Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection August 31, 2025
Sunday – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
31st August 2025 (Sunday)
Psalter: Week 2
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
My son, perform your tasks in meekness; then you will be loved by those whom God accepts. The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favour in the sight of the Lord. For great is the might of the Lord; he is glorified by the humble. The affliction of the proud has no healing, for a plant of wickedness has taken root in him. The mind of the intelligent man will ponder a parable, and an attentive ear is the wise man’s desire.
Psalm 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11 R. (cf. 11b)
R/. In your goodness, O God, you provided for the poor.
Second Reading: Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a
Brethren: For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord; and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14
One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Sunday – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Main Point: In a world that is neck-deep in self-pride and rides on destructive self-glory, humility is the greatest healing and restoring balm
1. “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” is the central teaching of Jesus in today’s gospel. This is highly relevant and exigent for our present society.
2. The world suffers so much from the lack of humility. There is a boisterous ego that shows itself in unbridled arrogance, false dignity, and cheap popularity. This leads to hurtful and harmful resentments, hatred, conflicts, violence, and eventual destruction.
3. Therefore, it is worthwhile to reflect a little deeper on humility. Humility is not so much feeling or saying, I am despicable, True humility does not despise or reduce one’s worth or dignity, because it is God’s valuable gift. Humility neither trumpets nor rejects the positive in one’s own self.
4. Humility is not seen in a bent head or bent position, but in a bent heart and bent disposition. Humility is not just repeating every time that ‘I am good for nothing’, but constantly realising that ‘nothing can be good without God’, ‘nothing good we can do without God’ and discreetly trying to ‘do everything good’.
5. Humility guards one against all self-complacency, self-righteousness, and self-glory. Specifically, humility guards against undue craving for honours and titles, against excessive seeking powers and positions. It is because they can easily puff up one’s spirit, and lead one to pride, arrogance, and self-glory.
6. An excessive craving for them and attachment to them easily make one behave bigger than one’s own real self, contrary to his real self and identity. Thus, they can degenerate into hypocrisy and duplicity, trying to act and pretend.
7. Contrary to the above-mentioned pride, self-seeking, and false humility, True humility constantly realises the fallibility of the self and thus never relies on one’s own ego. True humility readily feels the deep sense of inadequacy and the vanity of self-complacency.
8. True humility sincerely realises how small, restricted, confined and ‘congested’ it is in its own space, and so willingly and reverently makes ‘space’ for God. The more we consciously reduce our ego, the more we grow in humility. True humility manifests itself in deep respect, an unoffensive approach, and a patient listening and understanding of the other
9. True humility readily clings to the Lord, overwhelmed by His tender love and abundant mercy, despite our recurrent imperfections. True humility hastens its steps to embrace the Lord with its weak and tiny hands, making a total surrender of the whole self.
10. If only we have a little ounce of humility, how many problems can be avoided, how many needless arguments, disputes, and conflicts can be resolved, how much beauty and joy can increase in our lives, how much love and fraternity can abound in our relationships, how much authentic and effective we can become in our mission and ministries!
My Practice: Blessed is that humility which keeps a correct image of the self, regards the other with esteem, and surrenders to God in simple love!
