Catholic Mass Readings For This Sunday (Readings, Gospel, and Reflection)
Liturgical Calendar
Sunday, August 31, 2025: Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Solemnity
Sunday Readings and Gospel
Reading 1 :
Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
Reading 2 :
Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a
Alleluia :
Matthew 11:29ab
Gospel :
Luke 14:1, 7-14
Liturgical vestments: Green
Sunday, August 31, 2025: Readings & Responsorial Psalm & Gospel
Catholic Mass Readings for This Sunday – A Reflection of Faith
As we prepare for this Sunday’s Mass Readings, we are invited to open our hearts to God’s word and allow it to shape our lives. Sunday is a sacred day, a time to gather as a faith community, to listen to Scripture, and to receive the Eucharist, the source and summit of our Christian life.
The First Reading often takes us back to the Old Testament, reminding us of God’s covenant and His faithfulness to His people. The Responsorial Psalm invites us to lift our hearts in praise and trust. The Second Reading, usually from the New Testament letters, offers wisdom for our daily walk with Christ. Finally, the Gospel brings us the words and actions of Jesus, calling us to deeper faith, conversion, and love.
As we anticipate this Sunday’s Mass, let us take time to meditate on the readings, asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten our understanding. May we come to Mass with open hearts, ready to receive God’s grace and be strengthened for the week ahead.
🙏 Lord, speak to us through Your word this Sunday, and help us live it fully in our daily lives. Amen.
Reading 1
Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
My child, conduct your affairs with humility,
and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,
and you will find favor with God.
What is too sublime for you, seek not,
into things beyond your strength search not.
The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs,
and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise.
Water quenches a flaming fire,
and alms atone for sins.
Reading 2
Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a
Brothers and sisters:
You have not approached that which could be touched
and a blazing fire and gloomy darkness
and storm and a trumpet blast
and a voice speaking words such that those who heard
begged that no message be further addressed to them.
No, you have approached Mount Zion
and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and countless angels in festal gathering,
and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven,
and God the judge of all,
and the spirits of the just made perfect,
and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,
and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord,
and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.
He told a parable to those who had been invited,
noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.
"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,
do not recline at table in the place of honor.
A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him,
and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say,
'Give your place to this man,'
and then you would proceed with embarrassment
to take the lowest place.
Rather, when you are invited,
go and take the lowest place
so that when the host comes to you he may say,
'My friend, move up to a higher position.'
Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table.
For every one who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
Then he said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
Reflection
“Honor be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ. For after your glorious body was covered with blood, you were condemned to death on the cross, you endured the pain of carrying the cross on your sacred shoulders, and you were led with curses to the place where you were to suffer.” (Saint Bridget)
“Christ took the lowest place in the world—the Cross—and by this radical humility he redeemed us” (Benedict XVI)
“Envy represents a form of sadness and therefore a refusal of charity; (…) the baptized person should train himself to live in humility.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2,540)
Saint of the Day
Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, and Nicodemus, a Pharisee, bury the dead Jesus in a tomb that Joseph had thought would be his own. Both at first fear to follow the Lord publically, but together, these learned men perform for him an office of love. They are celebrated on August 31.
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