Poor for God's Kingdom

Scripture Reflections for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year C, Lectionary 135


God asks us to notice the harm we are causing others because of our pursuit of power and money. We lose concern for how our actions are leaving others in poverty all because we lose our focus from God to mammon. We must recall how we are part of God's creation, from God, and meant for God's kingdom. How can we continue our lives pursuing anything less than God?

Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: AssessmentChoiceChurchComplacencyCrisisEnvironmentExploitFearFocusGenerosityGiftGreedHeavenInclusionJourneyJusticeLawLoveMoneyNeighborParablePerseverePersistencePersistentPovertyPowerPrayerPriorityProphetPrudentRelationshipRespondRestSabbathSalvationSeekServeShrewdSolidaritySoulStewardTrustVirtueWealthWomen

Psalm 113:1-2, 4-8
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Catholic Productions

“But for Paul, salvation is...life in Christ as opposed to life outside of Christ, it is the bodily resurrection of the dead and all those things, and escaping you know the punishment of Gehenna, but it's more than that. Salvation involves knowledge of the truth.”


Brant Pitre in "God Desires All to Be Saved" (October 12, 2022)
Luke 16:1-13
U.S. Catholic magazine

“One's character is revealed in every decision with how we handle small things such as our words, our time, our money, and our relationships”


Grace Ji-Sun Kim (September 12, 2025)
New
Catholic Productions

“think about how much time people today, including Christians, spend thinking about their retirement plans...Okay, fine, what kind of spiritual investments have you made?”


Brant Pitre in "Parable of the Unjust Steward" (September 16, 2019)

“Our take home from the parable is that there is always something good to learn from everyone and everything. Even though the steward was labeled as dishonest we can learn from his great example of being resourceful.”


Fr. Emmanuel Ochigbo (September 12, 2022)
Holy Name of Jesus Church & Loyola Ministry

“Chances are each and everyone of you has some virtue that you've been desiring and I'm sure God has placed that desire in your heart. There's something you would like to do for Christ. Some virtue like patience or kindness or perseverance”


Fr. Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ (September 18, 2022)
St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church, Philadelphia

“To enter the Kingdom of God, my brothers and sisters, you got to stop counting, you got to stop weighing, you got to stop measuring, you got to stop deserving. You have to just let forgiveness and love flow through you.”


Fr. Maurice J. Nutt, C.Ss.R. (September 18, 2022)
Overall Readings

“Let us grasp eagerly the opportunity to enter the kingdom of God with the same alacrity that the manager displayed by acting decisively to plan a comfortable future for himself once he was sacked”


Fr. Geoffrey Plant in "God or money" (September 14, 2025)
New

“The God who is high above all nations is also the God who raises us when we fall. That is why we praise him not only with our words but with our lives.”


Fr. Emmanuel Ochigbo (September 15, 2025)
New
Catholic Women Preach

“We often speak about having faith in God but we tend to forget, I think, that God also has faith in us”


Julia Louise Morrow (September 21, 2025)
New
U.S. Catholic magazine

“Christ the master of the gospel parable, invites us to steward the world toward its fullness by inviting all people and our non-human neighbors to share their gifts without exploitation or exclusion in our church and in society at large”


Kathleen Bonnette (September 09, 2022)
Catholic Women Preach

“The question almost daily is: how are we to act with God's justice in a world that for some of us is much more comfortable without it?”


Mary J. Novak (September 18, 2022)
Catholic Women Preach

“The overarching reason for these rules is to recognize the larger nature of God, that we must take time for our contemplation of God on the Sabbath, and that we must recognize most importantly that we are only stewards not masters of this land”


Marisa Vertrees (September 09, 2019)
Saint Katharine Drexel Parish - Boston, MA

“God is saying to us, 'don't you dare treat my people like they are...disposable income. Do not dare treat my daughters and sons as if they are some kind of disposable income.'”


Fr. Oscar Pratt (September 18, 2022)