Mass Reading: Sunday - 14th September 2025

First reading

Numbers 21:4-9

If anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked up at the bronze serpent and lived

    On the way through the wilderness the people lost patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’

    At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.

The word of the Lord.

________

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 77(78):1-2,34-38

Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

Give heed, my people, to my teaching;

    turn your ear to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable

    and reveal hidden lessons of the past.

Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

When he slew them then they would seek him,

    return and seek him in earnest.

They would remember that God was their rock,

    God the Most High their redeemer.

Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

But the words they spoke were mere flattery;

    they lied to him with their lips.

For their hearts were not truly with him;

    they were not faithful to his covenant.

Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

Yet he who is full of compassion

    forgave them their sin and spared them.

So often he held back his anger

    when he might have stirred up his rage.

Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

________

Second reading

Philippians 2:6-11

Christ humbled himself but God raised him high

His state was divine,

yet Christ Jesus did not cling

to his equality with God

but emptied himself

to assume the condition of a slave

and became as men are;

and being as all men are,

he was humbler yet,

even to accepting death,

death on a cross.

But God raised him high

and gave him the name

which is above all other names

so that all beings

in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld,

should bend the knee at the name of Jesus

and that every tongue should acclaim

Jesus Christ as Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

The word of the Lord.

________

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

We adore you, O Christ, 

and we bless you;

because by your cross 

you have redeemed the world.

Alleluia!

________

Gospel

John 3:13-17

God sent his Son so that through him the world might be saved

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

‘No one has gone up to heaven

except the one who came down from heaven,

the Son of Man who is in heaven;

and the Son of Man must be lifted up

as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,

so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost

but may have eternal life.

For God sent his Son into the world

not to condemn the world,

but so that through him the world might be saved.’

The Gospel of the Lord.

Mass Reflection: Sunday - 14th September 2025

 

NM 21: 4B-9; PS 78: 1BC-2, 34-38; PHIL 2: 6-11; JN 3:13-17

On this Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we celebrate the Holy Cross as the instrument of our salvation. Multiple times in scripture, a reference is made to Jesus having been “hung on a tree.” This reference to the Cross as a tree has a much deeper meaning for us. The Cross became a life-giving tree for us, and it turned around Adam’s original sin when he ate of the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The Cross is so central to our beliefs.

The readings for this Feast each have a strong relationship to our appreciation of and our understanding of the meaning of the Cross. The first reading is from the Book of Numbers. Numbers is the fourth Book in our Old Testament (also the fourth book of what is called the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament). It derives its name from the historical fact that it involves two censuses taken of the Israelites during their time in the wilderness, one at the beginning of the trek and one at the end. This passage from Numbers 21 describes how the people are discouraged, and they literally speak out against God. One of the hallmarks of stewardship is trust in God, faith in the Lord, our hope in salvation through Jesus Christ. Like the Israelites, we may at times become discouraged, but we must always focus on the fact that God is there for us always, that He watches over us, and that He is our strength.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians, our second reading, presents Jesus as the ultimate example of humility. As much as we may resist it, humility is another key characteristic of a stewardship way of life. From His humble beginnings in a manger to the humiliation of death on the Cross, Jesus bore humility like none other. His example of humility is a standard for each of us as we approach living as a steward. St. Paul makes reference to some of Jesus’ humiliations, but it is well for us to keep in mind all the ways the Lord might have approached living among us, but He chose the more humble approach consistently, represented by His birth, the fact that he came as a baby, not as a grown adult; His willingness to be a child beholden to His parents; His humble way of teaching and addressing people; His humble approach to life in general, becoming a carpenter, a basic and useful trade; but most of all His humble acceptance of death on the Cross with all of the agony and sacrifice associated with that.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16) That scriptural statement, considered by many to be the central and climactic point of John’s entire Gospel, is so full of consequence to us as Catholics and Christians that we could almost analyze it in detail phrase by phrase. Let us just examine the opening phrase, “For God so loved the world…” We tend to filter our own understandings through the many ways a word is used and what it may mean to us. The word “love” certainly falls into that category. The love described here, the love that God feels for us, that He felt for His Son, and that was returned to Him by His Son, is a love almost beyond our comprehension. It is a complete love, shared with all and felt for all, believers and non-believers. There is no way that we can match or equal that love. It is a love beyond our ability to feel, but that is exactly what we are called to strive toward. Another word for stewardship is quite simply “love” — unconditional and total.

Mass Reading: Sunday - 07th September 2025

First reading
Wisdom 9:13-18
Who can divine the will of God?

What man indeed can know the intentions of God?

Who can divine the will of the Lord?

