September 25, 2026
Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 453
Reading 1
There is an appointed time for everything,
and a time for every thing under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them;
a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.
What advantage has the worker from his toil?
I have considered the task that God has appointed
for the sons of men to be busied about.
He has made everything appropriate to its time,
and has put the timeless into their hearts,
without man’s ever discovering,
from beginning to end, the work which God has done.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
my mercy and my fortress,
my stronghold, my deliverer,
My shield, in whom I trust.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
LORD, what is man, that you notice him;
the son of man, that you take thought of him?
Man is like a breath;
his days, like a passing shadow.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Son of Man came to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Once when Jesus was praying in solitude,
and the disciples were with him,
he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah;
still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”
Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”
He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092526.cfm
Commentary on
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
Today we have a well-known passage which has even become the
lyrics of a popular song sung by numerous recording artists since the early
1960s. It is part of a longer passage whose overall theme is death—the
inevitable end of every life. Life here is presented as equally divided between
things which bring pleasure and sadness, comfort and pain. Each has its own
‘time’ slot, so to speak, and we have little control over one or the other.
Our occupations—some bringing joy, others pain—are
overshadowed by the inevitable end in death. Death casts its shadow on life,
which is a series of contradictory acts, some of them listed here, but all end
in the meaninglessness of death. We are subject to times and changes over which
we have little or no control. Only one thing remains supreme—the all-knowing
and all-loving God. We are totally in his hands, and the sooner we realise
that, the happier we will be.
At the end of the passage from Ecclesiastes, the Teacher
says that, although we can try to see meaning in individual events as they
unfold, we can be mistaken and the overall direction of the world is totally
beyond us. God’s plan is simply too big for us to grasp:
He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover,
he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find
out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
God’s beautiful, but tantalising world is too big for us,
yet its satisfactions are too small. Since we were made for eternity, the
things bounded by time cannot fully and permanently satisfy.
The New Testament keeps reminding us that:
…we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city
that is to come. (Heb 13:14)
We are but pilgrims passing through; we have no permanence
in this world. The important goal is not to be reached here, because it does
not and cannot exist. The ultimate goal is beyond this life.
Commentary on Luke
9:18-22
After the incident concerning Herod, which as we saw is a
pointer to things yet to happen, the disciples return from their mission. What
follows is omitted from our readings. In fact, Jesus took them to a quiet place
where they could rest and reflect on what they had been doing. However, they
were pursued by the ever-hungry crowds and Jesus fed them with the Word of God,
with his healing and finally through his disciples, with bread and
fish, saying:
You give them something to eat.
The story is another step in the Twelve’s involvement in the
mission of Jesus, and it leads into today’s reading.
In this reading, we find Jesus praying alone. As we have
already seen, it is something that Luke mentions a number of times about Jesus,
especially before significant events in his public life. Some people might
wonder what Jesus would have to pray about. Such a question may reveal a rather
limited idea of prayer, e.g. as something you do when you want to get something
from God or when you are depressed or in trouble of some kind.
But prayer is ultimately getting in touch with God and that
is something that Jesus would surely want to do quite a lot. Prayer is also a
way of discovering just where God’s will enters one’s life, and that is
something that was always of supreme importance to Jesus because:
The Father and I are one. (John 10:30)
Jesus, we are told, was not altogether alone. His disciples
were with him. Were they praying too? Later, they will ask Jesus to teach them
how to pray.
All of this is Luke’s introduction to a high point in all
the Synoptics: the revelation of Jesus’ true identity. From the other Synoptics
we know that it took place at Caesarea Philippi, a mixed Jewish-Gentile region
outside Herod’s territory.
Jesus asks them:
Who do the crowds say that I am?
They give various answers: John the Baptist (resurrected) or
Elijah, expected to return to announce the imminent coming of the Messiah, or
some other of the earlier great prophets.
But then he asks:
But who do you say that I am?
Peter, answering for all of them, replies simply:
The Messiah of God.
Some translations of the Bible use the Greek word Christos,
Christ. ‘Christ’ is not a name, but a title meaning ‘annointed one’. It is the
equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah. The anointing refers to someone
who is king and, in this case, the One who is anointed the Saviour King of
Israel.
In short, Peter is saying that the man standing before him
is the long-awaited Saviour of the Jewish people. It is a dramatic development
in Jesus’ relationship with his disciples.
Jesus’ next words at first sight seem unexpected and
contradictory. He strictly orders his disciples not to say anything of this to
anyone. Surely they should be doing the exact opposite? But the people are not
yet ready for this revelation. They have a very limited and preconceived idea
of what the coming of the Messiah will mean. They see him in very political
terms as a kind of national liberator who will drive out and destroy the Romans
and all enemies of the Jewish people, and restore the past glories of Israel.
Even after the Resurrection, Luke has Jesus’ own disciples
asking him:
Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom
to Israel? (Acts 1:6)
Their ideas, even at this late date, are no different from
the ordinary people’s. At this point in the Gospel, they must be secretly proud
that they, of all people, are the first to be privileged with this information.
If that was the case, they were very quickly to be
disillusioned. Almost immediately Jesus goes on to say that:
The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be
rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed and on the
third day be raised.
This is the first time in Luke that Jesus refers to himself
as “the Son of Man”. It occurs eighty-one times in the four Gospels and is only
used by Jesus of himself. In the book of Daniel (7:13-14) we see the ‘Son of
Man’ pictured as a heavenly figure who is entrusted by God with authority,
glory and sovereign power. Jesus’ use of the title in a Messianic sense is made
clear by its close proximity to Peter’s declaration of Jesus as the Christ or
Messiah.
