23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time 2025 - The cost of discipleship...and what is gained

 

From now to the end of the liturgical year, our second readings will take us through each of St. Paul’s letters to individuals. So, starting today with St. Paul’s shortest letter, the one-chapter epistle to Philemon, over the next few weeks until Advent, we’ll then read from the apostle’s letters to St. Timothy and finally St. Titus. Today is the only day in the three-year cycle of readings that we read from Paul’s letter to Philemon. So, we should spend some time with it, shouldn’t we?

Around the year 60, Paul was arrested and imprisoned in Rome. Imprisoned with Paul was a slave who had been arrested for running away from his Master. The slave’s name was Onesimus. Imprisoned together, Paul got to know Onesimus; he shared the Gospel with him, baptized him, and formed him in the Christian Way. When Onesimus’ prison sentence had concluded, he was to return to his master, named Philemon, to whom Paul composed the letter we read from today. In this letter, Paul urged Philemon, who himself was a Christian, to free Onesimus from his bond of slavery, and allow Onesimus to return to Rome to assist Paul in his ministry.

This 2000 year old letter is an important testimony to the Christian belief in the equal human dignity of all persons—and the equality and unity of the baptized. 

According to the law of the land, Onesimus was Philemon’s legal possession. But, Paul urged Philemon to recognize that Onesimus was more than a possession, he was a brother. “Do what is proper” Paul urged Philemon: release him.

Now, consider what Paul was asking Philemon to do. Paul was urging Philemon to change his way of thinking and to give up something that he valued. Paul’s request was going to cost Philemon something. Philemon would have to change his lifestyle, change his household, change the way his family operated. Philemon no doubt relied on people like Onesimus. And now Paul was asking him to give something up that he relied on—to sacrifice comfort, societal norms, and his own preferences for the sake of the Gospel and because it was the right thing to do.

Paul knew that this request was going to be difficult—and costly to Philemon—but Paul made this request because it was the right thing to do.

In the Gospel this weekend the Lord speaks of how following him is costly to us--the cost of discipleship. Unless you give up family, you cannot be my disciple. Unless you carry the cross, you cannot be my disciple. Unless you renounce all of your possessions, you cannot be my disciple.

Discipleship has a cost—a cost from each of us. No one can pay it for you. It’s yours. Your responsibility. Your sacrifice. 

This is a hard message for us. Just like it was a hard message when Jesus taught it back then. St. Luke tells us in today’s passage that great crowds were following Jesus. A great number of people were with him. Moms and dads and kids and grandparents all walking together.

But then Jesus turns around and faces them, and addresses these moms and dads and kids and grandparents and says, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

This crowd of families just like you were walking with Jesus, but he says, if you want to follow me any further, if you want to follow me to my ultimate destination, it’s going to cost you something, something dearly. Your loyalty to family needs to come second, from here on out. Oh, by the way, your very life too, your impulse of self-preservation. You have to be willing to embrace the cross, to endure crucifixion—suffering and death. 

At this point in St. Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem. He was walking toward Jerusalem, on a sort of death march toward his Passion. And did any of these people end up following him there? Were any of them crucified with him on Calvary? Nobody, except two thieves. Not anyone from this great crowd, not his most beloved disciple. Some stood and watched and wept. But Jesus went alone, where fallen humanity was too fearful to go.

It’s not until after his resurrection when it finally clicked for us—when we understood--when the courage to follow Him unto death was truly bestowed upon us. 

Why should I give-up family loyalty and material wealth in order to follow him? Because it leads to resurrection and life everlasting. We don’t lose hope and turn away from God when we are presented with our crosses because we know God brings about tremendous good through them. Joy and life and profound transformation are discovered when we are faithful. When we go beyond our comfort zones to engage in the works of charity and to share the Gospel, when we resist temptation and willingly do penance—lives are transformed—minds and heart are filled with glory and light. We see it over and over in the lives of the saints.  St. Clare, left the luxury and wealth of her home, she left her family, despite their opposition, in order to devote her life to Jesus through radical poverty, like that of St. Francis. 

Ordinary people—transformed—filled with glory—because they were willing to follow Jesus when it cost them something. 

