September 22, 2026
Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 450
Reading 1
Like a stream is the king’s heart in the hand of the LORD;
wherever it pleases him, he directs it.
All the ways of a man may be right in his own eyes,
but it is the LORD who proves hearts.
To do what is right and just
is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
Haughty eyes and a proud heart–
the tillage of the wicked is sin.
The plans of the diligent are sure of profit,
but all rash haste leads certainly to poverty.
Whoever makes a fortune by a lying tongue
is chasing a bubble over deadly snares.
The soul of the wicked man desires evil;
his neighbor finds no pity in his eyes.
When the arrogant man is punished, the simple are the wiser;
when the wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.
The just man appraises the house of the wicked:
there is one who brings down the wicked to ruin.
He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor
will himself also call and not be heard.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 119:1,
27, 30, 34, 35, 44
R. (35) Guide me, Lord, in the way of your commands.
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
R. Guide me, Lord, in the way of your commands.
Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds.
R. Guide me, Lord, in the way of your commands.
The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me.
R. Guide me, Lord, in the way of your commands.
Give me discernment, that I may observe your law
and keep it with all my heart.
R. Guide me, Lord, in the way of your commands.
Lead me in the path of your commands,
for in it I delight.
R. Guide me, Lord, in the way of your commands.
And I will keep your law continually,
forever and ever.
R. Guide me, Lord, in the way of your commands.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are those who hear the word of God
and observe it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him
but were unable to join him because of the crowd.
He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside
and they wish to see you.”
He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers
are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092226.cfm
Commentary on
Proverbs 21:1-6,10-13
We have today a set of two-line moral aphorisms which are
quite distinct from each other and with which we are not likely to quarrel.
However, whether they reflect the way we always behave is another question, so
we do need to read or listen to each statement carefully.
Today the writer tells us that everything is ultimately in
God’s hands. The heart of the greatest king is just like flowing water in the
hands of the Lord. He can direct it where he pleases. Great kings like
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and Cyrus of Persia might have seemed all-powerful
when compared to Israel, but before God they were impotent. They were merely
instruments in his hands. Whether we are dealing with the great suffering that
Nebuchadnezzar brought on Israel, or the liberations from the Babylonians which
came with Cyrus—in either case, for all their apparent power, they were only
doing God’s work.
It is not enough for a person’s external behaviour to seem
good. God will see and judge the inner intentions of the heart. In the true follower
of Christ there is no difference between his outward behaviour and his inward
intentions. As Paul writes to the Corinthians:
I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not
thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. (1 Cor 4:4)
And in the Letter to the Hebrews we read:
Indeed, the word of God is living and active and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints
from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
(Heb 4:12)
To act virtuously and in a spirit of true justice towards
others pleases God more than any sacrifice.
This is a theme which goes right through the Old Testament,
but is put with particular force in the prophets. Says the prophet Hosea, for
example:
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hos 6:6)
And from Micah:
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil? (Mic 6:7)
And there are powerful words from Jeremiah:
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your
burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. For in the day that I
brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or
command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave
them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; walk
only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.”
(Jer 7:21-23)
The Gospels will continue to emphasise this. For instance, in
the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:
So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you
remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift
there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister,
and then come and offer your gift.
(Matt 5:23-24)
For us it means that regular attendance in church and at
Mass by itself is not enough unless it is accompanied by a daily life that
gives real witness in word and action to the loving demands of the gospel. Arrogance
and pride, which result in trampling on the dignity and rights of others, can
only be seen as belonging to sin. The ‘hardworking’ man reflects on the value
of what he does and is a winner in the long run. The one who rushes to gain
wealth and material success for himself ends up the loser.
Similarly, to make a fortune through lying and deceit is
tantamount to seeking death rather than life. As our society becomes more
prosperous and people have more, paradoxically the level of dishonesty also
grows at all levels of society. Even some who have more than they could
possibly spend will commit massive fraud to get even more. We may not be
in that league, but we might profitably ask: How honest are we in the use of
our material resources?
The mocker ends up being punished by his own arrogance and
the dead end he chose to follow. The formerly ignorant can learn from this. The
wise person, however, is always ready to learn more from those who can teach
him.
Finally, a very serious warning for all of us: if we close
our ears to the cry of the poor and the needy, we cannot expect to have our own
cries for help responded to either. Again, as our society grows richer, there
are still many—far too many—who are shut off from sharing in that prosperity.
