Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
When I came to you, brothers and sisters,
proclaiming the mystery of God,
I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 119:97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102
R. (97) Lord, I love your commands.
How I love your law, O LORD!
It is my meditation all the day.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
Your command has made me wiser than my enemies,
for it is ever with me.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
I have more understanding than all my teachers
when your decrees are my meditation.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
I have more discernment than the elders,
because I observe your precepts.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
From every evil way I withhold my feet,
that I may keep your words.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
From your ordinances I turn not away,
for you have instructed me.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
Alleluia Luke 4:18
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me;
he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Luke 4:16-30
Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll,
he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”
He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb,
‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’”
And he said,
“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
August 31, 2026 // Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Reflect on the Word //
Talking to my teenagers can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. We will be driving somewhere and I will try to draw them into conversation only to have them not respond as if talking were an impossibly arduous task. I will try relating what I thought was a funny story from my day only to reap zero laughs. Occasionally, I make the last-ditch effort of trying to use Gen Alpha slang only to experience complete mission failure.
Talking to teenagers might not be the same as Saint Paul proclaiming the Good News to the Corinthians, but I can’t help but think it might have some comparable aspects. Bringing the news of Jesus’ Life, Death, and Resurrection to a foreign city whose culture and religion were diametrically opposed to the idea of the One God coming to earth to die for our sins would be no easy task. How to win over new crowds who viewed Paul as a foreign stranger talking about a man rising from the dead?
While we all have instances where the idea of bringing up a topic or talking to a certain person or group of people seems impossible, we can think of how trying it must have been for Saint Paul and the Apostles as they began to bring the Gospel to the world for the first time. His “weakness and fear and much trembling” (1 Corinthians 2:4) is such a vivid description of the overwhelming experience it must have been for Saint Paul.
We can find encouragement in the challenge of having hard conversations in our lives, whether it is about our faith or not, through today’s example from Saint Paul. We should rely less on our own wisdom, our own way with words, our own persuasive skills, and rely more upon the Spirit. It is a leap of faith to trust the Holy Spirit to inspire our words, even if we’re not preaching the Gospel directly, because as Christians all our interactions in the world are capable of being a light for others toward the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Relate to the Lord // Practice calling upon the Spirit throughout the day. Make “Come, Holy Spirit” your constant prayer.
Christy Isinger est une épouse et mère de cinq beaux enfants bruyants et vit dans le nord du Canada. Lorsqu'elle ne fait pas l'école à la maison, elle est une lectrice dévouée de la littérature anglaise de Jane Austen à Agatha Christie et des blogs sur la beauté et la vie. Elle est co-animatrice du podcast Fountains of Carrots . Elle est l'auteur de Blessed Conversations: The Ten Commandments . En savoir plus sur elle ici .