If the practice of the faith isn’t currently costing you something, you might not be heading in the direction the Lord is trying to lead you. And if that’s the case, pray for courage, pray for strength, ask him to help you, ask him to lead you where you are to fearful to go, if it be the will of God.

Because when you trust him, and follow him beyond your wants and fears and ingrained habits and prejudices and plans for your life, you will gain so much more: freedom, joy, blessing and life everlasting for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

September 5 2025 - St. Teresa of Calcutta - Transformed through prayer and charity

 

While a college seminarian, I spent a semester studying in Rome. Once a week, a few other students and I would walk down past the Coliseum. And right next to the Church of St. Gregory, the same patron saint as this church, there was and still is today a home for destitute and homeless men run by the Missionary Sisters of Charity the Religious Order founded by St. Mother Teresa

And at this house for the destitute, men would come off the streets, and the dear sisters would feed them, and offer them a bed for the night, a shower, medical care if need be.  

The sisters were breathtakingly patient, gentle, and kind as they treated these men as they would treat Jesus himself.  Mother Teresa took the words of today’s Gospel very seriously. “That which you did for the least, you did for me”.

I never met Mother Teresa , she died when I was still in high school, but I’ve met a number of her sisters, who had met her, who were inspired by her to give up their lives in service. And so many of those sisters possessed this charism of charity—that is certainly Mother’s lasting legacy to the Church.

It’s said that when anyone met Mother Teresa, they were often shocked at the fact that no matter how busy she was and no matter how many other people were around, when she talked to you, you felt like you were the only person in the world. She gave you her total attention, her total love, her total self every moment. She wasn’t looking past you to see if there was someone more important in the room. She wasn’t checking her social media.  She didn’t appear to be worrying about the other duties she had to attend to. She wasn’t trying to get back home so she could sit on her couch to veg-out or binge her favorite television show or get home to get dinner going. In her presence you experienced love.

One reason she was able to do this was because she gave Jesus her full-loving attention in her daily prayer. She would make holy hours of Eucharistic adoration daily. And because she gave Jesus her full, loving, attention in prayer, she was able to give you her full attention. And she didn’t just give Jesus her prayer, she gave him her service in everyone she met.

“That which you did for the least of my brethren, you did for me”. And you’d think that after day after day, week after week, year after year Mother and her sisters would be tired of helping people. But no. They are among the most fulfilled joyful people I have ever met. True joy. Not just bubbly, not just artificially cheerful, not putting on an act. When you allow love, charity to transform you, you receive the gift of joy.

May St. Teresa's holy example of loving service, charity for the poorest of the poor, care for the least, help us, inspire us, teach us, and challenge us, that, like her, we may be transformed through prayer and works of charity for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Let us bring our prayers to the Lord with humility and trust.

For the Church throughout the world, that she may be a clear sign of God’s love for the poor and forgotten, and that her members may serve others with the selfless charity.

For all religious sisters, especially the Missionaries of Charity, that their lives of prayer, simplicity, and loving service may be strengthened and bear much fruit for the Kingdom of God. And for an increase in vocations to the consecrated religious life.

For the poor, the homeless, the sick, and the dying, those who feel unloved, forgotten, or abandoned, that through the care of Christian hearts and hands, they may know their dignity and the love of Christ.

For those who have died, the deceased members of our families, friends and parish, and for the forgotten and the poor who died alone, and for all the souls in purgatory, that they may come to see God face to face

God of love and mercy, You inspired St. Teresa of Calcutta to be a light to the world through humble service. Hear our prayers and grant that, following her example, we may love You with undivided hearts and serve You in our neighbor.

September 3 2025 - St. Gregory the Great - Striving for true greatness (School Mass)

 Throughout the year, we celebrate the saints as our heroes of Christian greatness. St. Clare, St. Francis, St. Paul, St. Benedict, St. Catherine—each of them show us what Christian greatness looks like. 

Today we celebrate a Saint, Saint Gregory, who is one of only a very few number of saints, in fact, a very few number of people in all of human history, who has been given the title “the great”. He is known as Saint Gregory the Great.

