5 November 2025 (Wednesday) / Wednesday of week 31 in Ordinary Time / Ordinary Weekday/ Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

5 November 2025 (Wednesday)

Wednesday of week 31 in Ordinary Time.

Ordinary Weekday/ Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Romans 13: 8-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 112: 1-2, 4-5, 9
Alleluia: 1 Peter 4: 14
Gospel: Luke 14: 25-33

First Reading : Romans 13:8‐10

Avoid getting into debt, except the debt of mutual love. If you love your fellow men you have carried out your obligations. All the commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbour as yourself. Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the answer to every one of the commandments.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 111(112):1‐2,4‐5,9

Happy the man who takes pity and lends.
or
Alleluia!

Happy the man who fears the Lord, who takes delight in all his commands. His sons will be powerful on earth; the children of the upright are blessed.

Happy the man who takes pity and lends.
or
Alleluia!

He is a light in the darkness for the upright: he is generous, merciful and just. The good man takes pity and lends, he conducts his affairs with honour.

Happy the man who takes pity and lends.
or
Alleluia!

Open‐handed, he gives to the poor; his justice stands firm for ever. His head will be raised in glory.

Happy the man who takes pity and lends.
or
Alleluia!

Alleluia: 1 Peter 4: 14
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
(12. My dear friends, do not be taken aback at the testing by fire which is taking place among you, as though something strange were happening to you;
13. but in so far as you share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, so that you may enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed.
14. If you are insulted for bearing Christ's name, blessed are you, for on you rests the Spirit of God, the Spirit of glory).
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Luke 14:25‐33

Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, “Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish.” Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who advanced against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.’

For our reflection today:

In today’s Gospel Jesus insists on the conditions for being his disciples: preferring nothing to the love of Christ, carrying one’s cross and following him. Many people in fact drew near to Jesus, they wanted to be included among his followers; and this would happen especially after some miraculous sign which accredited him as the Messiah, the King of Israel. However Jesus did not want to disappoint anyone. He knew well what awaited him in Jerusalem and which path the Father was asking him to take: it was the Way of the Cross, the way of sacrificing himself for the forgiveness of our sins. Following Jesus does not mean taking part in a triumphal procession! It means sharing his merciful love, entering his great work of mercy for each and every man and for all men. The work of Jesus is, precisely, a work of mercy, a work of forgiveness and of love! Jesus is so full of mercy! And this universal pardon, this mercy, passes through the Cross. Jesus, however, does not want to do this work alone: he wants to involve us too in the mission that the Father entrusted to him. Jesus’ disciple renounces all his possessions because in Jesus he has found the greatest Good in which every other good receives its full value and meaning: family ties, other relationships, work, cultural and economic goods and so forth. The Christian detaches him or herself from all things and rediscovers all things in the logic of the Gospel, the logic of love and of service. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 8 September 2013)

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