We know from Matthew and Mark that the disciples—in
particular Peter—were dumbfounded when they heard Jesus’ words and wanted to
reject them entirely. It was totally against all their expectations of the
Messiah, apart from the fact that they could not bear to have those things
happen to their Master.
To them, it simply did not make any sense. First, Jesus as
Messiah was going to be rejected and handed over by the leaders of their own
people. Second, he was going to go through a terrible and humiliating death.
His being “raised” on the third day—whatever that meant—did little to alleviate
their confusion.
But as Mark indicates, this was a further step in their
relationship with Jesus. They now recognised him as the Messiah, but next they
had to learn just what kind of Messiah he was going to be, and how he was going
to liberate not only his own people, but people all over the world.
We, too, of course, have to keep going through the same
process. We, too, have to deepen our understanding of the true identity of
Jesus. We have to be able to understand how the suffering and dying Messiah is
not only the way he needed to go to reconcile us with God, but that we too have
to be ready to go the same way. We have to learn to see the redemptive and
healing power in the pains, sufferings, disappointments and failures of our
lives.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary
Friday,
September 25, 2026
Ordinary Time
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 9: 18-22
Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the
disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I
am?" They said in reply, "John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still
others, 'One of the ancient prophets has arisen.'" Then he said to them,
"But who do you say that I am?" Peter said in reply, "The Christ
of God." He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. He
said, "The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders,
the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be
raised."
Reflection
The Gospel today follows the same theme as that of yesterday:
the opinion of the people on Jesus. Yesterday, beginning with Herod, today it
is Jesus who asks what do people think, and the Apostles respond giving the
same opinion which was given yesterday. Immediately follows the first
announcement of the Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus.
•
Luke 9: 18: The question of Jesus after His
prayer. “One day, while Jesus was praying alone, His disciples came to Him and
He put this question to them: “Who do the crowds say I am?” In Luke’s Gospel,
on several important and decisive occasions, Jesus is presented in prayer: in His
Baptism when He assumes His mission (Lk 3: 21); in the 40 days in the desert,
when He overcame the temptations presented by the devil Lk 4: 1-13); the night
before choosing the twelve apostles (Lk 6: 12); in the Transfiguration, when
with Moses and Elijah, He spoke about His passion in Jerusalem (Lk 9: 29); in
the Garden when He suffers His agony (Lk 22: 39-46); on the Cross, when He asks
pardon for the soldiers (Lk 23: 34) and when He commits His spirit to God (Lk
23: 46).
•
Luke 9: 19: The people’s opinion of Jesus. “They
answered, “For some, John the
Baptist;
others Elijah, but others think that You are one of the ancient prophets who
has risen from the dead.” Like Herod, many thought that John the Baptist had
risen in Jesus. It was a common belief that the prophet Elijah had to return
(Mt 17: 10-13; Mk 9: 11-12; Mal 3: 23-24; Sir 48: 10-12). All nourished the
hope of the coming of the prophet promised by Moses (Dt 18: 15). This was an
insufficient response.
•
Luke 9: 20: Jesus’ question to the disciples.
After having heard the opinion of others, Jesus asks, “And you, who do you say
I am?” Peter answers, “The Messiah of God!” Peter recognizes that Jesus is the
one whom the people are waiting for and that He comes to fulfill the promise.
Luke omits the reaction of Peter, who tries to dissuade Jesus to follow the way
of the cross and omits also the harsh criticism of Jesus to Peter (Mk 8: 32-33;
Mt 16: 22-23).
•
Luke 9: 21: The prohibition to reveal that Jesus
is the Messiah of God. “Then Jesus gave them strict orders and charged them not
to say this to anyone.” It was forbidden to them to reveal to the people that
Jesus is the Messiah of God. Why does Jesus prohibit this? At that time, as we
have already seen, everybody was expecting the coming of the Messiah, but each
one in his own way: some expected a king, others a priest, others a doctor, a
warrior, a judge or a prophet! Nobody seemed to expect the Messiah Servant,
announced by Isaiah (Isa 42: 1-9). Anyone who insists in maintaining Peter’s
idea, that is, of a glorious Messiah, without the cross, understands nothing
and will never be able to assume the attitude of a true disciple. He will
continue to be blind, exchanging people for trees (cf. Mk 8: 24). Because
without the cross it is impossible to understand who Jesus is and what it means
to follow Jesus. Because of this, Jesus insists again on the Cross and makes
the second announcement of His passion, death and resurrection.
•
Luke 9: 22: The second announcement of the
Passion. Jesus adds, “The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be
rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death,
and to be raised up on the third day.” The full understanding of the following
of Jesus is not obtained through theoretical instruction, but through practical
commitment, walking together with Him along the road of service, from Galilee
up to Jerusalem. The road of the following is the road of the gift of self, of
abandonment, of service, of availability, of acceptance of conflict, knowing
that there will be a resurrection. The cross is not an accident on the way; it
forms part of our way. This because, in the organized world starting from
egoism, love and service can exist only if they are crucified! Anyone who makes
of his life a service to others disturbs those who live attached to privileges
and suffers.
Personal Questions
•
We all believe in Jesus. But there are some who
understand Him in one way and others in another way. Today, what is the more
common Jesus in the way people think?
•
How does propaganda interfere in my way of
seeing Jesus? What do I do so as not to allow myself to be drawn into the
propaganda? What prevents us today from recognizing and assuming the plan of
Jesus?
Concluding Prayer
Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my
fingers for battle, my faithful love, my bastion, my citadel, my Savior; I
shelter behind Him. (Ps 144: 1-2)
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