Texts taken from the “On Your Word” daily missal September-October 2023

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) 
2nd week, psalter week II

FIRST READING

From the book of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 20:7-9)
You seduced me, Lord, and I let myself be seduced; you overpowered me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout: “Violence! Oppression!” Thus the word of the Lord has become for me a cause of shame and derision all day long. I said to myself: “I will not think of him anymore, nor speak in his name!” But there was in my heart, as it were, a burning fire, shut up in my bones; I tried to hold it in, but I could not. - The word of God. 

Commentary on the first reading

Today’s first reading presents us with a particularly difficult moment in Jeremiah’s life. Called to be a prophet, he leaves his village and moves to Jerusalem. There, because of what he proclaims, he is mocked and persecuted. Like Jesus and every just person, Jeremiah experiences persecution, the difficulties of his surroundings, and inner crises. Distressed, he even thinks that he has been seduced by God, deceived, and no longer knows whether to continue being a prophet or instead choose a less arduous path, perhaps withdrawing into private life. He no longer wants to think of God or speak in his name. He wants to turn back and wish he had never fallen in love. But from his bones, that is, from the deepest and most intimate part of him, an impossible-to-control burning fire bursts forth, overcoming his resistance and giving him new strength for his prophetic service. Jeremiah’s story is the story of a fidelity paid for at a high price, inviting us to examine whether our way of responding to God and his Word is like his or not.

SECOND READING

From the letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Romans (Rom 12:1-2)
Brothers and sisters, I urge you, by the mercy of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. - The word of God.

Commentary on the second reading

This passage opens the second part of the Letter to the Romans, called parenetic, that is, exhortatory. Paul begins his exhortations by reminding Christians that they must not conform to the world. In fact, we Christians live in the world, fully integrated into the social and cultural reality of our time, and rightly so; but this entails the risk of becoming worldly, the risk that the salt may lose its flavor, as Jesus would say (cf. Mt 5:13), meaning that Christians may lose the newness they receive from the Lord and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is necessary to renew ourselves continually by drawing nourishment from the Gospel. And how can this be done in practice? The Eucharist, prayer, love of neighbor. Through these gifts from the Lord, we can conform ourselves not to the world but to Christ and follow him on his path, the path of losing one’s life in order to find it again. Losing it in the sense of giving it, offering it out of love and in love - and this entails sacrifice, even the cross - in order to receive it again purified, freed from selfishness and the burden of death, filled with eternity.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 16:21-27)
At that time, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me, because you are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do!” Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.” - The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

Jesus reveals to his disciples what awaits him in Jerusalem. Peter is scandalized and rebukes him. But Jesus, in turn, rebukes Peter, even calling him “Satan.” Jesus realizes that in Peter, as in the other disciples and in each of us, the grace of the Father is opposed by the temptation of the Evil One, who wants to divert him from God’s will. By announcing that he must suffer and be put to death and then rise again, Jesus wants to make those who follow him understand that he is the humble Messiah, the Servant obedient to the word and will of the Father, even to the sacrifice of his own life. For this reason, Jesus declares that whoever wants to be his disciple must accept being a servant like him. Following him means taking up one’s cross to accompany him on his journey, an uncomfortable journey that is not the path of success or fleeting glory, but the path leading to true freedom from selfishness and sin. It means making a firm rejection of that worldly mentality which places the self and personal interests at the center of existence. Jesus invites us to lose our life for him and for the Gospel, in order to receive it renewed, fulfilled, and authentic.