Ironically, growing prosperity for some all too often exists with growing
poverty for others.
In Luke’s Gospel we remember the parable of the rich man and
the poor man, Lazarus, whom he totally neglected (Luke 16:19-31). And we know
of the unmerciful servant who had a huge debt forgiven by his master, but then
had a fellow-servant thrown into jail for not paying back a paltry amount (Matt
18:23-35). And we pray the words:
Forgive us our sins, AS we forgive those who sin against
us.
How much of what we have gained over the years has been
shared with those who have not gained or even lost? The fact that what they
have lost may have been largely through their own mistakes does not lessen
their need for help. The term ‘deserving poor’ cannot be found anywhere in the
Gospels. As has been said, “God loves the poor, not because they are good, but
because they are poor.” Each of these sayings can stand by itself, but together
they build up a picture of the kind of person each one of us is called to be.
Commentary on Luke
8:19-21
The mother and brothers of Jesus come looking for him, but
they cannot get to him because of the crush of people in the house where he is
speaking. Jesus was in Capernaum at the time and Nazareth was about 50 km (30
miles) away. The mention of ‘brothers’ would commonly indicate cousins and not
just siblings. When the message is passed in to Jesus, he says to all:
My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of
God and do it.
The story is told in harsher terms in Mark. He has Jesus
say, for instance:
Who are my mother and my brothers? (Mark 3:33)
It is suggested there that their purpose was to take him
away. On the one hand, they thought he was mad and an embarrassment to the
family and, on the other hand, that he might get them into trouble with the
authorities because of the provocative things he was saying and doing such as
questioning traditional interpretations of the Law. We see a similar
embarrassment on the part of the parents of the man born blind in John’s
Gospel. They refuse to speak to the authorities about their son:
Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself. (John
9:21)
Luke’s account is softer and just focuses on the saying of
Jesus. In fact, Luke has taken this passage out of its context in Mark
(3:31-35) and turned it into a conclusion to his short section on the parables.
In doing so, he modifies Mark’s statement:
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and
mother. (Mark 3:35)
This is done to match the end of Luke’s parable of the
sower:
But as for that [i.e. the seed which fell] in the
good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an
honest and good heart and bear fruit with endurance. (Luke 8:15)
Luke has Jesus say:
My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of
God and do it. (Luke 8:21)
To a society which regarded itself as God’s chosen people
merely by birth and an external ritual like circumcision, Jesus asserts that
belonging to God has little to do with blood or race, but only with the
relationship one establishes with God.
There is a lot of meaning in the words of the message:
Your mother and your brothers are standing outside…
It was clear from their behaviour that they were not, like
the seed falling on fertile soil, ‘hearing’ him and so they were outsiders.
Those who really ‘hear’, no matter who they are or where they come from, are
‘insiders’ and belong to the family of Jesus.
Of course, we know from elsewhere, especially in Luke’s
Gospel, that Mary is not being condemned here. In fact, this is where her
greatness really lies. Clearly it partly lies in her being chosen to be the
mother of God’s Son. But perhaps it lies even more in her saying ‘Yes’ (“…let
it be with me according to your word”), in her unswerving faithfulness to that
‘Yes’ and in her standing by her Son to the very end when all the rest had
fled.
When, on another occasion, she was indirectly praised for
being the mother of such a Son, Jesus had spoken in words very similar to
today:
Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and
obey it! (Luke 11:28)
Our discipleship, too, is not determined by our being born
into a Catholic family or just by being baptised or by observing the external
requirements of our religion, but by our total commitment to the gospel and to
an unconditional following of Jesus. Only then can we truly be said to be his
brother or sister.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary
Tuesday, September 22,
2026
Opening Prayer
Father, guide us, as You guide
creation according to Your law of love.
May we love one another and come
to perfection in the eternal life prepared for us.
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: 19-21
The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were
unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, "Your mother and
your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you." He said to
them in reply, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of
God and act on it."
Reflection
The Gospel today presents the
episode in which the relatives of Jesus and His mother want to speak with Him,
but Jesus does not pay attention to them. Jesus had problems with His family.
Sometimes the family helps one to live the Gospel and to participate in the
community. Other times, the family prevents this. This is what happened to
Jesus and this is what happens to us.
