Reading to Approach the Week

Ephesians 6:10-13

This week I’ve been struck by the growing hostility toward Christianity in the world. From laws silencing biblical preaching to ideologies that try to erase our foundations, it is easy to feel both anger and fear. Yet Paul reminds us in Ephesians that our true battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the forces of darkness that stand behind every effort to destroy the faith.

Paul makes it clear that discipleship is not comfort, it is combat. And if we are going to withstand the evils that rise against the Church, whether it’s the rage of Islam or the cynicism of secular ideologies, we must be prepared, disciplined, and fully equipped.

But here is the crucial truth, we cannot become what we are battling. The enemies of the faith spread hate, rage, and destruction. Islam grows its influence by fear, coercion, and even violence. If we answer with the same, we lose ourselves. Our weapons are different. Humility, generosity, courage, and joy in Christ. Where they destroy, we build. Where they hate, we love. Where they try to silence, we witness. This is how the armor of God looks in action.

That does not mean weakness. Paul never says we should surrender. Defending the faith requires courage and at times a hard response. But discipline means we fight with Christ’s strength, not our own rage. We defend without becoming heathens who kill and destroy for the sake of conquest. Instead, we are witnesses whose lives draw others in. We don’t “build an army” through indoctrination and fear but by inspiring others when they see the freedom and happiness that come from following Christ.

This is why discipline matters. If we stay soft, chasing comfort, we will be swept away. If we cannot master ourselves, we will never be able to defend the faith. To put on the armor of God is to reject laziness and cowardice, and to live as examples that others want to emulate. In our strength and joy, people recognize something the world cannot give and they are drawn to it.

Hate is the weapon of Islam. Love is the weapon of Christ. And it is only through the discipline of discipleship, standing firm, armored in prayer, Scripture, and faith that we can endure, inspire, and overcome.

Sunday Mass Reflection

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading - Wisdom 9:13-18

God's Wisdom, Not our Own

Wisdom reminds us that human understanding is weak and uncertain. On our own, we can barely grasp the things of earth, let alone the plans of God. It is only through the gift of divine wisdom, poured out by the Spirit, that we can walk in God’s ways. True discipleship means humbly seeking His wisdom instead of relying on our own.

Second Reading - Philemon 9-10, 12-17

A New Bond in Christ

Paul writes to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus, a runaway slave who has now become a brother in Christ. Instead of demanding with authority, Paul appeals with love, asking Philemon to receive Onesimus not as property, but as family. This small but powerful letter shows how discipleship transforms relationships, breaking down divisions and creating a new fraternity in Christ.

Gospel - Luke 14:25-33

The Cost of Discipleship

Jesus speaks plainly to the large crowds. Following Him requires total commitment. Nothing, not family ties, possessions, or even one’s own life can come before Him. He warns that discipleship is not casual, but costly, like a builder calculating the expense of a tower or a king preparing for battle. To follow Christ is to renounce comfort and give everything to walk in His way.

Homily Reflection

Disciplined Discipleship vs Cheap Grace

Luke 14:25–33 is Jesus looking the crowd in the eye and asking "Are you truly ready to follow me?" Not with words, not with comfort, not with half-measures but with the full weight of your life. It’s the difference between being a fan of Christ and being a disciple of Christ as Father Mike Schmitz puts it. And the truth is, many Christians today, myself included, must admit we are often closer to the first than the second.

My priest brought up Dietrich Bonhoeffer this week, and his words could not be more relevant. Bonhoeffer saw clearly in pre–World War II Germany that the Christian culture in Germany had grown soft, shallow, and wide open to takeover by a hostile ideology like Nazism. He wrote with urgency about this weakness, and when he refused to compromise with evil, he was imprisoned and ultimately killed for his witness. He became a martyr at the hands of an ideology that hollowed out the Church and turned it into a tool of the state.

We are seeing a similar danger now in Europe. Secular politicians and mass Islamic immigration in countries like the UK, Germany, and France have have overrun the Christian fabric that once held them strong. Weak, cultural Christianity has no power to resist. It gets swallowed up. Bonhoeffer’s warning is not history alone; it’s a mirror. If we don’t strengthen our discipleship in our communities, the same forces will hollow us out too.

This is why Bonhoeffer’s great challenge still matters. Are you living in cheap grace, or costly grace? Cheap grace is comfortable Christianity. Saying you’re saved with faith alone, attending Mass or church here and there, tolerating secular lies, nodding politely while ideologies that hate Christ are allowed to fester. Cheap grace is the wide road, and it always ends in collapse. Costly grace is different. Costly grace is discipleship that hurts. Renouncing sin, rejecting compromise, standing firm against opposition, and embracing the narrow gate of sacrifice and obedience. Costly grace doesn’t collapse when the culture turns hostile. It shines through that hostility.

