2024

25th Sunday of Year B

September 22, 2024

Holy See

INTRODUCTION

HOLY SEE

HOMILIES

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SOURCE: Vatican News – English

Sunday’s
Theme

Doctrinal
Messages

Pastoral
Suggestions

25th Sunday of Year B

YEAR B

Change

With his person, his teachings and his life, Jesus Christ has brought about a change in our world. The texts of this Sunday’s liturgy focus on this change. The godless man who does not understand or accept the life of the upright is asked to change his attitude (first reading). Jesus’ disciples need to change their mentality before the surprising teachings of their Master (Gospel). James proposes to the Christians a spiritual plan which calls for a change in the lifestyle that they had before (second reading).

Catechism Cross-References

Catechism
Cross-References

First Reading

Wis 2:12,17-20

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Courtesy of Catholic Cross Reference Online

Second Reading

Jas 3:16-4:3

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Courtesy of Catholic Cross Reference Online

Gospel Reading

Mk 9:30-37

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Courtesy of Catholic Cross Reference Online

25th Sunday of Year B

YEAR B

Doctrinal Messages

Changing one’s attitude

What is the godless man’s attitude towards the upright man? What is the attitude of the pagan - or of the renegade Jew living in Alexandria of Egypt - towards the Jew who was faithful to the law regulating his entire life? According to the Book of Wisdom, the godless man thinks that the upright man is a nuisance, because he is the critical conscience of one’s actions; instead of admiring and imitating him, as he should, the wicked man prefers to put the innocent to the test. He even wants to condemn the innocent man to death, contravening human and divine laws, to see whether the God in whom the innocent man trusts will protect and save him. In verses 21 and 22 of the same chapter it is added that, "This is the way they reason... they do not know the hidden things of God.

They are wrong. Their attitude does not correspond to the attitude that God wants. Therefore, they must change. The upright and holy man must be admired and put forward as a model worthy of being imitated. It is true that the faithful man challenges the conscience, but this is a cause for joy and gratitude. Why not turn to God with the trust of the upright instead of putting him to the test and even condemning him to death?P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., Copyright © Dicastery for the Clergy

Changing our mentality

Jesus’ disciples simply cannot comprehend why their Master must go through the passageway of suffering, that in order to be first, one must be the servant of all, that in the new categories of the Kingdom of Christ the child occupies a prominent place. It is not easy for them to leave behind the lessons they received in their education as children. But if they want to be disciples of Christ, they must change. They must accept that suffering is the way to redemption for Jesus Christ and that it continues to be so for Christians. They must be firmly convinced that serving is not a favor that one does once in a while, but that it is the habitual way of being a Christian and living like a Christian. They will have to forget that the child is not important in the gathering of the elders. They need to learn that by accepting those who do not "count" - the marginalized, the weak, the needy - one accepts Christ, and through Christ one accepts the heavenly Father himself. The behavior and company of Jesus, on the one hand, and the action of the Spirit on the other, will work the miracle.

25th Sunday of Year B

YEAR B

Pastoral Suggestions

Change according to God

The culture in which we live and the mentality of our contemporaries is based on change. It is easier than ever before to change jobs, computers, cars, houses or countries. One can also change one’s way of thinking and living, and even one’s religion. Change happens every day, and those who don’t change quickly are left behind. Change is inherent in progressively-minded people, who seem to have change written in their DNA. But not all change is good. Nor is all change indicative of progress. There are changes that are rather unfortunate: so it is for many emigrants, who are compelled to leave their countries out of necessity; so it is for many young girls, who are forced to sell their bodies as prostitutes; so it is for many children, forced to work in inhuman conditions or abducted so that their organs may be sold. These changes cry out to heaven for vengeance! The change that the liturgy invites us to bring about is a change according to God. In other words, it is the type of change that God wants and expects of us in order to be more human, to live out our human dignity better and more fully. The change that God wants is from injustice to justice, from abuse to the service of others, from unfaithfulness to faithfulness, from hatred to love, from vengeance to forgiveness, from the culture of death to the culture of life, from sin to grace and holiness.

