The Sunday Readings and Catholic Doctrine for September 2025

The meaning of the Sunday Mass Readings for September 2025 is made clearest by Catholic Doctrine. God speaks most clearly through Catholic Doctrine. Catholic doctrines are the essentially unchangeable clarifications of Revelation and Faith that only the pope and bishops have the God-given authority to make, that must be accepted as objectively true in order to be Catholic, and that not even the pope and bishops may contradict.

Let’s learn always-true, not-to-be-contradicted doctrines in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that we can take away from this September’s Sunday Readings.[1]

September 7, Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Does Jesus call us to hate our parents, siblings, spouses, children, and even ourselves, as He literally seems to do in today’s Gospel? Like last Sunday’s Gospel, this passage gives us another example of how God does not always want us to take Scripture literally. Instead, “in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others” (CCC 95[2]). So the meaning of Tradition and Scripture is authoritatively given only by the Magisterium (the pope and the bishops) when it gives doctrine. The doctrine we should take away from today’s call to “hate” our family members is that “Christ is the center of all Christian life. The bond with him takes precedence over all other bonds, familial or social” (CCC 1618).

This doctrine does not abolish the Fourth Commandment (to honor our parents) which God gave to Moses or the Second Great Commandment (to love others) which Jesus Himself gave. Any and every doctrine makes more sense the more we understand it in connection with other doctrines (CCC 90, 114). As we saw in the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time this year, Jesus and Catholic Doctrine show us that loving God drives us not only to love others, but also to love them the right way. This is what Jesus’ parables about constructing a tower and marching into battle mean. “All Christ’s faithful are to direct their affections rightly, lest they be hindered in their pursuit of perfect charity” (CCC 2545).

In answer to the first verse of today’s First Reading, we know God’s counsel and His intentions when our applications of Faith and Reason to our lives do not contradict Catholic Doctrine. Come, Holy Spirit!

• From the Second Reading[3] (Philemon 9-10, 12-17): Philm 16 is cited in CCC 2414.
• From the Gospel (Luke 14:25-33): Lk 14:26 in CCC 1618; and Lk 14:33 in CCC 2544.

September 14, Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

So central to Catholic Faith is the Crucifixion, observed today, that verses from the Second Reading are cited in twenty places of the Catechism and verses from the Gospel are cited in fourteen places. The “true meaning of [Jesus’] kingship is revealed only when he is raised high on the cross” (CCC 440).

We hear in today’s Gospel that God sent His Son into the world not to condemn it but to save it. This verse means two things. First, God the Son became human in Jesus Christ “so that we might know God’s love” (CCC 458). God’s “most precious gift” (CCC 219) was sending His Son to save us from sin, death, and all evil. It is only God the Son’s death on the cross that can free any person from sin, death, and evil – the consequences of Original Sin and personal sin. “Man’s sins, following on original sin, are punishable by death” (CCC 602). Jesus’ death on the cross “makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience of Adam” (CCC 411). “Jesus atoned for our faults and made satisfaction for our sins to the Father” (CCC 615). No one earned, deserved, or merited Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

Second, this verse also means that Christ’s atonement on the cross for us does not guarantee our eternal salvation in the Kingdom of God. It is effective only when we cooperate with God’s love (CCC 2062). “By rejecting grace in this life, one already judges oneself, receives according to one’s works, and can even condemn oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love” (CCC 679). The more we assent to Catholic Doctrine in thought and deed, the more we cooperate with God’s love.

Jesus Christ is indeed Lord, as the Second Reading proclaims, which “the Father manifested . . . by raising him from the dead and exalting him into his glory” (CCC 449). The “key, the center, and the purpose of the whole of man’s history is to be found in its Lord and Master” (CCC 450).

• From the Second Reading (Philippians 2:6-11): Phil 2:6-11 is cited in CCC 2641 and 2667; Phil 2:6-9 in CCC 1850; Phil 2:6 in CCC 449; Phil 2:7 in CCC 472, 602, 705, 713, 876, and 1224; Phil 2:8-9 in CCC 908; Phil 2:8 in CCC 411, 612, and 623; Phil 2:9-11 in CCC 449 and 2812; Phil 2:10-11 in CCC 201; and Phil 2:10 in CCC 633 and 635.
• From the Gospel (John 3:13-17): Jn 3:13 is cited in CCC 423, 440, and 661; Jn 3:14-15 in CCC 2130; Jn 3:16 in CCC 219, 444, 454, 458, and 706; and Jn 3:17 in CCC 679.

September 21, Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

As Sunday First Readings and Gospels often do, this week’s have a shared theme. Today it is care for the poor and needy. We should take way from today’s Gospel: “All Christians should be ready and eager to come to the help of the needy . . . and of their neighbors in want” (CCC 952). The Catechism cites today’s First Reading to provide examples of unjust “taking and keeping the property of others” “[e]ven if it does not contradict the provisions of civil law,” such as unjust wages, taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of others, corruption, work poorly done, excessive spending, and damaging private and public property (CCC 2409).

