Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for September 22, 2025
Here is the video of today’s reflection.
The YouTube generated transcript for today’s reflection is:
I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies. It’s September 22nd and I’m coming to you from a Manhattan rooftop. In today’s gospel, Jesus gives us two images that are building upon the parable of the sewer and the seed about the proclamation of the gospel that he gave us on Saturday. The first image is of light. The second image is how we hear. Let’s listen with new ears to Jesus today as he tries to teach us what we’re supposed to do when we hear his word.
He says, “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a vessel or under a bed. It’s put actually on a lampstand so that it can illuminate.” He says nothing that’s hidden is not going to come to the light. Nothing secret, not going to become known. He wants us to receive his word as light and not hide it, but share it, let it shine.
We’re called to be as witnesses, not enter a witness protection program. And so, the first thing we’re supposed to see is when we’re filled with light, we’re supposed to become radiant by living that word. The second thing Jesus says is, “Take care how you hear. For the one who has, more will be given. The one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Jesus is teaching us a principle we know from life that if we study, we learn better. If we exercise, we build muscles. If we practice the piano, we’re able to play more complicated pieces.
We either use it or lose it. And Jesus is saying it’s the same thing with the way we hear his word. If we hear his word with good soil, that type of soil that bears fruit 30, 60, and 100-fold, we’re going to grow much stronger. And then we’re going to be able to hear the word of God and see its connection so much more deeply. But if we hear with those first three soil samples, the hardened soil by the wayside, the rocky soil that’s superficial, the thorny soil full of anxieties and the lure of riches and pleasures, then we won’t hear accurately and will become increasingly deaf to the way Jesus is trying to teach us how to live.
Missionaries are those who receive the gift of faith in Jesus Christ as a light that they want to put up on the top of a hill so that the whole world is able to see it and live by that light. They’re the ones who hear Jesus’ words, come follow me deeply and they receive more and more the more they share the faith. It’s not just a duty that they’re doing. The more they bring the gospel to others, the more deeply they conform themselves to the gospels.
This is one of the great rules of life. Use it or lose it today. Yet, let’s use it.
God bless you.
The Gospel reading on which the reflection was based on:
Gospel
Jesus said to the crowd:
“No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel
or sets it under a bed;
rather, he places it on a lampstand
so that those who enter may see the light.
For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible,
and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.
Take care, then, how you hear.
To anyone who has, more will be given,
and from the one who has not,
even what he seems to have will be taken away.”