Your plan of life

Every person outlines a plan of life, more or less clearly. What we want to be, to do, what values we cannot renounce, what means we will live by. I think that every Christian should have a small plan or program of life. What values am I going to teach to my children? What values am I going to fight for in my personal, family and social life? How much time am I going to devote to my mission as Apostle of Jesus Christ in my parish and diocesan community, or in the apostolic movement to which I belong? What initiative, great or small, am I going to propose to foster awareness of God, to promote vocations to the priesthood or consecrated life, to visit and care for the sick or those who live alone in my neighborhood, in my parish? It need not be a major, exhaustive plan. Make a small plan for a year, a plan that will help you grow in your spiritual life. For instance, you could devote some daily time to prayer, or go to confession more often and more regularly, or fight with greater determination and energy against some vice. Make it a plan that will keep you active in your mission within the Church: teach catechism, join the parish choir, devote greater attention to the spiritual and moral education of your children. At the end of the day or the week, reflect a little on how you put your plan into practice. A small plan can do a world of good!

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Pope Francis

CALENDAR | PHOTOS | BIO

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Pope Francis
Homilies

On Primacy and
Domination of Others

23 September 2018 | Santakos Park in Kaunas (Lithuania)

Today’s first reading, from the Book of Wisdom speaks of the persecution of the righteous, those whose “mere presence” annoys the ungodly. The ungodly are described as those who oppress the poor, who have no compassion for the widow and show no respect to the elderly (cf. 2:17-20). The ungodly claim to believe that “power is the norm of justice”. They dominate the weak, use their power to impose a way of thinking, an ideology, a prevailing mindset. They use violence or repression to subject those who simply by their honest, straightforward, hardworking and companionable everyday life show that a different kind of world, a different kind of society, is possible. The ungodly are not content with doing anything they like, giving into their every whim; they do not want others, by doing good, to show them up for who they are. In the ungodly, evil is always trying to destroy good…

Jesus in the Gospel tells us of a temptation of which we have to be very careful: the desire for primacy and domination over others, which can dwell in every human heart. How often has it happened that one people considers itself superior, with greater acquired rights, with more privileges needing to be preserved or gained. What is the antidote that Jesus proposes when this impulse appears in our heart or in the heart of any society or country? To be the last of all and the servant of all; to go to the place where no one else wants to go, where no one travels, the furthest peripheries; to serve and come to know the lowly and the rejected.

If power had to do with this, if we could allow the Gospel of Jesus Christ to reach the depths of our lives, then the “globalization of solidarity” would be a reality. “In our world, especially in some countries, different forms of war and conflict are re-emerging, yet we Christians remain steadfast in our intention to respect others, to heal wounds, to build bridges, to strengthen relationships and to “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:2)” (Evangelii Gaudium, 67).

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Homilies

Who is the Greatest?

23 September 2012 | Castel Gandolfo

After the second prediction of the passion, the disciples began to discuss with one another who was the greatest among them (cf. Mk 9:34), and after the third, James and John asked Jesus to sit one at his right hand and one at his left when he would come into glory (cf Mk 10:35-40). However, there are various other signs of this gap: for example, the disciples do not succeed in healing an epileptic boy whom Jesus subsequently heals with the power of prayer (cf. Mk 9:14-29); and when children are brought to Jesus the disciples admonish them; Jesus on the contrary is indignant, has them stay and says that only those who are like them will enter the Kingdom of God (cf. Mk 10:13-16).

What does all this tell us? it reminds us that, the logic of God is always “different” from ours, just as God himself revealed through the mouth of Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, / neither are your ways my ways” (Is 55:8). For this reason following the Lord always demands of human beings — of all of us — a profound con-version, a change in our manner of thinking and living, it demands that the heart be opened to listening, to let ourselves be illuminated and transformed from within.

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