Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection August 28, 2025
Thursday – 21st Week in Ordinary Time
28th August 2025 (Thursday)
Psalter: Week 1
Readings of the Day
First Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:7-13
Brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith? Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Psalm 90:3-5a, 12-13, 14 and 17 R. (14)
R/. Fill us with your merciful love, O Lord, and we shall exult
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Stay awake, be ready; the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Matthew 24:42-51
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, Stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Thursday – 21st Week in Ordinary Time
Main Point: This life is a transit. The kingdom of heaven is our destination. The spirit of a responsible servant is our travel requirement. We are called to be watchful and faithful
1. There is so much uncertainty and unpredictability in our human life. For sure, we do not know what is in store regarding many things. And we also do not have control over many things.
2. Therefore, what is expected is a sense of alertness and watchfulness, preparedness, and readiness to face reality. This is all the more true about death and judgment, and our eternal destiny.
3. Many times, many are caught unaware and unprepared regarding these ultimate realities. It is really sad that many who are so calculative, meticulous, well-equipped, and super-prepared concerning worldly affairs and pursuits are found to be so reckless and unready concerning what is above and beyond the world.
4. It is in this context that Jesus presents before us the image of a faithful and wise servant. Thereby, he urges us to be watchful, responsible, ready and prepared for receiving the master, serving him and also taking care of his household, possessions and fellow servants.
5. The first reading from 1 Thessalonians 3. 7-13 clarifies further this servant figure. He stands steadfast in the Lord. He becomes a cause of joy for others before God. He strives to increase and abound in love with one another and all men. He remains established with a heart unblamable and irreprehensible in holiness before God at Jesus’ coming.
6. This needs a relentless spirit of search and positive dissatisfaction for more and more. This is what we see in St Augustine whom we commemorate today. He was never satisfied with anything of the world, neither the pleasures nor the intelligence. He craved ever more. He sought restlessly for the truth that would satisfy his deep thirst. He discovers the Lord, the Truth.
My Practice: In the present times, talk and writing about servantship and service abound. But the reality does not correspond much to this. Unless the church is purged of its ugly heads of double-face, arrogance, and self-glory, the dignity of a servant role cannot be restored.
