Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection September 10, 2026
Thursday – 23rd Week in Ordinary Time
10th September 2026 (Thursday)
Psalter: Week 3
Here are the Catholic Mass readings and a daily Gospel reflection for Thursday, September 10, 2026. Paul says knowledge puffs up but love builds up, and Jesus commands us to love our enemies.
Catholic Mass Readings
Readings of the Day
First Reading:1 Corinthians 8:1b-7, 11-13
Brethren: “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
Psalm 139:1-3, 13-14ab, 23-24 (R. 24b)
R/. Lead me, Lord, in the way everlasting.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Luke 6:27-38
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
Thursday – 23rd Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Gospel Reflection
Main Point: Before Jesus ever commands us to love our enemies, He does it Himself. From the Cross He forgives the very people killing Him. His command is an invitation to stand inside a love He has already shown us.
1. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. We hear these words and something in us pulls back. We think of the person who betrayed us, the relative who will not speak to us, the colleague who lied, and the command feels beyond us.
2. So it helps to remember that Jesus did this before He asked it of us. On the Cross, with the nails already driven, He prayed for the men killing Him. Father, forgive them. He was not teaching a theory about enemies. He was loving His own, and asking His Father to spare them.
3. And He did it for us. While we were still turned against God, still indifferent, still choosing our own way, Christ died for us. We were not His friends when He gave His life. We were the enemies He was loving. That is the love the command comes from.
4. This changes what He is asking. He is not telling us to invent a love that does not exist and force it toward someone we cannot stand. He is telling us to let the love He has poured over us reach the person we would rather forget. We give from what we have received.
5. We should be honest that this is slow and often fails. We forgive on Monday and find the anger back on Tuesday. We pray for the person and still feel the old sting. This is not proof that grace has failed. It is what it looks like to be healed slowly, over years, of a wound that went deep.
6. And we must be honest about the hard cases. To love an enemy does not mean pretending the wrong never happened, or walking back into the reach of someone who keeps harming us. Love can desire another person’s good, and pray for them, from a safe distance. Forgiveness frees the heart. It does not require us to stand again in danger.
7. Paul warns that knowledge puffs up, while love builds up. We can be proud of being the wronged party, of knowing we are in the right. Jesus is not asking us to win that argument. He is asking us to let ourselves be loved by Him so deeply that His mercy begins, slowly, to leak out of us toward the ones we find hardest to love.
My Practice: Do not try to force love for your enemy by willpower today. Instead go to the Cross, where Christ was already loving you while you were far from Him, and stay there a while. Let His love reach you first, and pray for that person’s name from inside it.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, from the Cross You forgave the men who were killing You, and You gave Your life for us while we were still turned away from You. We were the enemies You loved first. We cannot manufacture love for the people who have wounded us; we have tried, and failed. So let us stay near Your Cross until Your love reaches us, and then let it move outward, slowly, toward the ones we would rather forget. Where a person is dangerous to us, give us wisdom to love from a distance. Do in us what we cannot do alone, and be patient with how slowly we heal. Amen.
Question to Reflect Today
- Who is hardest for you to love, and instead of forcing the feeling, can you spend time before the Cross where Christ first loved you, and let His love do the work?
Thank You 🙏🙏🙏
Tags: Daily Mass Reflection, Ordinary Time, Gospel of Luke, Catholic Mass Readings, September 2026