Our Lord is blunt: “Whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” We cannot claim discipleship if our lives show no fruit. If your last week was recorded and played back to someone searching for faith, would you be proud to have it represent Christ? Would it show prayer, courage, integrity, and joy? Or would it look like cheap grace filled with words without the costly actions to match? This Gospel is a fire alarm, and it calls us not to talk about faith but to live it visibly and credibly.

Discipleship starts with mastery. If we are soft, clinging to comfort, easily controlled, or unwilling to endure hardship, then we will be swept away when opposition rises. The armor of God (Ephesians 6) is not rage, destruction, or coercion. That is how Islam and secular ideologies grow. Our armor is discipline through prayer, the Sacraments, Scripture, integrity, humility, courage, and fraternity. Where the enemies of Christ weaponize hate, we weaponize love. Where they spread fear, we spread joy. Where they seek destruction, we build. That is how Christianity has always endured, and it is how we will endure now.

It is easy to let anger take over when we see our enemies attacking the faith. But we cannot let their hostility change the foundation of our character we've built through Christ. Marcus Aurelius reminds us of this “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.” Our fight is not to mirror their chaos, but to outlast it with disciplined discipleship and lives so rooted in Christ that others are drawn to follow.

Pope Leo XIII said it best at the canonization of Saints of Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis yesterday: “The greatest risk of life is to waste it by living outside of God’s plan.” Do not waste your life by conforming to cheap grace or modern ideologies that think they own your divine rights. Take up costly grace. Be disciplined. Be an example others want to follow. That is the only way we will defend the Church, preserve our nation, and live faithfully into God’s eternal plan.

Saints of the Week: Pier Giorgio Frassati & Carlo Acutis

Canonized: September 6, 2025 — Rome

Why They Matter

Both young, both ordinary in appearance, both extraordinary in faith. Pier Giorgio and Carlo remind us that age, comfort, or culture are no excuse. When lived with discipline and joy, even a short life can become a blazing light for Christ.

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Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901–1925)

Known as “the Man of the Beatitudes,” Pier Giorgio was born into wealth but chose a life of humility, fraternity, and service. He spent his days climbing mountains and serving the poor, all while centering his life on the Eucharist and prayer. His motto, “Verso l’alto” (To the heights!), was not just about mountaineering but about striving for holiness. He died at only 24 from polio contracted while caring for the sick, but tens of thousands filled the streets of Turin to honor his life.

Why He Matters: Pier Giorgio shows that joy, generosity, and courage in everyday life can move entire generations. He lived disciplined discipleship with contagious joy.

Carlo Acutis (1991–2006)

Carlo was a teenager of the digital age who turned his love of computers into a tool for evangelization. He built a website cataloguing Eucharistic miracles to help others encounter Christ. He prayed the Rosary daily, loved the Eucharist deeply, and offered his leukemia at age 15 for the Church. Known for saying, “To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan,” he lived out radical discipleship in a very ordinary teenage life.

Why He Matters: Carlo shows that holiness is possible now in our generation, in this culture, and even online. He reminds us that technology is not an obstacle but a mission field.

Legacy

Canonized yesterday, these two young men remind us that discipleship does not wait until old age, nor is it lived in comfort. Bonhoeffer warned about cheap grace and Carlo and Pier Giorgio show us what costly grace looks like: joy, sacrifice, courage, and action rooted in Christ. They lived through Him, and their examples call us to do the same, especially in a world hostile to the faith.

Closing Thoughts

This week’s readings and reflections leave us with no middle ground. Jesus calls us to costly grace, not cheap grace. Bonhoeffer’s life shows that when Christians grow soft, ideologies hostile to Christ rush in to fill the vacuum. Paul tells us to put on the armor of God, not to lash out with rage like our enemies, but to stand disciplined, ready, and unshaken.

The lesson is to the point. We cannot let the modernists or the Islamists change our character. Their weapons are rage, coercion, and destruction. Ours are faith, joy, humility, courage, and sacrificial love. Discipleship is not about blending in or chasing comfort. It is about standing firm, building when others destroy, and showing the world what it looks like to live under the reign of Christ.

Pope Leo XIII’s words echo here: “The greatest risk of life is to waste it by living outside of God’s plan.” Don’t waste your life on half-measures or on cheap grace. Put on the armor. Be disciplined. Live as an example that others want to follow. And when the hostility rises, stand not in rage, but in the strength of the Lord, with eyes fixed on Christ.