The Friday after the Seventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 8, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 17:1-2 (NKJV)
17:1 Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”
Devotion
This very short reading speaks with a clarity which we always need to keep in mind where the offense of sin is involved: “Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” The offense of a wicked life or false teaching is such that it imperils the “little ones”—both children and those who are new to the faith. Indeed, the degree of scandal can be an offense to the faithful, irrespective of age.
St. Paul teaches the Church: “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” (1 Cor. 14) Open wickedness and false doctrine always bring confusion and threaten division from the saving truth. It is a consolation to know that God promises to punish such wickedness, for it assures the saints that, in love for His saints, the Lord will judge such wicked men. Our Lord’s words are a call for the wicked to repent, and for the saints to take consolation: The Lord will judge the world and preserve His Church, for the gates of Hades will not prevail.
Collect: O God, Whose never-failing Providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth: We humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
