23RD WEDNESDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Lk 6:20-26) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
- NHA CHUA CHA
- Sep 10, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 11, 2025
FIRST READING - Col 3:1-11
"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ; Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly."
A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.
[b] 5 Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.[c] 6 Because of these the wrath of God[d] is coming [upon the disobedient]. 7 By these you too once conducted yourselves, when you lived in that way. 8 But now you must put them all away:[e] anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths. 9 Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices 10 [f]and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,[g] slave, free; but Christ is all and in all.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Lk 6:20-26
“Blessed are you who are poor. But woe to you who are rich."
✠From the Gospel according to Luke
20 [a]And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,[b] for the kingdom of God is yours.21 Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.22 Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
23 Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.25 But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.26 Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.
23RD WEDNESDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Lk 6:20-26)
THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
Dear People of God,
In today's Gospel, God wants to speak to all humanity about blessings and woes. He provides guidance so that people may know how to choose, whether to follow the good path or the evil path.
God is a merciful Father; He presents the blessings as good things for people to put into practice.
He points out the woes as dangers that everyone must know to avoid; those who have fallen into the evil path should return to God and not continue further lest they bring upon themselves the woes.
God reveals that only He is the one supreme Being whom mankind needs to seek. All material things and worldly riches are temporary and fleeting; they will no longer exist when God calls each person out of this world. They are only means to be used to share with others, serving as spiritual provisions that help people enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Word of God today calls humanity to run to God, to obey and carry out His commandments, to love, support, and share with one another. Look to the example of Jesus Christ; He is God, the richest One, yet He dared to abandon all things, accepting to become poor in order to empathize, share with, and help those who are poor and sick, and to liberate those who are held captive by Satan.
God never places material things above all else; rather, He desires that mankind live according to the good image of humanity that God created—that is, a good, holy person with a heart that knows how to love everyone.
Through the blessings and woes in today’s Gospel, God invites all His children:
To return to God, to live with love, charity, and sharing toward their fellow human beings, especially to help the poor and the destitute in society.
To become like Christ at all times, in all places, and in every circumstances, for He alone is the perfect model for everyone to learn from and follow.
Not to exalt worldly material things, but to exalt love for God and neighbor; for only the law of love from God brings true happiness to mankind and is the path that leads people to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Today, God invites everyone to faithfully carry out His commandments, not to stray from His teachings, and to walk the path of the Cross that Jesus Christ has walked. This is the path of love, a path full of thorns, obstacles, and suffering, but it is the path most pleasing to God.
Choose to walk the narrow path that leads to God in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, for the wide and spacious road will lead mankind to destruction and separation from God.
Thanks be to God. Amen
Comments