The reasonings of mortals are unsure
and our intentions unstable;

for a perishable body presses down the soul,
and this tent of clay weighs down the teeming mind.

It is hard enough for us to work out what is on earth,
laborious to know what lies within our reach;
who, then, can discover what is in the heavens?

As for your intention, who could have learnt it, had you not granted dom and sent your holy spirit from above?

Thus have the paths of those on earth been straightened
and men been taught what pleases you,
and saved, by Wisdom.

The word of the Lord.

________

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 89(90):3-6,12-14,17

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

You turn men back to dust
    and say: ‘Go back, sons of men.’
To your eyes a thousand years
    are like yesterday, come and gone,
    no more than a watch in the night.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

You sweep men away like a dream,
    like the grass which springs up in the morning.
In the morning it springs up and flowers:
    by evening it withers and fades.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

Make us know the shortness of our life
    that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?
    Show pity to your servants.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

In the morning, fill us with your love;
    we shall exult and rejoice all our days.
Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:
    give success to the work of our hands.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

________

Second reading
Philemon 9-10,12-17
He is a slave no longer, but a dear brother in the Lord

    This is Paul writing, an old man now and, what is more, still a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for a child of mine, whose father I became while wearing these chains: I mean Onesimus. I am sending him back to you, and with him – I could say – a part of my own self. I should have liked to keep him with me; he could have been a substitute for you, to help me while I am in the chains that the Good News has brought me. However, I did not want to do anything without your consent; it would have been forcing your act of kindness, which should be spontaneous. I know you have been deprived of Onesimus for a time, but it was only so that you could have him back for ever, not as a slave any more, but something much better than a slave, a dear brother; especially dear to me, but how much more to you, as a blood-brother as well as a brother in the Lord. So if all that we have in common means anything to you, welcome him as you would me.

The word of the Lord.

________

Gospel Acclamation
Jn15:15

Alleluia, alleluia!

I call you friends, says the Lord,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.

Alleluia!

Or:
Ps118:135

Alleluia, alleluia!

Let your face shine on your servant;
and teach me your decrees.

Alleluia!

________

Gospel
Luke 14:25-33
Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple

    Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

    ‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, “Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish.” Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who advanced against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.’

The Gospel of the Lord.

 

Mass Reflection: Sunday - 07th September 2025

 

WIS 9:13-18B; PS 90:3-6,12-14, 17; PHMN 9-10, 12-17; LK 14:25-33

Today’s readings make very clear the demands that will be made of those wanting to be called disciples of Christ. We must be prepared to give our all to Him. But in the end, the life of discipleship — the stewardship way of life — is the only life that can truly satisfy.

Our First Reading, from the ancient book of Wisdom, prepares us for the challenging teaching that will follow in today’s Gospel passage. “Who can know God’s counsel or who can conceive what the Lord intends? For the deliberations of mortals are timid… the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.”

Weighed down by financial woes, relationship stress, illness — all the concerns of modern life (and apparently, ancient life, too) — how can we possibly concern ourselves with anything more than these immediate needs? Our human “earthly” instincts limit our ability to think with an eternal perspective. But, a few verses later, we are told that God has sent His Holy Spirit from on high to assist us. “And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.” Relying on the Holy Spirit, we can live indeed live for higher goals despite all the challenges of daily life.

But this way of life will not be easy, and our Lord, knowing well our human nature, must prepare us for the challenge. In the Gospel passage from Luke, Christ is very straightforward about the cost of living for the higher aims of discipleship. “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.” Our Lord is speaking here not of emotions, but rather of priorities. He must come first in all aspects of our lives. Period.

He goes on to say, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” In other words, it’s all or nothing. Compromise is simply not possible. Christ wants us to give all of ourselves, all aspects of our individual lives, our family life, our parish, over to Him and to the pursuit of His kingdom.

To further this point, Christ shares two parables. The first is about a builder who wants to construct a tower. Christ says that before beginning, the builder must sit down and consider the cost to see if he has what is needed to complete the project. The second parable is of a king facing a potential battle. Again, Christ says he must first consider if he has sufficient troops for success before he goes off headlong into battle. Discipleship will cost us, and we must be prepared to give it our all.

And just when we think our Lord might soften His message to make it a little more palatable, He goes further! “Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” Why is our Lord being so demanding? Only because He knows us so well and loves us so much.

He knows that if we do not live with great intentionality — putting Him first before all else — we will easily be swallowed up by the earthly cares that weigh us down — our material things, our status, and our egos. He knows that these things cannot satisfy us. He knows this because He is our Maker, and He made us for more.


We are made to be His disciples, to seek after Him and His Kingdom. Embracing stewardship as a way of life allows us to count the cost and then run after Him with all our might.