Gospel: August 24, 2025

August 24, 2025 (Sunday)

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Psalter: Week 1 / (Green)

Ps 117:1, 2

Go out to all the world and tell the good news.

1st Reading: Isaiah 66:18-21

2nd Reading: Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13

Gospel: Luke 13:22-30

Jesus went through towns and villages teaching, and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, is it true that few people will be saved?” And Jesus answered, “Do your best to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has gone inside and locked the door, you will stand outside. Then you will knock at the door, calling, ‘Lord, open to us!’ But he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets!’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know where you come from. Away from me, all you workers of evil.’ You will weep and grind your teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves left outside. Others will sit at table in the kingdom of God, people coming from east and west, from north and south. Some who are among the last, will be first; and some who are among the first, will be last!”

Lectio Divina:

“Do your best to enter by the narrow door.”

Read: Isaiah prophesies the gathering of the nations in praise of the Lord. The Letter to the Hebrews teaches us the importance of correction in our Christian life and Jesus preaches that those of the nations who will gather in heaven will enter by the narrow door.

See Also

Leyte’s cardaba finally gets sold as province’s bananas

Reflect: When I was a toddler, one of my favorite toys was a globe into which you had to fit different shapes. No matter how hard you tried, the round shape wouldn’t go into the square hole and the yellow triangle wouldn’t go into the oval space. We might think of today’s Gospel in a similar fashion, “Do your best to enter by the narrow door.” Jesus wants us to take on the right shape for heaven, and that shape is Christ’s. Our lives are to be configured to that of Christ so that our will is united to his. This means that we have to accept correction and be willing to change so that we can grow more like Christ in our thoughts, words and deeds. To accept that you were wrong takes the strength of humility.

Pray: Let’s pray for the willingness to be refashioned by Christ and the patience needed to undergo the process.

Act: Resolve to take on a simple penance as an expression of your self-offering to Christ.