TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, AUGUST 17, 2025

MASS READINGS

Alleluia John 10:27

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

REFLECTION

"My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me."

It was difficult to choose one reading to reflect on as they are all wonderful. In the first reading we see how the princes of Israel conspire against the prophet Jeremiah, and convince the king to put him into a cistern so he can die in there. He is persecuted for saying the truth. An extreme way to getting cancelled.

The psalmist cries out to the Lord for help. And in the letter to the Hebrews St. Paul exhorts them to persevere despite the persecution. That there is a "cloud of witnesses"- a number of people that can serve as examples of faith and encouragement despite their (or our) vicissitudes. In the Gospel Jesus tells us that following Him will certainly mean we will lose the support of acquaintances, friends, and even close family members.

It is very easy to come to Mass on Sunday, worship for 1 to 2 hours, and then be done. The crux of the matter is what do we do the rest of the week. Suffering is part of the human experience. It is up to us how we act when confronted with it. We can blame God, consume drugs, alcohol, or electronic media to numb ourselves from the pain. We could "go with it", or we could ask God to walk with us and help us carry this cross.

St. Louis de Montfort exhorts us in the "Letter to the Friends of the Cross":

Three crosses stand on Calvary's height; One must be chosen, so choose aright; You must suffer like a saint or repentant thief, Or like a reprobate, in endless grief.

That is to say, if you are not willing to suffer gladly like Jesus, or patiently like the penitent thief, then you will have to suffer like the unrepentant thief. You will have to drink the cup of bitterness to the dregs without the consoling help of grace, and you will have to bear the whole weight of your cross, deprived of the powerful support of Christ. You will even have to carry the deadly weight which the devil will add to it by means of the impatience it will cause you. And after sharing the unhappiness of the impenitent thief on earth, you will share his misery in eternity.

But if, on the contrary, you suffer in the right way, the cross will become a yoke that is easy and light, since Christ himself will carry it with you. It will give you wings, as it were, to lift you to heaven; it will become your ship's mast, bringing you smoothly and easily to the harbour of salvation.

Can you imagine that? Our daily cross, the one we think drags us down, is like a mast that brings us to salvation? The wings toward heaven? My kids will say something like "the logic is not logiquing". But this is not the logic of the world that tells us that life should be only for pleasure and the total avoidance of any pain: to be numbed by infinite brief distractions and complete self-indulgence. Once the effects of the numbness wears off, we are still left empty and with a hangover to make us feel worse.

Rejoicing despite the world's attacks towards us and embracing the cross helps us grow spiritually and teaches us total abandonment towards the will of God. However, there is one more thing to this.

Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical MISERENTISSIMUS REDEMPTOR tells how by uniting ourselves to Jesus' suffering we are also consoling Him. I am still pondering about this. It is difficult to accept hardships in a joyful manner. I need to keep asking Mary to help me look at the cross without fear, and to grant me the graces I need so I can have the courage to embrace it with love.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a poor sinner!

God bless y'all!