23 October 2025 (Thursday) / Thursday of week 29 in Ordinary Time or Saint John of Capistrano, Priest. Ordinary Weekday/ Saint John of Capistrano, Priest

23 October 2025 (Thursday)

Thursday of week 29 in Ordinary Time or Saint John of Capistrano, Priest.

Ordinary Weekday/ Saint John of Capistrano, Priest.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Romans 6: 19-23
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 1: 1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Alleluia: John 8: 12
Gospel: Luke 12: 49-53

First Reading : Romans 6:19‐23

If I may use human terms to help your natural weakness: as once you put your bodies at the service of vice and immorality, so now you must put them at the service of righteousness for your sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you felt no obligation to righteousness, and what did you get from this? Nothing but experiences that now make you blush, since that sort of behaviour ends in death. Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life. For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 1:1‐4,6

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked; nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders his law day and night.

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper.

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Not so are the wicked, not so! For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind: for the Lord guards the way of the just but the way of the wicked leads to doom.

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Alleluia: John 8: 12
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
12 I am the light of the world, says the Lord, anyone who follows me will have the light of life.
(12. When Jesus spoke to the people again, he said: I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the light of life).
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Luke 12:49‐53

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over! ‘Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; the father divided against the son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother‐in‐law against daughter‐in‐law, daughter‐in‐law against mother‐in‐law.’

For our reflection today:

This Sunday, the word of God contains a word of Jesus which alarms us and must be explained, for otherwise it could give rise to misunderstanding. Jesus says to his disciples: “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Lk 12:51). What does this mean? It is not that Jesus wishes to split people up. On the contrary Jesus is our peace, he is our reconciliation! But this peace is not the peace of the tomb, it is not neutrality, Jesus does not bring neutrality, this peace is not a compromise at all costs. Following Jesus entails giving up evil and selfishness and choosing good, truth and justice, even when this demands sacrifice and the renunciation of our own interests. And this indeed divides; as we know, it even cuts the closest ties. However, be careful: it is not Jesus who creates division! He establishes the criterion: whether to live for ourselves or to live for God and for others; to be served or to serve; to obey one’s own ego or to obey God. It is in this sense that Jesus is a “sign that is spoken against” (Lk 2:34). This word of the Gospel does not therefore authorize the use of force to spread the faith. It is exactly the opposite: the Christian’s real force is the force of truth and of love, which involves renouncing all forms of violence. Faith and violence are incompatible! Instead, faith and strength go together. Christians are not violent; they are strong. And with what kind of strength? That of meekness, the strength of meekness, the strength of love. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 18 August 2013)

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