4 September 2025 (Thursday) / Thursday of week 22 in Ordinary Time / Ordinary Weekday

4 September 2025 (Thursday)

Thursday of week 22 in Ordinary Time.

Ordinary Weekday.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Colossians 1: 9-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 98: 2-6
Alleluia: Matthew 4: 19
Gospel: Luke 5: 1-11

First Reading : Colossians 1:9‐14

Ever since the day we heard about you, we have never failed to pray for you, and what we ask God is that through perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding you should reach the fullest knowledge of his will. So you will be able to lead the kind of life which the Lord expects of you, a life acceptable to him in all its aspects; showing the results in all the good actions you do and increasing your knowledge of God. You will have in you the strength, based on his own glorious power, never to give in, but to bear anything joyfully, thanking the Father who has made it possible for you to join the saints and with them to inherit the light. Because that is what he has done: he has taken us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the kingdom of the Son that he loves, and in him, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 97(98):2‐6

The Lord has made known his salvation.

The Lord has made known his salvation; has shown his justice to the nations. He has remembered his truth and love for the house of Israel.

The Lord has made known his salvation.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout to the Lord, all the earth, ring out your joy.

The Lord has made known his salvation.

Sing psalms to the Lord with the harp with the sound of music. With trumpets and the sound of the horn acclaim the King, the Lord.

The Lord has made known his salvation.

Alleluia: Matthew 4: 19
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
19 Come after me, says the Lord, and I will make you fishers of men.
(18. As he was walking by the Lake of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast into the lake with their net, for they were fishermen.
19. And he said to them, 'Come after me and I will make you fishers of people.'
20. And at once they left their nets and followed him).
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Luke 5:1‐11

Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point. When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.

For our reflection today:

The crowd is gathering around Jesus, while some disappointed fishermen, among them, Simon Peter, are washing their nets after a night of fishing that had gone badly. And so it is that Jesus climbs into Simon’s boat; then he invites him to go out to sea and cast his nets again (cf. Lk 5:1-4).vIt was not a good time of the day for fishing, in broad daylight, but Peter trusts in Jesus. He does not base his trust on the strategies of fishermen, which he knows well, but rather he bases it on the newness of Jesus. That wonder that moved him to do what Jesus told him. It is the same for us too: if we welcome the Lord into our boat, we can put out to sea. With Jesus, we sail the sea of life without fear, without giving in to disappointment when one catches nothing, and without giving up and saying “there is nothing more that can be done”. Always, in personal life as well as in the life of the Church and society, there is something beautiful and courageous that can be done, always. We can always start over — the Lord always invites us to get back on our feet because he opens up new possibilities. So let us accept the invitation: let us chase away pessimism and mistrust, and put out to sea  with Jesus! Our little empty boat, too, will witness a miraculous catch. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 6 February 2022)

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