Gospel: September 11, 2025
September 11, 2025 (Thursday)
23rd Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 3 / (Green)
Ps 150:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
1st Reading: Colossians 3:12-17
Gospel: Luke 6:27-38
But I say to you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who treat you badly. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek; from the one who takes your coat, do not keep back your shirt. Give to the one who asks, and if anyone has taken something from you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have others do to you. If you love only those who love you, what kind of grace is yours? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do favors to those who are good to you, what kind of grace is yours? Even sinners do the same.
If you lend only when you expect to receive, what kind of grace is yours? For sinners also lend to sinners, expecting to receive something in return. But love your enemies and do good to them, and lend when there is nothing to expect in return. Then will your reward be great, and you will be sons and daughters of the Most High. For he is kind toward the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Don’t be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back.”
Reflection:
“Charity is the root of all other virtues.”
“Above all, clothe yourselves with love.” These beautiful words of Saint Paul remind us that love binds everything together, just as hatred pulls them apart. We live disjointed lives when we are lacking in love, since our thoughts and emotions pull us in different directions as we seek to please ourselves first before considering the needs of others. Even truth or justice without love become blunt instruments and can end up hurting rather than helping another person. Without love we are separated from others and disjointed in ourselves.
Saint Thomas Aquinas says that charity is the root of all other virtues, as all our virtuous acts draw strength and sustenance from the root that is charity. Thus, without charity our good actions wither. His image reminds us that the root must also be connected to a source of nourishment. And so, our love is sustained by our connection to God’s love, just as a tree by a stream will flourish and bear fruit in due season (Ps 1:3). Saint Bernard of Clairvaux reminds us that without a constant connection to God’s love we will become cynical, and our charitable activities will be done merely out of selfish or ambitious motives.
