DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 8)

The true cost of discipleship

GOSPEL

Luke 14:25-33

25 Now great multitudes accompanied him; and he turned and said to them, 26 "If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, `This man began to build, and was not able to finish.' 31 Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace. 33 So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Jesus permits us to love family but not more than God, by Cyril of Alexandria, 375-444 A.D.

"He says, 'He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me' (Matthew 10:37). By adding 'more than me,' it is plain that he permits us to love, but not more than we love him. He demands our highest affection for himself and that very correctly. The love of God in those who are perfect in mind has something in it superior both to the honor due to parents and to the natural affection felt for children."

(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 105)
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FIRST READING

Wisdom 9:13-18

13 For what man can learn the counsel of God? Or who can discern what the Lord wills? 14 For the reasoning of mortals is worthless, and our designs are likely to fail, 15 for a perishable body weighs down the soul, and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind. 16 We can hardly guess at what is on earth, and what is at hand we find with labor; but who has traced out what is in the heavens? 17 Who has learned thy counsel, unless thou hast given wisdom and sent thy holy Spirit from on high? 18 And thus the paths of those on earth were set right, and men were taught what pleases thee, and were saved by wisdom."
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALM 89(90):3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17

Responses: In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.

R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.

R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!

R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!

R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
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SECOND READING

Philemon 9-10, 12-17

9 I, Paul, an ambassador and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus 10 I appeal to you for my child, Ones'imus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment. 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own free will. 15 Perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever, 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.
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