Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection July 25, 2026
Saturday – 16th Week in Ordinary Time
25th June 2026 (Saturday)
Psalter: Proper
Here are the Catholic Mass readings and a daily reflection for Saturday, July 25, 2026, the Feast of Saint James the Apostle. Paul says we carry treasure in clay jars, and in the Gospel a mother asks for thrones while Jesus points to a cup of suffering.
Catholic Mass Readings
Readings of the Day
First Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15
Brethren: We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
Psalm 126:1-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6 (R. see 5)
R/. Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, says the Lord.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Matthew 20:20-28
At that time: The mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to Jesus with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the chalice that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will drink my chalice, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Saturday – 16th Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Gospel Reflection
Main Point: A mother asks Jesus to seat her two sons at His right and left in glory. She does not know she is asking for crucifixion. The places at His right and left will be filled by two thieves. Greatness in the Kingdom runs the other way.
1. The mother of James and John comes to Jesus with a bold request. She wants her two sons to sit at His right and left when He comes into His kingdom. It is a mother’s ambition for her boys. She wants them at the very top, one on each side of the throne.
2. Jesus answers gently but seriously. “You do not know what you are asking.” Then He asks a strange question. “Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” He does not talk about thrones. He talks about a cup. And in the Bible, this cup is the cup of suffering.
3. Here is the detail that should stop us cold. The mother wants her sons at His right and His left in glory. But think about where Jesus is going. To the cross. And who will actually be at His right and His left there? Two criminals, crucified beside Him. The places she is asking for are the places of crucifixion.
4. She imagines a throne room. Jesus is walking toward a hill of execution. She asks for honor. He offers a cup of suffering. The right and left hand of Jesus in His hour of glory are not cushioned seats. They are two crosses. She had no idea what she was really requesting.
5. The other ten apostles are furious when they hear it. Not because the request was wrong in a holy way, but because they wanted those seats too. They are all still playing the same game. Who is the greatest? Who gets the best place? The whole group has missed the point.
6. So Jesus gathers them and turns the world upside down. Among the rulers of the earth, the great throw their weight around. “It shall not be so among you.” Whoever wants to be great must be a servant. Whoever wants to be first must be a slave. In His kingdom, the ladder goes down, not up.
7. Then He points to Himself as the pattern. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” This is the definition of greatness. Not a throne you climb onto, but a life you pour out. The cross is the true seat of honor.
8. And James took the cup. He was the first of the apostles to be martyred, killed by the sword of Herod. He drank exactly the cup Jesus named that day. The man whose mother asked for a throne received a martyr’s death, and in the Kingdom’s math, that was the greater glory.
9. This is the thread to Paul. “We have this treasure in jars of clay.” We are fragile pots, easily broken, carrying something priceless inside. Paul says we are afflicted, perplexed, struck down, but not destroyed. That is the cup being drunk, glory carried through weakness. The clay jar is meant to be poured out.
My Practice: You want the throne. We all do. The recognition, the higher place, the credit you feel you are owed. Jesus does not hand out those seats. He hands you a cup and a towel. So today, chase the thing the world calls small. Serve someone who cannot repay you. Take the lower place on purpose. Pour a little of yourself out where no one will applaud. That is not the loss of greatness. In the Kingdom, it is the whole of it.
Read tomorrow’s Catholic Mass readings and reflection for July 26, 2026, the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, or revisit yesterday’s reflection for the Memorial of Saint Sharbel Makhlūf.
Thank You 🙏🙏🙏
Tags: Daily Mass Reflection, Feast, Saint James the Apostle, Gospel of Matthew, Catholic Mass Readings, July 2026
