The Word today, Holy CrossC
- Admin
- Sep 12
- 3 min read
September 15 - September 20, 2025
Our Lady of Sorrows
1 Timothy 2:1-8 Why should we pray for everyone? Because God wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth. And so, we pray for all without distinction.
Luke 7:1-10 The story of the centurion/royal official is in all four Gospel. You may recognise in this appealing story a phrase we have come to use just before Holy Communion.
Sts Cornelius, bishop of Rome, and Cyprian, bishop, martyrs
1 Timothy 3:1-13 This job description of a good Christian leader is revealing: what was going on (even then!) that the writer needed to spell it out so?
Luke 7:11-17 You will notice the echoes of Elijah raising the widow’s son — all part of Luke’s portrait of Jesus as prophet par excellence.
St Robert Bellarmine, bishop, doctor; St Hildegard of Bingen, virgin, doctor
1 Timothy 3:14-16 Today, the writer quotes a brief early Christian hymn about Jesus. Even if the language is fairly oblique, all the essentials are there.
Luke 7:31-35 Some people can be very hard to please —a human reality which emerges clearly in this reading. Rejecting both John the Baptist and Jesus, their ingenuity is a warning for today. We too find ways around faith.
1 Timothy 4:12-16 A young person in ministry can, understandably, feel a bit daunted. Our reading today offers encouragement not to lose heart.
Luke 7:36-50 The irritability of “holy” people is twice registered in this Gospel. Firstly, in the mind of the Pharisee, someone holy like Jesus ought not to allow anyone so obviously “unholy” to touch him. The parable offered is hardly rocket science! The discussion which follows draws out the blindingly obvious. But things get worse: Jesus pronounces forgiveness, which leads to even greater “holy” consternation.
St Januarius, bishop and martyr
1 Timothy 6:2-12 Even in those days, believer could go off the rails, led by leaders interested only in money. Our reading, in response, is both ironic and clear.
Luke 8:1-3 Women were important in Jesus’ ministry as well as in the very first generations of Christians. Today we get a rare view of the circle closest to Jesus, answering our very practical question of how did they all manage? With a lot of hidden help, apparently.
Sts Andrew Kim Taegon, priest, and Paul Chong Hasang, and their companions, martyrs
1 Timothy 6:13-16 Our final excerpt from 1 Timothy is an exhortation to live a life in accordance with our convictions. The writer includes a hymn, looking forward to the final judgment and celebrating the mystery of God.
Luke 8:4-15 Today we are offered the parable of the sower and an early interpretation. Scholars of the Bible link the interpretation to the early church rather than to Jesus, because the focus is different. In the parable, the centre is sheer, astonishing abundance. In the applied interpretation the centre is on the hearer’s reaction to the word of God. We can choose to reflect on the gift or on our reception of the gift…or both!
References
-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025cb, September 14). Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091425.cfm
-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings
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