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Gospel Commentary – September 7, 2025
Whoever does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Dear brothers and sisters, peace and all good.
Today, in the first reading, we meet the great figure of Solomon, one of the greatest kings in the history of Israel. When faced with the difficult task of governing the people, he shows the humility to admit that he is just a man, like anyone else, with his own limitations. He knows he can be wrong in his reasoning, and that his motivations, when making decisions, are not always clear and pure. He is aware that he cannot just do whatever he wants, because he believes in God. Above all, this means taking God into account in every decision he must make. In other words: constantly asking himself what God’s will is for him.
Surely, a man feels weak and fragile when trying to carry out God’s plans. How can I know and fulfill God’s desire? The Book of Wisdom says: “Who can know your counsel unless you give wisdom and send your Holy Spirit from on high?” Yet the believer knows that God will help him once again with His grace. He knows God has always enlightened and guided him with His wisdom. God can also help us today. That’s why we constantly ask Him for the gift of wisdom: “Send her down from heaven.” We know this prayer is effective. God’s answer is certain: the Incarnation, the Word made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Wisdom took flesh in the person of Jesus, with a human face. He entered our history, inviting us to give up everything in order to reach full union with God. Jesus is the gentle and radiant Wisdom given to us from above.
In the second reading, we see Paul as an old man under house arrest, helped by a runaway slave. This slave has been very helpful to Paul; they connected well, and Paul grew fond of him, even calling him “my own child.” But Paul asks God what he should do with this slave, what is best for him and for his master. He discerns, he prays, and then makes a difficult decision: to let him go, to send him back, and to ask his master to treat him differently (which was very unusual in those days).
Paul leaves it up to Philemon to decide whether to keep him or send him back. In this way, Paul not only frees Onesimus from slavery but also asks Philemon for something even greater: to welcome Onesimus no longer as a slave, but “as a beloved brother” to be loved in the Lord. Through Paul’s love, Onesimus has become for Philemon a true brother, alive and carrying a treasure that will never perish. The point is not to have Onesimus just for temporary benefit, but “so that you may have him back forever.”
So, we see two great figures who constantly ask about God’s will and who try to bring their faith into everything they decide and do each day.
As Christians we often pray the Our Father, and there we say: “Your will be done.” We admire Mary of Nazareth, who after hearing God’s Word could say: “Let it be done to me according to your Word.” In our time, we may have to admit that we rarely ask about God’s will for us. And even less often do we apply it without conditions.
Too many of our brothers and sisters think that being Christian just means “being a good person.” It’s easy to hear people say: “Look, I don’t steal, I don’t kill, I don’t cheat on my spouse, so why go to confession?” They are convinced that not doing wrong and helping others a little is enough. But being “good people” is something anyone can do. You don’t need to be a Christian, or even believe in God, to be “decent.” And what’s more: the Gospel never says you must be Christian to “go to heaven.”
Notice that today’s Gospel says that “large crowds were traveling with Jesus.” But Jesus, who never looked for crowds or numbers, turns and tells them three very demanding conditions about family, the cross, and possessions. The parables in today’s Gospel teach us that Christian wisdom is to come to Jesus “renouncing all that you have,” as Luke says: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even their own life, such a person cannot be my disciple.” This is what is required to follow Jesus.
Because He is the Son of God, Jesus demands “all your heart, all your strength.” Nothing can come before this love. Jesus wants to be loved as the only love, the only treasure, and the only goal that fills the heart. Whoever does not “renounce all he has” cannot be His disciple. This includes everything we possess: not only material goods, but also our closest relationships. At its core, Christian wisdom is all about detaching from anything that takes us away from God, so we can truly live our calling as disciples.
We must ask ourselves if we are really willing to let go of everything and expect all our strength only from God, letting Him take charge of our whole life. Letting go doesn’t mean running away into the desert. It simply means opening our hands and releasing anything we cling to as “mine,” so we can offer it all to the Lord. That’s why today’s readings put us in front of the same theme: surrendering ourselves to God. We often ask: Who can know God’s will? Or: How can we know what God wants from us? Today’s readings tell us that we can only know God’s intentions if we have wisdom. And to receive wisdom, we must give up everything to follow Jesus. The wisdom the Lord teaches us is simply this: to follow Him. Nothing more. We must free ourselves, strip ourselves, let go of everything we thought we owned, sell all we have, carry no money, not even have a stone to rest our head, and not be bound by family ties.
The disciple’s guarantee is to go to Jesus having nothing. True wisdom is carrying no weight that slows us down on the way after Him. Put positively, it means carrying only one weight: the cross of Jesus. And the weight of the cross is the weight of His love. It’s not about calculations, about counting stones to build a tower or soldiers to win a battle. That’s not the Lord’s point. To be a disciple means choosing the Lord above everything, choosing Him again each day, and offering Him our whole life. The gift of wisdom, which we must constantly ask for, allows us to give ourselves completely, freely, and transparently to this love. Whoever has been conquered by this love no longer fears anything from God. Love drives out all fear. Nothing can scare us anymore.
Your brother in faith,
Alejandro, C.M.F.