20250909 ROOT YOUR LIFE IN CHRIST
09 September 2025, Tuesday, 23rd Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
Colossians 2:6-15 |
The Lord has brought you to life with him
You must live your whole life according to the Christ you have received – Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted in him and built on him and held firm by the faith you have been taught, and full of thanksgiving.
Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some second-hand, empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on Christ.
In his body lives the fullness of divinity, and in him you too find your own fulfilment, in the one who is the head of every Sovereignty and Power.
In him you have been circumcised, with a circumcision not performed by human hand, but by the complete stripping of your body of flesh. This is circumcision according to Christ. You have been buried with him, when you were baptised; and by baptism, too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead. You were dead, because you were sinners and had not been circumcised: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us all our sins.
He has overridden the Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay; he has done away with it by nailing it to the cross; and so he got rid of the Sovereignties and the Powers, and paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal procession.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 144(145):1-2,8-11 |
How good is the Lord to all.
I will give you glory, O God my king,
I will bless your name for ever.
I will bless you day after day
and praise your name for ever.
How good is the Lord to all.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all,
compassionate to all his creatures.
How good is the Lord to all.
All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,
and your friends shall repeat their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
and declare your might, O God.
How good is the Lord to all.
Gospel Acclamation | Ph2:15-16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
You will shine in the world like bright stars
because you are offering it the word of life.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.Jn15:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I chose you from the world
to go out and bear fruit,
fruit that will last,
says the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 6:12-19 |
Jesus chooses his twelve apostles
Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.
He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.
ROOT YOUR LIFE IN CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Col 2:6-15; PS145:1-2,8-11; Lk 6:12-19]
Where do you look for strength, wisdom, and direction to guide your life and your everyday decisions? More so if you are a leader, and your decisions affect the life of many people. Leaders are often faced with very difficult choices because the challenges are multi-faceted. It is seldom a “win-all” situation but rather a compromised solution. It cannot be all or nothing. This is how complicated life has become. We must sometimes sacrifice lower goals for the sake of higher ones.
Jesus too, in His ministry, had to make decisions as a man. One of the first things He had to do was to form a community of disciples who would one day carry on His work when He was no longer with them. As a man, Jesus was limited by space and time. He needed messengers, disciples, and apostles to help Him spread His message and announce the Good News of healing, forgiveness of sins, reconciliation, and freedom. The Gospel tells us that He had already gathered a group of disciples to be with Him. But He had reached a critical moment when He had to exercise intentional discipleship–mentoring His disciples so that they could become apostles.
To help Him choose the Twelve, symbolising the Twelve Tribes of Israel, He consulted His Father in prayer. “Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.” It is significant that the evangelist candidly noted that one of them, Judas Iscariot, became a traitor. Did Jesus make the wrong choice? Did He not pray to His Father? Did He not discern the entire evening and night?
We can be sure that Jesus was deliberate in the choice of the Twelve apostles. He knew they were of different social classes, different temperaments, and even held different ideologies of the coming of the Messiah and the liberation of Israel. Some were more educated than others. Some were revolutionaries. Some were ordinary fishermen. Yet Jesus chose a diversity of temperaments, characters, and social classes so that they could offer a broader perspective on mission and ministry. According to their talents, Jesus would use them for the spread of the Gospel. He was not afraid of diversity or differing viewpoints. He saw diversity as a strength rather than uniformity.
The secret of Jesus’ success in the ministry – which we have much to learn from – was His ability to bring them together in spite of their differences. Indeed, we often see the apostles quarrelling among themselves. At times, they fought for position and attention. They surely differed in their religious and political views. Yet Jesus was extremely patient in forming them and teaching them the true meaning of service and what ministry entailed, namely, carrying the cross after Him. At times, when Satan’s temptation was strong, He immediately reprimanded them, as He did with Peter for thinking in worldly terms. Although the apostles might not have been great friends with one another, they were all united by a common love and a common mission. They were all deeply in love with Jesus, and they accepted Him as their Lord, Master, and Teacher. So even when they disagreed among themselves, Jesus remained their point of unity. For the sake of their Lord and Master, they were willing to give up cherished views or worldly ambitions simply because they adored Him. Indeed, unless we possess the charismatic qualities of Jesus, it is truly a great challenge to unite a group of people, especially in a world where relativism and individualism reign. A leader must command respect, trust, and confidence before he can inspire and unite others.
Still, despite the best intentions, life is such that the people we choose may betray us. This was the case with Judas. It must have been very sad for Jesus that Judas, who spent three years with Him, living in close intimacy, listening to His thoughts and heart, could–for whatever reason–betray Him despite Jesus’ many attempts to bring him back to his senses. This is a lesson for us. Our plans are not always God’s plans. We may spend hours discerning and choosing a leader, even someone to be ordained as a priest, only to discover later that we have chosen the wrong person. How could that happen? There is always a relationship between God’s plan for us and our free will. While God may call us to a particular vocation, we might resist His plan and choose something else. This was the case with Judas. Yet all is not lost, because we know that God is greater than our failures. If we repent, as Peter did, God will work even through our mistakes. As St Paul wrote: “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28)
Jesus’ power for ministry also came from prayer and intimacy with His Father. He drew strength from Him. As the Word of God, Jesus proclaimed the Father’s words. He came to reveal the Father’s love, mercy, and compassion. Hence, after coming down from the hill where He had prayed, He was ready to exercise His ministry of teaching and healing: “He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.” Power went out of Him, because His Father was with Him in the Spirit. Jesus gave whatever the Father gave Him.
Consequently, St Paul reminds us that just as our Lord rooted His life in His Father, so we too must root our life in Him. “You must live your whole life according to the Christ you have received – Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted in him and built on him and held firm by the faith you have been taught, and full of thanksgiving.” Indeed, our whole life must be Christ-centred, taking Him as our reference point in all we say and do. We must put on the mind of Christ when making decisions or teaching others under our care. Unless our lives are built on Him and held firm by faith, we will lose our direction and focus. In Him, we find strength, wisdom, and direction to walk in truth and love.
This is particularly urgent today because we are being swamped with all kinds of false philosophies. Like the early Christians, we too can be tempted and confused by subscribing to ideas that are alien to the Scriptures. St Paul instructs us, “Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some second-hand, empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on Christ.” Today, there are many clever arguments to lead us away from the truth. The world can construct all kinds of arguments to show that they are right. But for us, our faith is founded on the Word of God entrusted to the Church by Christ. Our faith is not founded on reason but on the truth spoken by Christ. Even if we do not fully understand, we can still believe, because for us, it is an act of faith.
So, let us not be deceived by the illusive arguments of the world. Instead of being impressed by clever arguments, as the Devil attempted at the Temptation of our Lord, we must resist the Evil One. Let us put our faith in the Cross of Christ, which may be against logic to the Jews, and madness to the Greeks. But for us, the Cross of Christ is the Wisdom of God, for by it, God reveals to us His love and vulnerability, yet without being overwhelmed by the sins of the world. Instead, by His death, Jesus conquered the fear of death by rising from the dead. Consequently, we no longer fear death, for it is the last enemy defeated in Christ. We know that Jesus has won salvation for us. “He has overridden the Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay; he has done away with it by nailing it to the cross.” With the psalmist, we can truly say, “I will give you glory, O God my king, I will bless your name for ever. The Lord is kind and full of compassion.”
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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