Every single person has an obligation to respect the rights of others and to contribute to the common good (CCC 2411). Good public policy is not a substitute for personal virtue, without which even the best public policy will end up ineffective or counterproductive. “It is necessary, then, to appeal to the spiritual and moral capacities of the human person and to the permanent need for his inner conversion, so as to obtain social changes that will really serve him” (CCC 1888).

Again, we should see, as pointed out about the Readings two weeks ago, that any and every doctrine makes more sense the more we understand it in connection with other doctrines (CCC 90, 114). Without doing so, a pitfall with today’s Readings is to reduce them to endorsement of socialism. “The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies [of] ‘communism’ or ‘socialism.’” However, the Church “has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of ‘capitalism,’ individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace . . . (CCC 2425).”

To be Catholic is to embrace socialization – “the natural tendency for human beings to associate with one another for the sake of attaining objectives that exceed individual capacities” (CCC 1882). To be Catholic is also to embrace subsidiarity – “a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order” (CCC 1883). “The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism [which squashes individuality]. It sets limits for [government] intervention” (CCC 1884). Caring for the needy means rejecting both socialism and unbridled capitalism, both too much government and too little government while, as above, calling for personal virtue from all.

There is an important take away from today’s Responsorial Psalm: we should “not introduce [God’s name] into [our] speech except to bless, praise, and glorify it” (CCC 2143).

The Catechism cites today’s Second Reading to justify the Prayer of the Faithful at Mass (CCC 1349) and to teach that the intercession of Christians [should be] for all [people], for . . . all who are in high positions, for persecutors, for the salvation of those who reject the Gospel” (CCC 2636).

• From the First Reading (Amos 8:4-7): Am 8:4-6 is cited in CCC 2409; and Am 8:6 in CCC 2449.
• From the Responsorial Psalm (Psalms 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8): Ps 113:1-2 is cited in CCC 2143.
• From the Second Reading (1 Timothy 2:1-8): 1 Tim 2:1-2 is cited in CCC 1349 and 1900; and 1 Tim 2:1 in CCC 2636.
• From the Alleluia (2 Corinthians 8:9): 2 Cor 8:9 is cited in CCC 517, 1351, 2407, and 2546.
• From the Gospel (Luke 16:1-13): Lk 16:1 is cited in CCC 952; Lk 16:3 in CCC 952; and Lk 16:13 in CCC 2424.

September 28, Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Catechism uses the parable of the rich man and Lazarus from today’s Gospel to teach that while blameworthiness for mortal sin “requires full knowledge and complete consent [of a gravely wrong action],” nevertheless “[f]eigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of sin” (CCC 1859). The Catechism also teaches that this parable “cannot be isolated from” the petition in the Our Father to give us our daily bread – it calls Christians “to exercise responsibility toward their [hungry] brethren” (CCC 2831).

From today’s Second Reading, we should take away that one way to obey the Second Commandment to not take the name of God in vain is “by confessing the faith without giving way to fear. Preaching and catechizing should be permeated with adoration and respect for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (CCC 2145).

God dwells in unapproachable light, as the Second Reading tells us. God’s light is unapproachable because of Original Sin and personal sin (CCC 37). Yet God “wants to communicate his own divine life to [humans] he freely created, in order to adopt them as his [children] in his only-begotten Son. By revealing himself God wishes to make [humans] capable of responding to him, and of knowing him, and of loving him far beyond their own natural capacity” (CCC 52). God’s Revelation gives us knowledge, not opinions, of Him (CCC 142). Faith is the response in thought and in deed which God wants us to make to His Revelation (CCC 143). God has revealed the Faith we should have. True Faith is not any response to God that seems good to us. Both Revelation and Faith are made clearest in Catholic Doctrine.

Today’s Alleluia is the same as last week’s Alleluia. We can take away from it that God the Son shares our human life (except for its sinfulness) so we can share in God’s life (CCC 460). The best way to share in God’s life is in the Catholic Church (CCC 830) until we fully share in His life in the Kingdom which will have no end (CCC 1042).

• From the Second Reading (1 Timothy 6:11-16): 1 Tim 6:12 is cited in CCC 2145; 1 Tim 6:15-16 in CCC 2641; and 1 Tim 6:16 in CCC 52.
• From the Alleluia (2 Corinthians 8:9): 2 Cor 8:9 is cited in CCC 517, 1351, 2407, and 2546.
• From the Gospel (Luke 16:19-31): Lk 16:19-31 is cited in CCC 1859 and 2831.

[1] There are too many citations, or references, in the Catechism to the verses in a month of Sunday Mass readings to identify all the pertinent doctrines, so I will use my best judgment to select which verses and doctrines to cover in a column that may not exceed 2,000 words. The bullet points allow you to explore further the Biblical basis of Catholic Doctrine.

[2] CCC abbreviates Catechism of the Catholic Church. Any number after it is the number of a paragraph in the Catechism. For example, “CCC 95” means paragraph 95 of the Catechism.

[3] If a Reading is not listed, then none of its verses is cited by the CCC.