GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Sunday - September 04, 2022

Sunday - September 04, 2022

"There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship." 

- St. Thomas Aquinas

September 4, 2022

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 129

 

Reading 1                                                     Wis 9:13-18b

 

Who can know God’s counsel,

 or who can conceive what the LORD intends?

 For the deliberations of mortals are timid,

 and unsure are our plans.

 For the corruptible body burdens the soul

 and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.

 And scarce do we guess the things on earth,

 and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;

 but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?

 Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom

 and sent your holy spirit from on high?

 And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17

 

R. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

 

You turn man back to dust,

saying, “Return, O children of men.”

For a thousand years in your sight

 are as yesterday, now that it is past,

or as a watch of the night.

R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

You make an end of them in their sleep;

 the next morning they are like the changing grass,

Which at dawn springs up anew,

 but by evening wilts and fades.

R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Teach us to number our days aright,

 that we may gain wisdom of heart.

Return, O LORD! How long?

Have pity on your servants!

R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,

 that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.

And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;

 prosper the work of our hands for us!

Prosper the work of our hands!

R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Reading II                                                                 Phmn 9-10, 12-17

 

I, Paul, an old man,

and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,

urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,

whose father I have become in my imprisonment;

I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.

I should have liked to retain him for myself,

so that he might serve me on your behalf

in my imprisonment for the gospel,

but I did not want to do anything without your consent,

so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.

Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,

that you might have him back forever,

no longer as a slave

but more than a slave, a brother,

beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,

as a man and in the Lord.

So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.

 

Alleluia                                                                      Ps 119:135

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Let your face shine upon your servant;

and teach me your laws.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Lk 14:25-33

 

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,

and he turned and addressed them,

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,

wife and children, brothers and sisters,

and even his own life,

he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me

cannot be my disciple.

Which of you wishing to construct a tower

does not first sit down and calculate the cost

to see if there is enough for its completion?

Otherwise, after laying the foundation

and finding himself unable to finish the work

the onlookers should laugh at him and say,

‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’

Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down

and decide whether with ten thousand troops

he can successfully oppose another king

advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?

But if not, while he is still far away,

he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.

In the same way,

anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions

cannot be my disciple.”

 

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Total Surrender

Are you prepared for all that the Lord wants of you?  This short rhetorical question above is Jesus’ way of saying that you ought to be prepared.  If you were to build a tower you would hopefully be prudent enough to plan ahead, making sure you had enough resources for its completion.  So it is with the spiritual life.  It is essential that we make sure we have all the resources we need to make the choice to follow Christ.

This raises the question, “What resources do I need to follow Christ?”  The answer is simple.  Jesus says at the end of this Gospel, “In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).  In other words, if we want to have all that we need to fulfill the will of God in our lives, we must surrender everything to God.

Being a disciple of Christ is not something we can do halfheartedly, even though there are many who attempt this.  When we choose to follow Him, it must be wholehearted.  We must be “all in,” so to speak.  Otherwise, we will never be able to accomplish all that our Lord asks of us.  He is a demanding God in the sense that He wants everything from us.  But this demand on the part of our Lord is completely for our own good.  We need to give Him everything if we want happiness and fulfillment in life.

Reflect, today, upon how ready and willing you are to give every last part of your life to Christ.  Are you willing to say “Yes” to Him no matter what?  Are you willing to hold nothing back and “renounce all your possessions” if He were to ask?  You may possess many things, and even though our Lord may not call you to give up all possessions in a literal and physical way, you must still surrender everything you have and everything you are to Him.  Only then can He give you what you need to accomplish His most glorious will.

Lord, my life is Yours.  Please give me the grace to surrender everything that makes up my life to You without reserve.  I surrender to You my life, my finances, my possessions, my family, my labors and my entire future.  All is Yours, dear Lord.  Do with me what You will.  Jesus, I trust in You.

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God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”