September 3, 2026 Memorial of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church Gospel: Lk 5:1-11
Today is Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time. Today, the Church celebrates the Memorial of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church. The recently published Roman Missal tells us: Saint Gregory the Great (540-604) belonged to a Roman patrician family and served as a magistrate before embracing the monastic life. He acted as Papal Legate at Constantinople and was elected Pope in 590. He tightened Church discipline and liturgical practice, reorganized the lands belonging to the Holy See, and sent Saint Augustine to convert the Kingdom of Kent. He is consequently called the “Apostle of the English,” and, thanks to his theological and pastoral writings, is a Doctor of the Church.
Today’s Scripture, taken from the Holy Gospel according to Luke, presents to us the scene of Jesus calling His first disciples. Let us try to understand it.
First, Saint Luke tells us: “While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.” (Lk 5:1)
The crowds who had heard Jesus teach in the synagogue of Judea regarded Him as a celebrity, a Messiah they had long awaited. Therefore, they pressed in on Him, wanting to hear the word of God from Jesus. Today, such phenomena frequently occur in our own churches. We often idolize certain priests who are particularly gifted in preaching or in theology and philosophy. Sometimes, we also look upon our Diocesan Bishops as idols. In our eyes, they are representatives of Christ. However, they are still ordinary people just like us; they are chosen by God to shepherd us. If our focus is merely on their outward appearance, then we are no different from those who pressed in on Jesus, for what they focused on was merely superficial, rather than the words spoken by Jesus Himself.
Next, a scene that deeply moved me appears: “He saw two boats there at the water’s edge. The fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.” (Lk 5:2-3) Unlike the actions of the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus took the initiative to choose Simon, and from Simon’s boat, He proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom to those on the shore.
Another deeply moving scene is the dialogue between Jesus and Peter, and the narrative of Peter obeying Jesus’ command to “put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” (Lk 5:4-11) This reminds me of the reflections of two former Popes. When speaking of “putting out into deep water and lowering your nets,” Saint Pope John Paul II said: “These words… invite us to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm, and to look to the future with confidence.” (cf. Novo Millennio Ineunte, Apostolic Letter, n. 1). Pope Benedict XVI, in his Letter to the Catholics of China, also quoted these words to encourage Chinese Catholics. The Pope said: “The Church is also called to be a witness to Christ, looking to the future with hope, and considering the new challenges facing the Chinese nation when proclaiming the Gospel.” (cf. Letter to the Catholics of China, n. 3). However, in my view, these words of Jesus are an invitation to us. He invites us to leave our former way of life, to cast aside our burdens, to follow the holy will of God’s word, and to always be prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of God’s word.
Today, by faith, and through the reception of Baptism in Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we are called to be children of God. Due to human weakness, we are often timid. Because of this timidity, we may also ask Jesus to leave us. But Jesus asks us to leave the environments we each consider safe and comfortable, to trust in Him always, and to act according to His holy will. He is always with us, He always works with us, to save all those caught in the snares of the world, freeing them from this world that leads to ruin and destruction, and from the trials of the devil and his agents. Having experienced the love God bears for them, may they resolve, like Peter, James, and John, to bravely leave everything behind and follow Christ.
On this Memorial of Pope Saint Gregory, the Great, let us unite our hearts and minds and offer our prayers to God:
O God, who care for your people with gentleness and rule them in love, through the intercession of Pope Saint Gregory, endow, we pray, with a spirit of wisdom those to whom you have given authority to govern, that the flourishing of a holy flock may become the eternal joy of the shepherds. 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.
September 2, 2026 Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time Gospel: Lk 4:38-44
Today is Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time. The passage from the Holy Gospel according to Luke continues to present to us Jesus’ deeds in Capernaum. I would like to select two scenes that deeply moved me for this meditation.
First scene: After Jesus left the synagogue, He entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they interceded with Jesus for her. He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She immediately got up and began to serve them (cf. Lk 4:38-39).
When participating in Sunday Mass, we often overlook our brothers and sisters who, due to illness, cannot join us in the celebration. Like Simon’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a high fever (cf. Lk 4:38), they are in urgent need of our help, our prayers, and our bringing Jesus to them. Today, in response to their plea, Jesus comes to the side of Simon’s mother-in-law (cf. Lk 4:39). Likewise, when we pray to Him, He is always by our side, always ready, so that when we ask Him, He may immediately provide the help we urgently need.
Second scene: At sunset, all those who had sick people with various serious diseases brought them to Him. He laid His hands on each of them and healed them. Demons also came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But He rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that He was the Christ (cf. Lk 4:40-41).
Having witnessed the miracle Jesus performed in Simon’s house, the crowd regarded Him as a man possessing extraordinary power. Therefore, they brought those suffering from incurable diseases to Jesus, hoping that He would heal them as well. Jesus laid His hands on them, allowing them to experience God’s merciful love, and set free those who were oppressed by demons.
Today, through the reception of Baptism and the Anointing of the Holy Spirit, we have become children of the Heavenly Father. We have the duty and obligation to bring those who are afflicted by demons and illnesses to Jesus, so that He may also heal their diseases, free them from all forms of bondage, and, by God’s mercy, attain salvation.
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
September 1, 2026 Tuesday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time Gospel: Matthew 14:1–12
Today is Tuesday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time. The passage taken from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke presents to us the event of Jesus driving out an unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum. I wish to take this opportunity to offer some reflections.
First, let us come to know the city of Capernaum. What sort of city was Capernaum? It was a city in Galilee, situated by the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum was also called the city of ease and comfort, because the Jews living there were accustomed to living according to a pagan worldview. This was evidently a place that readily received the new world proclaimed by Jesus. And yet, the people of this city were astonished at His words, because Jesus did not speak of the Kingdom of God in the manner of the Pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests, and the elders of the people. He did not proclaim, as they did, a God who deals harshly with others. The Kingdom of God that He proclaimed is a world filled with righteousness and compassion. The God of whom He spoke is not a God who loves only those who offer Him sacrifice and withholds His grace from those who do not; rather, He is a God full of mercy. He loves not only those who obey His holy will, but also those who refuse to do His will.
Next, Luke tells us that in the synagogue of that place there was a man possessed by an unclean spirit (cf. Luke 4:33–35). In this man possessed by an unclean spirit, we can see our own likeness. When we left our mother’s womb and came into this world, we were already held captive by the unclean spirit, for we were then stained by original sin. Sin makes us unfree; it plunges us into suffering and stirs up within us a resistance against God. And yet Jesus does not distance Himself from us because we are stained by original sin. Rather, in the temple and at every moment of our lives, He stands ever ready to save us and to free us from the bonds of the unclean spirit.
Today, Jesus rebukes the devil with the authority of the Son of God and with words charged with power. In doing so, He not only manifests His identity as the Son of God, but also tells us in a profound way: He condemns all that destroys the human person, whom He has made in His own image and likeness, so that we may no longer live under the heavy weight of sin and death, but may live within His holy love — for He loves us, and for our sake He gave up His very life.
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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