The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate extremes in human experience, poverty and plenty, and the least and the greatest.
The Reading from the Book of Job presents an interview between the Lord and “the Satan”, the First Trial, and Job’s Reaction.
* [1:6] Sons of God: members of the divine council; see Gn 6:1–4; Dt 32:8; Ps 82:1. The satan: lit., “adversary” (as in 1 Kgs 11:14). Here a member of the heavenly court, “the accuser” (Zec 3:1). In later biblical traditions this character will be developed as the devil (Gk. diabolos, “adversary”).
* [1:15] Sabeans: from southern Arabia.
* [1:17] Chaldeans: from southern Mesopotamia; in the mid-first millennium B.C., synonymous with “Babylonians.”
* [1:21] Go back there: to the earth; cf. Gn 2:7; see note on Sir 40:1.
c. [1:6] Gn 6:2, 4; Zec 3:1; Lk 22:31; Rev 12:9.
Psalm 17 is a lament of an individual unjustly attacked.
* [Psalm 17] A lament of an individual unjustly attacked. Confident of being found innocent, the psalmist cries out for God’s just judgment (Ps 17:1–5) and requests divine help against enemies (Ps 17:6–9a). Those ravenous lions (Ps 17:9b–12) should be punished (Ps 17:13–14). The Psalm ends with a serene statement of praise (Ps 17:15). The Hebrew text of Ps 17:3–4, 14 is uncertain. (Psalms, PSALM 17 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus proclaims the Greatest in the Kingdom and recognizes another exorcist.
* [9:46–50] These two incidents focus on attitudes that are opposed to Christian discipleship: rivalry and intolerance of outsiders. (Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)
Sara Schulte-Bukowinski comments that faithful people have always struggled with questions of suffering, and that people of faith and goodwill come to different, sometimes contradictory, conclusions as we search to make sense of our experience.
Job, along with some other books and passages (notably the “suffering servant” theme in Isaiah), shows us a different take, one rooted in experiential wisdom: sometimes bad things happen to good people, and we don’t understand why. This is scary because it means no matter how righteous, holy, or good I am, I can’t insulate myself against suffering and loss. But the text reveals something else to temper this truth: God is with us (with me!) in all things.
The book of Job doesn’t explain or justify suffering, but the story does reveal something—we are not alone in it. The book ends with Job conversing with God. CONVERSING WITH GOD. In this astonishing encounter, Job accepts that there are things he cannot understand, and that God is with him even in the murkiness. This is resonant with my own prayer amid loss. I don’t hold God responsible for my losses, but I do surrender to a reality beyond my comprehension. No explanation or justification makes sense, but relationship does.
For me, this story of Job is tied closely to the paschal mystery. Like the voice of God in Job, Jesus does not explain or justify suffering (though he does challenge the idea that it is connected directly to sin). In a drastic upping of the stakes, God incarnate climbs right into it with us. He doesn’t redeem suffering and death, but he redeems us in the midst of it. I don’t have to understand; I just have to know, in the face of mystery, that I’m not alone. (Schulte-Bukowinski, 2026)
Don Schwager quotes Jesus, the Physician of souls, amputates vainglory, by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD)
"The passion and lust of pride attacked some of the holy apostles. The mere argument about who of them was the greatest is the mark of an ambitious person, eager to stand at the head of the rest. Christ, who did not sleep, knows how to deliver. He saw this thought in the disciple's mind, springing up, in the words of Scripture (Hebrews 12:15), like some bitter plant. He saw the weeds, the work of the wicked sower. Before it grew up tall, struck its root down deep, grew strong, and took possession of the heart, he tears up the evil by the very root...
"In what way does the Physician of souls amputate pride’s passion? How does he deliver the beloved disciple from being the prey of the enemy and from a thing hateful to God and man? "He took a child," it says, "and set it by him." He made the event a means of benefiting both the holy apostles themselves and us their successors. This illness, as a rule, preys upon all those who are in any respect superior to other people".(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 54.2) (Schwager, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winker comments on the texts for today. In the Book of Job a good man suffers and we ask: “Why does God allow it?” Job is challenged by Satan as if Satan was an attorney who as a servant of God is assessing Job’s motives. This idea of legal challenge is continued in the Book of Revelation where Satan is the accuser of our brothers. God responds “I know, but I forgive”, even in the face of strict justice. Job accepts his fate. Friar Jude comments that in 2 of 38 chapters in the Book of Job he is patient and long suffering and in the remaining chapters he is challenging God. This plea is to help understand suffering that we feel is unfair. This is almost always a universal experience. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus reminds us that to receive a child is to receive Him. Children can’t pay us back. We serve for the joy of serving. We give to those most in need like Mother Theresa in Calcutta but the apostles see the power being with Jesus, but anyone doing good is to be celebrated. When we declare the motive for generosity as “Only to be seen”, Friar Jude asks “Who are we to criticize?” Celebrate the good they are doing and learn from them. We celebrate the good and kind things our children and grandchildren do and hope to make this behaviour part of their life.
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 9:46-50 comments that the apostles in the Gospel are searching for a kind of worldly greatness similar to what Job had before his trials. They weren’t searching for a comfortable life with lots of land and abundant resources, but they wanted the kind of prestige that Job enjoyed. And knowing how human prestige works, they knew that they had to compete against each other for it. There could be only one winner—and eleven losers.
To be fair, the apostles followed Jesus for more than just attention. They loved him and were sincerely trying to live out his teachings. But they still didn’t grasp one of his most important teachings. So Jesus had a child stand beside him while he said, “The one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest” (Luke 9:48). Greatness in the kingdom of God is not about the number of our possessions or our reputation. It’s about having the humility, detachment, and simplicity of a child. It’s about becoming like Jesus, whose greatest joy was to do his Father’s will.
Remember, God doesn’t judge you the same way the world does. His model for greatness is his Son, who didn’t grasp for greatness but who humbly gave up his life. May we all strive to become the “least”!
“Jesus, show me the way to a truly ‘great’ life!” (Meditation on Luke 9:46-50, 2026)
Father Richard Rohr introduces James Finley who describes how Thérèse of Lisieux embraced ordinariness, the beauty of the little flower, as a path to God.
Thérèse sees herself in some way as a little flower growing in God’s garden, which is why she’s sometimes called the Little Flower. She says that there is glory in the rose and the orchid and all of that, but imagine a field filled with wildflowers in the springtime—thousands and thousands of flowers, and that God knows the littleness of each one and is personally loving each one into existence. Furthermore, God knows what that little flower is and the intricacy of its design, like the subtle scent of the violet. God eternally knows the violet to be hidden with Christ in God forever, so God is eternally contemplating the little flower in God. God is completely presencing Godself in the little flower…
I think Thérèse lived in this kind of luminosity, this gentle glow. She was not an ecstatic mystic having visions, but it’s like the divinity of the simplicity of herself that she so graciously shares with us invites us into the graciousness of our own simplicity. Thérèse is stunning by the radicality of her simplicity, which brings us to the radicality and the divinity of our simplicity and how we are to live by it and to walk in it day by day. [2] (Rohr, n.d.)
We may think that our plea is to help understand suffering that we feel is unfair is being ignored even as we implore the Spirit for consolation in our struggle.
References
Job, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/job/1?
Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?46
Meditation on Luke 9:46-50. (2026, September 28). The Word Among Us. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/09/27/1678507/
Psalms, PSALM 17 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/17?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). The Beauty of a Little Flower. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-beauty-of-a-little-flower/
Schulte-Bukowinski, S. (2026, September 28). Daily Reflection September 28, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-september-28-2026
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Jesus Perceived the Thought of Their Hearts. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?
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