Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2025 Franciscan Gospel Reflection

Franciscan Friar Fr. Paul Gallagher reflects on the Gospel readings for the Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time. At this point in your life, what are the things for which you are waiting? Photos: We are grateful for these images from faith communities at St. Michael, Whitelaw, Wisconsin and Our Lady Queen of Heaven, Wisconsin Rapids.

The content is edited by Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Anne Marie Lom and Joe Thiel. The excerpts from the Sunday readings are prepared by Joe Thiel. To read or download the complete pdf with excerpts for your prayer, please click here: Franciscan Gospel Reflection August 10 2025.  Excerpts are from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Photos: 

Luke 12:32-48 or 12:35-40 (the short from omits the italicized text)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide moneybags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

“Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on this arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them preparing in this way, blessed are those servants. “Be sure of this much; if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master, on arrival, finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of his property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and comes to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. “That servant who knows his master’s will but does not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

Background:

Last Sunday’s Gospel focused on the concern for worldly possessions. At the beginning of that Gospel, a man asked Jesus to intervene with his brother so he could share in the family inheritance. Responding to this request, Jesus told the parable of the foolish farmer, who, having an abundant harvest, decided to build larger barns, thinking he would then have security for years to come—but sister death was to come instead. As Luke’s Gospel continues, Jesus draws on nature, i.e. the raven, and flowers, to demonstrate how God cares for creation without it needing to worry about the future. The text for this week follows those two illustrations. The opening verses of the Gospel continue the theme of trusting in God’s providence.

Luke’s Gospel was written about fifty years after the death of Jesus. The Christian community had already been waiting for Jesus’ return longer than they had originally anticipated. While the first line in the text for this Sunday relates back to last Sunday’s concern about possessions, the major portion of the text encourages the disciples’ faithful waiting for Jesus’ return.

In the early years the Christians waited for the return of Jesus much like the Jews waited that first Passover night. Their yearly celebration of Passover became the basis for their understanding of how they were to wait for Jesus’ return in fullness of glory. Today’s Gospel echoes that sense of being ready for the moment when Jesus would appear.

Peter asks Jesus for whom he is telling the parable. Jesus does not answer Peter’s question, but takes the opportunity to emphasize the disciples’ responsibility as stewards of Jesus’ teaching.

Luke’s community would have seen themselves in the image of the slave (translated here “servant”). They are not slaves in the traditional sense of doing only what they are told without responsibility for the outcome. But as slaves of God, they must act with compassion and must be mindful of the well-being of themselves and others.

Jesus is asking his disciples to act in a way that would be very different from their contemporaries. They are to look to the future for their reward. Most people in Luke’s community lived a day-to-day existence. There was no time to worry about the future. The Pharisees and the elite lived in a world that focused on the past to maintain some sense of stability. Jesus is asking his disciples to live with watchfulness and a sense of fidelity that was uncommon. His disciples must live out of a new kind of mindset and look to the future of God’s kingdom for their reward. Equally uncharacteristic is the master who would return from being away and gather the servants and begin to wait on them. While Jesus is asking for behavior that would set his disciples apart from the typical way of thinking, he is also promising them a response from God that was also extraordinary.

Reflection questions:

1. Are there times when you have actually enjoyed giving gifts? What do you recall about those experiences?
2. Do you live your daily life thinking about the past, planning for the future, or in the present moment?
3. Can you point to different people who seem to live primarily in the past, the future, and the present?
4. At this point in your life, what are the things for which you are waiting?
5. How does your waiting impact your ability to be in the present?
6. The beginning of the Gospel states: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.” What does the fact that text describes the Father as being pleased to give you the kingdom say to you?
7. As Jesus describes the roles of the servant and the master in this Gospel, what lines stand out to you?
8. Can you take some time now to talk with God about this Gospel text and the thoughts and feelings that arose within you as you reflected on this text?