13 September 2025 (Saturday) / Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop, Doctor on Saturday of week 23 in Ordinary Time / Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

13 September 2025 (Saturday)

Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop, Doctor on Saturday of week 23 in Ordinary Time.

Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: First Timothy 1: 15-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 113: 1-7
Alleluia: John 14: 23
Gospel: Luke 6: 43-49

First Reading : 1 Timothy 1:15‐17

Here is a saying that you can rely on and nobody should doubt: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I myself am the greatest of them; and if mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ meant to make me the greatest evidence of his inexhaustible patience for all the other people who would later have to trust in him to come to eternal life. To the eternal King, the undying, invisible and only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 112(113):1‐7

May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!

Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord! May the name of the Lord be blessed both now and for evermore!

May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!

From the rising of the sun to its setting praised be the name of the Lord! High above all nations is the Lord, above the heavens his glory.

May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!

Who is like the Lord, our God, who has risen on high to his throne yet stoops from the heights to look down, to look down upon heaven and earth From the dust he lifts up the lowly, from the dungheap he raises the poor.

May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!

Alleluia: John 14: 23
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
23 Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him.
(23. Jesus replied: Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him.
24. Anyone who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not my own: it is the word of the Father who sent me.
25. I have said these things to you while still with you;
26. but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you).
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Luke 6:43‐49

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces sound fruit. For every tree can be told by its own fruit: people do not pick figs from thorns, nor gather grapes from brambles. A good man draws what is good from the store of goodness in his heart; a bad man draws what is bad from the store of badness. For a man’s words flow out of what fills his heart. ‘Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord” and not do what I say? ‘Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and acts on them – I will show you what he is like. He is like the man who when he built his house dug, and dug deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man who built his house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!’

For our reflection today:

“The Rock. That’s what the Lord is. Those who entrust themselves to the Lord will always remain safe, because their foundations are sunk into the Rock. That’s what Jesus says in the Gospel. He speaks about a wise man who built his house on rock, that is, on trust in the Lord and on serious things. And this trust is a noble thing, because the foundation of this building of our lives is sure and strong.”  “Even in our own lives it can happen, when my foundations are not strong. The storm comes – and we all have storms in our lives, all of us – and we are unable to stand firm. Many say: ‘No, I’ll change my life.’ They think making life changes is like putting on makeup. Changing my life requires changing the foundations of my life, that is, finding the Rock that is Christ. ‘I would like to renovate this building because it’s extremely ugly, so I would like to make it a little more beautiful and strengthen the foundation.’ But if all I do is put on makeup, then things won’t go far; it will fall. Christian life falls.” We cannot build our lives on passing things, on appearances, on acting like everything is going fine. We go to the rock, where our salvation awaits. And there we will all – each one of us – be happy.” (Pope Francis, Santa Marta, 5 December 2019)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)