22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
03rd September 2023 (Sunday) Readings and Reflection
Psalter: Week 2
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-9
O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughing-stock all the day; everyone mocks me. For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9 (R. see 2ab)
R/. For you my soul is thirsting, O Lord, my God.
Second Reading: Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Alleluia
V/. Alleluia R/. Alleluia
V/. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we may know what is the hope to which he has called us.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel : Matthew 16:21-27
At that time: Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Highlight: No greater treasure than Wisdom!
Guidlines: Divine wisdom is better and preferable than mere human intelligence. Discernment is more important than mere knowledge{alertSuccess}
1. Our whole life is a constant process of choices, discerning among many choices and opting for the right choice. The quality of this discernment for the right choice determines the quality of life and action. Today, despite all the intelligence and competence and all the affluence and abundance, why do people continue to make wrong choices in life?
2. The reason for this is the lack of wisdom. Many lack the wisdom to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, true and false, the praiseworthy and the blameworthy, the shallow pleasures and profound joys, the passing gratifications and the lasting contentment.
3. In the light of today's readings, this wisdom is to discern between worldly gain and the loss of one's own soul, to choose to be conformed to God and not to the world. That is why we are faced with the straight question from Jesus: "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but forfeit his soul?" Or, the urge from Paul to conform oneself to God and His holy will and pleasure.
4. But, how to have such wisdom? How to obtain it? It comes only from loving God passionately and clinging to him intensely and following him assiduously, come what may. For many, Wisdom is an intellectual capacity or a mental calibre. But it is not. It is a renewed mode of being, it is a transformed way of living, it is putting on God's own perspective and walking judiciously in God's way.
5. As seen in Jeremiah in the first reading, this is that fire of the heart that sets the whole person on fire to work for God and his holy ways despite all the adversities and afflictions. In the words of Jesus, this wise mode of living implies discarding all the false self, renouncing all self-interests, shouldering the cross of virtue and suffering patiently, and walking in his footsteps courageously and joyfully.
6. Life changes when choices change. Choices change to be qualitative when the criteria for choices change from earth-bound to heaven-bound, from the material to the spiritual and integral. In other words, our perspectives, our horizons, our realms of thinking, judging, deciding and doing must change. This will be a shift from mere human capacity to the sagacity of God, from intelligence to transparency to God's Spirit, from competence to obedience to God's will.
7. It is a contrast living: to detach from the self in contrast to a world which is inseparably clung to it; to carry the cross, to bear the pain and suffering for God and good, in contrast to a world that tries to shun any discomfort and inconvenience; further, it is to follow the Lord in his footsteps steadily and loyally in contrast to a world that stumbles and wavers in walking the Lord's way.
8. When will God's light dawn on the human spirit that is so much darkened by the shades of self? When will wisdom and discernment become the guiding criteria in the place of intelligence and knowledge?
9. When will people realise that it is foolishness to gain the whole world but forfeit one's soul? When will people understand that the more they are conformed to the world, they are only deformed, but they will be transformed when they are conformed to the Lord?
Practice: Man claims to be so bright and brilliant making the right judgment and choice. But is it not folly to settle for a lesser gain at the cost of higher losses?{alertSuccess}