Timothy make this “good confession” of faith?
Perhaps he did so at his baptism or when hands were laid on him for his
ministry.
What Paul urges for Timothy are the really precious things,
and they are the things which really enrich our lives and the lives of others
as well. They are ‘other-centred’, while greed and acquisitiveness are aimed
only at oneself. Even some kinds of religions can be seen as primarily for the
self. Paul is urging Timothy to keep the long view concerning:
…the eternal life to which you were called and for which
you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
In other words, to hold to that to which he committed
himself.
It is for us today to look at our own lives. Does our
following of Christ lead us to the qualities mentioned above or does it make us
belligerent and divisive? Or are we trying to combine the best of both worlds,
trying to be Christians and people of the world at the same time? Are we trying
to put a coating of religion on a life that is really no different from what
most of the world is living? What does our lifestyle say about us? What message
does it convey to others?
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Commentary on Luke
8:1-3
This passage follows immediately from yesterday’s about the
sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee. It is one of those summary
passages describing in general terms the work of Jesus.
He is accompanied by the chosen Twelve, his cooperators in
the preaching of the Word and the establishing of the Kingdom. And it is
precisely the Good News (the Gospel) about the Kingdom that they are preaching
in word and demonstrating in practice.
What is noteworthy here—and it is unique to Luke—is the
mention of many women also travelling in the company of Jesus. Some of them
were women who had been healed of evil spirits. One is mentioned by name:
Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone
out…
The number seven is not to be taken literally, but indicates
she had formerly been in a seriously immoral state. Mary of Magdala appears
very prominently in John’s Gospel as someone very close to Jesus and he
describes her as the first witness of the Resurrection. It is possible, too,
that the “sinful woman” in the house of Simon the Pharisee was also in the
group.
Some of the other women seem to be of more ample means and
higher social rank. One of them was Joanna, the wife of King Herod’s steward.
They helped Jesus and his disciples with their material needs. Once again, Jesus
is not embarrassed to travel in the company of these women; nor are they
uncomfortable in his.
We see here two roles being played by followers of Jesus. On
the one hand are the Apostles whose function it is to proclaim the gospel and
establish the Kingdom by word and deed, by preaching and by the example of the
communal and shared life they are leading.
The other role is that of Jesus’ disciples, who are
materially better off and who support the work of proclaiming the gospel by
providing for the material and other needs of the evangelisers. Both roles are
complementary and both, taken together, form the evangelising work of the
Church.
A good example in our time are the Sisters of St Teresa of
Calcutta (Missionaries of Charity), who would never be able to take care of the
destitute dying without the generous help of many benefactors. And the same
statement applies for many other voluntary groups involved in looking after the
disadvantaged.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1246g/
Friday,
September 19, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Almighty God, our creator and guide, may we serve you
with all our hearts and know your forgiveness in our lives. We ask this through
our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 8: 1-3
Now it happened that Jesus 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 many others who provided for them out of their own
resources.
Reflection
In today’s Gospel we have the continuation of
yesterday’s episode which spoke about the surprising attitude of Jesus with
regard to women, when he defends the woman, who was known in the town as a
sinner, against the criticism of the Pharisee. Now at the beginning of chapter
8, Luke describes Jesus who goes through the villages and towns of Galilee and
the novelty is that he was not only accompanied by the disciples, but also by
the women disciples.
•
Luke 8: 1: The Twelve who follow Jesus. In one
phrase alone, Luke describes the situation: Jesus goes through towns and
villages preaching and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God and the
Twelve are with him. The expression “to follow Jesus” (cf. Mk 1: 18; 15: 41) indicates
the condition of the disciple who follows the Master, twenty-four hours a day,
trying to imitate his example and to participate in his destiny.
•
Luke 8: 2-3: The women follow Jesus. What
surprises is that at the side of the men there are also women “together with
Jesus.” Luke places both the men and the women disciples at the same level
because all of them follow Jesus. Luke has also kept some of the names of some
of these women disciples: Mary Magdalene, born in the town of Magdala. She had
been cured, and delivered from seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, steward
of Herod Antipa, who was Governor of Galilee; Suzanne and several others. It is
said that they “served Jesus with their own goods” Jesus allows a group of
women “to follow” him (Lk 8: 2-3; 23: 49; Mk 15: 41). The Gospel of Mark when
speaking about the women at the moment of Jesus’ death says: “There were some
women who were observing at a distance and among them Mary of Magdala, Mary,
the mother of James the younger and Joset, and Salome, who followed him and
served him when he was still in Galilee, and many others who had gone up with
him to Jerusalem (Mk 15: 40-41). Mark defines their attitude with three words:
to follow, to serve, to go up to Jerusalem. The first Christians did not draw
up a list of these women disciples who followed Jesus as they had done with the
twelve disciples. But in the pages of the Gospel of Luke the name of seven of
these women disciples are mentioned: Mary Magdalene, Jeanna, wife of Chuza,
Suzanne (Lk 8: 3), Martha and Mary (Lk 10: 38), Mary, the mother of James (Lk
24: 10) and Anna, the prophetess (Lk 2: 36), who was eighty-four years old.
Number eighty-four is seven times twelve: the perfect age! The later
Ecclesiastical tradition does not value this fact about the discipleship of
women with the same importance with which it values the following of Jesus on
the part of men. It is a sin!
The Gospel of Luke has always been considered as the Gospel of
women. In fact, Luke is the Evangelist who presents the largest number of
episodes in which he underlines the relationship of Jesus with the women, and
the novelty is not only in the presence of the women around Jesus, but also
and, above all, in the attitude of Jesus in relation to them. Jesus touches
them and allows them to touch him without fear of being contaminated (Lk 7: 39;
8: 44-45, 54). This was different from the teachers of that time, Jesus accepts
women who follow him and who are his disciples (Lk 8: 2-3; 10: 39). The
liberating force of God, which acts in Jesus, allows women to raise and to
assume their dignity (Lk 13: 13). Jesus is sensitive to the suffering of the
widow and is in solidarity with her sorrow (Lk 7: 13). The work of the woman
who prepares the meal is considered by Jesus like a sign of the Kingdom (Lk 13:
20-21). The insistent widow who struggles for her rights is considered the
model of prayer (Lk 18: 1-8), and the poor widow who shares the little that she
has with others is the model of dedication and donation (Lk 21: 1-4). At a time
when the witness of women is not accepted as something valid, Jesus accepts
women and considers them witnesses of his death (Lk 23: 49), of his burial (Lk
22: 55-56) and of his resurrection (Lk 24: 1-11, 2224).
Personal Questions
•
How is woman considered in your community, in
your country, in your Church?
•
Compare the attitude of our Church with the
attitude of Jesus.
Concluding Prayer
God, examine me and know my heart, test me and know my
concerns.
Make sure that I am not on my way to ruin, and guide me on
the road of eternity. (Ps 139: 23-24)
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