•
Luke 8: 19-20: The family looks for Jesus. The
relatives reach the house where Jesus was staying.They had probably come from
Nazareth. From there to Capernaum the distance is about 40 kilometers. His
mother was with them. They probably did not enter because there were many
people, but they sent somebody to tell Him: “Your mother and Your brothers are
outside and want to see You.” According to the Gospel of Mark, the relatives do
not want to see Jesus, they want to take Him back home (Mk 3: 32). They thought
that Jesus had lost His head (Mk 3: 21). They were afraid, because according to
what history says, the Romans watched very closely all that He did, in one way
or other, with the people (cf. Ac 5: 36-39). In Nazareth, up on the mountains
He would have been safer than in Capernaum.
•
Luke 8: 21: The response of Jesus. The reaction
of Jesus is clear: “My mother and My brothers are those who listen to the Word
of God and put it into practice.” In Mark the reaction of Jesus is more
concrete. Mark says: Looking around at those who were sitting there He said:
“Look, My mother and My brothers! Anyone who does the will of God, he is My
brother, sister and mother (Mk 3: 34-35). Jesus extends His family! He does not
permit the family to draw Him away from the mission: neither the family (Jn 7:
3-6), nor Peter (Mk 8: 33), nor the disciples (Mk 1: 36-38), nor Herod (Lk 13:
32), nor anybody else (Jn 10:
18).
•
It is the Word of God which creates a new family
around Jesus: “My mother and My brothers are those who listen to the Word of
God, and put it into practice.” A good commentary on this episode is what the
Gospel of John says in the Prologue: “He was in the world that had come into
being through Him and the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own and
His own people did not accept Him.” But to those who did accept Him He gave
them power to become children of God: to those who believed in His name, who
were born not from human stock or human desire, or human will, but from God
Himself. And the Word became flesh, He lived among us; and we saw His glory,
the glory that He has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace
and truth. (Jn 1: 10-14). The family, the relatives, do not understand Jesus
(Jn 7: 3-5; Mk 3: 21), they do not form part of the new family. Only those who
receive the Word, that is, who believe in Jesus, form part of the new family.
These are born of God and form part of God’s Family.
•
The situation of the family at the time of
Jesus. In the time of Jesus, the political social and economic moment or the
religious ideology, everything conspired in favor of weakening the central values
of the clan, of the community. The concern for the problems of the family
prevented persons from being united in the community. Rather, in order that the
Kingdom of God could manifest itself anew, in the community life of the people,
persons had to go beyond, to pass the narrow limits of the small family and
open themselves to the large family, toward the community. Jesus gives the
example. When His own family tried to take hold of Him, Jesus reacted and
extended the family (Mk 3: 33-35). He created the community.
•
The brothers and the sisters of Jesus. The
expression “brothers and sisters of Jesus” causes much polemics among Catholics
and Protestants. Basing themselves on this and on other texts, the Protestants
say that Jesus had more brothers and sisters and that Mary had more sons! The
Catholics say that Mary did not have other sons. What should we think about
this? In the first place, both positions: that of the Catholics as well as that
of the Protestants, start from the arguments drawn from the bible and from the
traditions of their respective Churches. Because of this, it is not convenient
to discuss on this question with only intellectual arguments. Because here it
is a question of the convictions that they have and which have to do with faith
and sentiments. The intellectual argument alone does not succeed in changing a
conviction of the heart! Rather, it irritates and draws away! And even if I do
not agree with the opinion of the other person, I must respect it. In the
second place, instead of discussing texts, both we Catholics, and the
Protestants, should unite together to fight in defense of life, created by God,
a life totally disfigured by poverty, injustice, by the lack of faith. We
should recall some phrase of Jesus: “I have come so that they may have life and
life in abundance” (Jn 10: 10). “So that all may be one so that the world will
believe that it was You who sent Me” (Jn 17: 21). “Do not prevent them! Anyone
who is not against us is for us” (Mk 9: 39, 40).
Personal Questions
•
Does your family help or make it difficult for
you to participate in the Christian community?
•
How do you assume your commitment in the
Christian community without prejudice for the family or for the community?
Concluding Prayer
Teach me, Yahweh, the way of Your will, and I will observe it.
Give me understanding and I will observe Your Law, and keep it
wholeheartedly. (Ps 119: 33-34)
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