St. Gregory is known as “the great” for a number of reasons: he served the Church as Pope, and had great administrative skills. He served with the Gospel with great diligence, sending missionaries all over the world. He had great care for the poor. He ensured that the priests of the Church had a love for the poor and would go out into the streets of Rome to find and care for the poor in person. He had a great impact on the intellectual and spiritual life of the Church. And Gregorian Chant—the type of latin chant that has been used in the Church for over 1400 years is named after him—so he has a had a great impact on the Church’s worship.

But, in the end, most importantly, Saint Gregory is known as the great, not just because he a competent administrator, theologian or liturgist, but because he poured himself out in service to Christ.  He knew that true human greatness is found when we make serving God the most important thing in our life. 

In the Gospel today, the apostles are arguing about wanting to be great. And Jesus instructs them that true greatness isn’t about having power over people, about the number of people that owe you favors. True greatness isn’t about the number of followers you have—on the internet or real life. 

True greatness is about using your time, gifts, and resources to serve others—to help others.

Again this is why St. Gregory, and clare, and benedict, and paul, and francis are all great because they recognized the importance of serving God through service of others.

Jesus himself is the great exemplar of this—he serves the will of the Father to provide the greatest service to humanity possible, the salvation of our souls. Without Jesus’ great act of service—the service of his self-sacrifice—humanity would be lost forever.

Today, we do well to consider, how we are called to strive for greatness. Yes, we should strive to be great students, great teachers, great leaders, but not so we can hoard power over people, or be most famous in the eyes of the world. Rather, we strive for greatness in the eyes of God—great holiness, great imitation of Jesus, great charity, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Labor Day 2025 - Engaging in God's work and rest

 

For over a century, Americans have celebrated Labor Day on the first Monday in September. This national holiday was established in the 1880s for two reasons: to mark the irreplaceable role of the American worker in making this country prosperous and strong; and to have time to attend speeches and events on the spiritual and educational aspects of work, the worker and the good that comes from work.

From the very beginning of our Sacred Scriptures, God the Creator is revealed to be quite different from the gods of the various pagan religions. Unlike the greek gods who lay in luxury on Mt. Olympus, for example, aloof from the toils of man, the God of the Bible is very clearly a worker. He’s more like a farmer, gardener, a sculptor, and builder than an apathetic aristocrat.

God is intimately involved in His creation, getting his hands dirty to bring about his salvific plan. He cultivates land into a garden. He fashions man out of the clay of the earth.

It follows then, that created in God’s, image man and woman, too, are to be workers—filling the earth, subduing it. God personally creates, sustains, cultivates, and redeems the world, and so our work is a continuation of God’s own labors. Whether you are a factory worker, a teacher, a nurse, an engineer, a parent, or retired but still giving your time in service, work is the way we participate in God’s creative action.

Good honest work is also at the service of others: The person who garbage man is making life safer and more pleasant for his neighbors. The parent who prepares a meal is serving the well-being of their family. The student who studies hard is preparing to offer their gifts to society in the future.

But work is not meant to consume us or define us entirely. God Himself rested on the seventh day, teaching us that while work is good, it is must not be all-consuming. Our ultimate dignity does not come from productivity but from being children of God. That’s why Labor Day, like the Sabbath, calls us not only to honor work, but also to remember the importance of reflection and renewal in God.

In the Gospel today, those who use the talents given to them by their master are praised by the Lord, and those who squander them and hide them, are condemned.

Labor Day is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how you have used your talents for the glory of God and for betterment of your family and fellow man, to repent of those times when talent has gone squandered, and also to listen to the voice of inspiration. Even if you are retired from formal work, you do well to consider what new project might God be calling you to, in order to serve the community and the Church.

As we prayed in our Psalm today, may the Lord grant success to the work of our hands, and in all things, in all pursuits, in all our labors help us to serve Him, for the cultivation of the earth, for the building up of His kingdom, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians will work together in harmony for the building up of the Church and the spread of the Gospel

That our young people, especially those at risk of disengaging from society, may come to discover the fulfillment found in work and self-sacrifice.

For the unemployed and underemployed, and that all who work may receive a just reward for their labors.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: may they know God’s strength and peace and the assistance of the Christian people.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, those who have supported us by their work, those who fought and died for our freedom, for all of the souls in purgatory and for X, for whom this mass is offered.

Gracious Father, you created us in your divine image, hear our prayers, and grant us the help we need to work always for your Holy Will, through Christ Our Lord.