On this last Sunday of September, we thank the Lord for the many blessings He has granted us this month. He is a most generous God. At the same time, we are invited to grow spiritually by practising magnanimity and rejecting its opposite. We are likewise challenged to set our priorities right and be prepared to pay the price that a proper scale of priorities entails.As we celebrate “Laity Week” from September 27 to October 3, we commend to the Lord all lay people so that they may actively spread the Gospel through their words and their deeds. And since today is also NATIONAL SEAFARERS’ DAY, we will remember with special love and concern the three hundred thousand Filipinos who serve in the domestic and international maritime industry. They work away from their homes so that their families will live a decent life and enjoy an even better future. Let the offering of this Eucharistic sacrifice for our seafarers be the best sign of our solidarity with them.
At that time, John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.” Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ ”
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ ”
