August 31, 2026 Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time Gospel: Lk 4:16-30
Today is Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time. The reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke presents to us Jesus’ return to Nazareth and His actions in the synagogue of His hometown. Let us reflect on this.
Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. According to His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me; He has sent me to bring good news to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to release the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (cf. Lk 4:16-20). After reading, He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
In the time of Jesus, every Sabbath, the Jews would come to the synagogue to listen to the Word of God and to hear the Rabbi’s interpretation of the sacred readings. Usually, a grown man would read from the Torah and the Prophets of the Old Testament, followed by a homily given by a priest.
From the passage of the Prophet Isaiah that Jesus chose to read, we see that the Messiah would proclaim the Word of God to four categories of people: the lowly, the brokenhearted, the captives, and the prisoners. Those who are lowly are not merely those of humble status, but also those who are excluded and marginalized for various reasons. Those who are brokenhearted are not merely those who feel distressed or pained by the trivial matters of secular life, but rather those whose sins cause grief to the Holy Spirit dwelling within their hearts. Those who are captives are not merely those captured by enemy forces on the battlefield, but more importantly, those whose souls have been captured by the devil due to human weakness. Those who are prisoners are not merely those who have lost their freedom by violating human laws, but more importantly, those who, because of sin, have lost the freedom of their souls and can no longer draw near to God.
Today, by receiving the Baptism of Christ and the Anointing of the Holy Spirit, we have become children of God. We are likewise called to proclaim the Word of God to those who are marginalized and to the vulnerable. We are also called to admonish those brothers and sisters whose hearts are hardened, so that they may no longer live in what they perceive as God’s world, but rather live in the world of God as Jesus proclaimed it.
God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, you may nurture in us what is good and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
August 30, 2026 Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel: Mt 16:21-27
Today is the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Beginning this week, the Gospel readings at daily Mass will be taken from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke, which means that the theme of the Gospel will revolve around Jesus’ teachings concerning the end times. Today’s Gospel, taken from the holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew, presents to us a dialogue between Jesus and Peter after Jesus’ first prediction of His Passion and Resurrection. Let us reflect on this.
In our lives, we often choose, according to our own preferences, to live in a world built up by material things, so much so that our understanding of God is based on those who, like us, are created by God in His own image. When those whom we regard as a safe harbor are about to leave us, we, based on our weak flesh, are tempted to act as Peter did (cf. Mt 16:22-23). For what we think about belongs to this world; that is to say, we wish to share in the glory obtained in this world by those we consider our safe harbor, so that, because of all they have done for us, we may enjoy all the worldly splendor. I believe this was the mindset Peter had when he rebuked Jesus, because, like the Jews of his time, he hoped that Jesus would lead them to defeat the Roman Empire and restore Israel.
In fact, the world we now live in is passing away. As the Ecclesiastes says: “Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity.” (cf. Eccl 1:2). Even we ourselves, on account of original sin, after living in this valley of tears for a while, will return to dust. We often exhaust all the wisdom we possess, wanting to live a few more days in this world; in doing so, we regard ourselves according to human ways of thinking. Today, Jesus invites us no longer to view ourselves according to the worldly view of life, but rather according to the view of life in God’s world, as He has proclaimed it. The view of life He speaks of is this: to nail the life that brings about the death of sin to the Cross with Him, and through receiving His Baptism, to begin living as true children of God, and to bring this way of life, through concrete living and action, to this world which is destined to pass away.
God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, you may nurture in us what is good and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
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