Daily Catholic Lectio
Sat, 23 August ‘25
Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday
Saint Rose of Lima, Opt. Memorial
Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11, 4:13-17. Matthew 23:1-12
Titles and Identity
1. Titles without Life, or Life without Titles?
Scripture: Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees for loving titles—Rabbi, Father, Teacher—but failing to live what they taught (Matt 23:1-12). Their honour became self-seeking rather than God-seeking.
Church’s Teaching: Gaudium et Spes (no. 27) warns that dignity lies not in titles but in service to others.
Pastoral Application: We too can seek identity in recognition, positions, or applause. But if our self-worth depends on others’ approval, we lose freedom. Christ calls us instead to find our identity in God’s gaze, not in human praise.
2. Humility: God’s Way of Lifting Up
Scripture: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matt 23:12). Ruth embodies this: as a foreign widow she humbled herself, gleaning in the fields, yet God lifted her up, making her part of Israel’s story and ancestress of King David (Ruth 4:17).
Church’s Teaching: The Catechism (CCC 2540) highlights humility as the soil where God’s grace grows.
Pastoral Application: When we stop grasping for titles and live simply, God Himself honours us. Do I measure my worth by human recognition, or by fidelity in hidden service?
3. Saint Rose of Lima: Royalty through Humility
Life: Rose of Lima (1586–1617), the first saint of the Americas, transformed her home into a sanctuary of prayer, penance, and care for the poor. She showed that holiness is possible not only in monasteries but within family life. Her adornments were humility and purity.
Church’s Teaching: Saint John Paul II called her a model of “lay sanctity” in the ordinary.
Pastoral Application: Rose teaches us that authentic greatness comes from interior life with God and service to others. True honour lies not in what others call us, but in what we are before God.
Conclusion
Jesus unmasks empty titles, Ruth shows the fruit of humble fidelity, and Rose of Lima proves that sainthood is possible in the ordinary. True greatness is not in names we carry, but in the life we live. In God’s Kingdom, humility crowns us with honour.
In sum, Jesus warns us not to seek honour in titles but to live in humble service. Ruth, a foreign widow, shows this humility and is exalted by God to become an ancestor of David. Saint Rose of Lima teaches us that holiness is possible in ordinary family life through prayer, purity, and love for the poor. True greatness is not in what others call us, but in how we live before God.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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