September 7, 2025 Easter Sunday

Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Wis 9:13-18b | Phlm 9-10, 12-17 | Luke 14:25-33

God first in our lives in order to become His disciple. This takes much wisdom and fortitude; but once understood and accepted, the results are almost overwhelming. When Our Lord Jesus Christ is the first priority in our life, all other things–family, neighbors, jobs, possessions, etc.- fall into their rightful place; and we are at peace with the world. A wonderful feeling indeed!
Now returning to the First Reading from the Book of Wisdom (9:13-18B), we read that the mind of God is so far above that of mortal man that we should defer to God all of our decisions and, indeed, all of our life. In return, God will direct us toward eternal peace and happiness, not necessarily on earth, but in heaven. In the meantime, if we follow the Holy Spirit’s directions, we can be assured of that ultimate goal. The Responsorial Psalm, (90:3-6, 12- 17) reminds us of how short this earthly life really is as well as our need to depend on God for guidance and direction to stay on the path that leads to His throne. It sounds so submissive, but we must remember what was said last week about the need for humility. Submission to the will of God requires both wisdom and humility. The Second Reading is from St. Paul’s Letter to Philemon (1:9-10, 12- 17). (USCCB says 9 10, 12-17) In it, Paul gives us two good examples of the Cost of Discipleship. The first is his own life, which as we know was turned completely around in order to serve Jesus first and foremost; and the second is Paul’s servant Onesimus. Onesimus was a Greek slave who escaped from his owner and converted to Christianity. As a test, he is being sent back to his rightful owner with the hopes and prayers of Paul that The theme of the Readings for today follows the readings of last Sunday where the focus is on humility. For this Sunday, we are dealing with the Cost of Discipleship. To better understand the readings we need to discuss the Gospel first and then return to the usual order.
The Gospel Reading is taken from the Gospel of Luke (14:25-33). As mentioned above, this is a continuation of last week’s gospel on the subject of “humility” and it takes a lot of humility to accept the harsh terms that Jesus demands in the opening sentence. By way of explanation, Jewish literature and teachings of the first century often exaggerated certain phrases in order to emphasize their importance. What Jesus is saying here is exaggerating when He uses the words “hating father and mother,” etc. He does this to emphasize the importance of placing Onesimus will be forgiven and received back as a free man and brother. This takes a great deal of faith, love and humility on the part of all concerned.
All Christians are disciples of Jesus today if they are truly trying to live according to the teachings of Christ and, as we have said, the cost of discipleship is very high; but so are the rewards. We cannot put a “price” on the value of salvation because the alternative is damnation. So this should cause each of one of us to ask ourselves: “Are we willing to place all that we have and all that we are at the feet of Jesus Christ in order to be His disciple?” Something to think about during your prayer time this week!

Source: MFB, https://ec-prod-site-cache.s3.amazonaws.com/static1/stclareroseville.org/documents/2025/8/23rd32Sunday32in32Ordinary32Time3245322025.pdf Image: Hand of God giving life to Adam

News

• 14 September - Social Gathering this month comes off September 14th as we gather to celebrate 12 years of existence as a community. Please bring along some fingerfood to share.
• 14 September - There will be Children’s Church on September 14th. Parents should do well to come with their wards as we go through the gospel in a chid-friendly way.