Weekly Reflections

CCAS Administrative Assistant 11/3/26 CCAS Administrative Assistant 11/3/26

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

November 8, 2026

We must not limit the idea of being ready to welcome the Lord to only at the moment of death.

GOSPEL

Matthew 25:11-13

Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
But the wise ones replied, 'No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.' While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!' But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.' Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

This parable doesn’t sound very Christian, does it? Didn’t Jesus teach us to provide for the need, to take what we have and share it with those who have less? Jesus taught us about sharing in other ways, too. Remember the parable of the Last Judgment, when Jesus separates the sheep from the goats? The sheep were those who fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and visited those in prison. The goats did none of these things and, as a result, were cast away. We know that parable – but this isn’t that parable. Jesus has something else to say to us here. What an unusual parable! What is all this about ten virgins carrying lamps and waiting for the bridegroom? And why does he arrive at midnight to claim his bride? That doesn’t sound like any of our church weddings, does it? In those days, fathers arranged marriages and signed marriage contracts. Sounds like a business deal, doesn’t it? Where’s romance? Once the contract was signed, the bride remained in her family home for a year or more, until the groom came to take her to his home. The ten young women would have been friends and relatives of the bride’s family. Along with the bride, they would go to the groom’s house, where the wedding feast would begin. Now that sounds like a wedding! But the parable raises still more questions. Where would those five unprepared maidens find oil to buy at midnight? Jesus has something to say to us, so let’s allow him to tell the story in his own way. Our task is to listen, learn, and gain wisdom for our lives. What is wisdom, anyway? Is it another name for knowledge? Does having wisdom mean knowing all the answers or earning honors in school? Does it mean making a fortune on the stock market? A woman I know who teaches religious education was consulting the books on her desk to find a definition of wisdom. She decided to turn to an expert for a fresh perspective: her eleven-year-old daughter. The girl replied, “Wisdom means knowing right from wrong. A wise person knows what is right and does it.” It sounds as though she had been reading this parable! Back to the parable. Five maidens recognized what the occasion required and came prepared. The other five faced the same occasion but failed to prepare. They let time slip away. They thought, “Someone else will take up the slack.” The moment of truth seemed far off. But in the parable, the opportunity eventually passes. The time for deciding is gone. The time for acting has passed. All ten maidens were imperfect. All ten fell asleep. Like us, they were fallible. We, too, doze off and let things slip by. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, those closest to Jesus fell asleep. So, this parable is a grace for us. It is a wake-up call. It challenges us to reflect and gives us time to make changes. It asks us: What steps do I need to take to be ready for the unexpected? What must I do now, before life surprises me? The truth is that we are neither completely foolish nor completely wise. Both are part of us. The wise part of us says, “There is something I have been wanting to change in my life.” Or “There is someone who needs my help – a sick person, someone in prison, or a hungry person who comes looking for food.” Or perhaps, “There is something troubling me, and I need to seek counsel and direction.” That is the wise part of us speaking. Wisdom calls us to act. Remember what the eleven-year-old said: “A wise person knows what is right and does it.” The foolish part of us delays. It procrastinates. We say, “There is still time to make that change,” or “I can always seek advice later.” We tell ourselves, “Someone else will step in and take care of that problem.” There is time. There is someone else. But perhaps there isn’t. The challenge comes at midnight, at the darkest hour. A crisis catches us by surprise, and suddenly there is no time to make up for what we have neglected. In the parable, the foolish maidens return after the opportunity has passed, only to find the door locked. It is too late. Can you hear that door shutting and locking? Remember the religious education teacher’s daughter who said, “A wise person knows what is right and does it”? Her mother went back to her and asked, “How does a person become wise?” The girl replied, “I guess you have to ask God for it.” We cannot buy wisdom, nor can we find a book that guarantees we will acquire it simply by reading its pages. Yet we urgently need wisdom throughout our lives. We are constantly called upon to make choices and act in situations that can be confusing and difficult. Without wisdom, we can make serious mistakes. Without wisdom, we may fail to recognize God’s presence in our lives. Wisdom is a gift from the Holy Spirit. God is not stingy with this gift, nor does God withhold it to test whether we deserve it. Wisdom is available to us through prayer and openness to God’s guidance. We need it whenever life challenges us – when, in the middle of the night, we hear an unexpected knock at the door and must decide whether and how to respond to the need or challenge before us.

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Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

“Resplendent and unfading is wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her.” —Wisdom 6:12

Sometimes I think that people today do not seek after wisdom as much as they did in the past. For Christians seeking wisdom, one must read the signs of the times, be open to various opinions, ponder informed views, and then discern the best path, one that Jesus would have taken. For instance, annually, the week before Thanksgiving is National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week (11/15-21, 2026) and was first held at Villanova University in 1975. This year, more than 700 colleges, high schools, and community groups across the country will come together during this week. This event is promoted by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, an organization committed to ending hunger and homelessness by educating, engaging, and training college students to directly meet individuals’ immediate needs while advocating for long-term systemic solutions. Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week; About Us | National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness. In seeking wisdom over the problem of hunger and homelessness, this is a time to question why we have hungry homeless people in our midst, then share our compassion, and work toward a world where no one must experience hunger or homelessness. The wisdom of Jesus is one of compassion and solidarity with the poor. Furthermore, wisdom says, “Being hungry and/or homeless is not a crime.” Let us begin our journey to create a world free of hunger and homelessness with these words from Pope Leo XIV: We cannot aspire to a more just social life if we are not willing to rid ourselves of the apathy that justifies hunger as if it were background music we have grown accustomed to, an unsolvable problem, or simply someone else's responsibility. We cannot demand action from others if we ourselves fail to honor our own commitments. By our omission, we become complicit in the promotion of injustice. We cannot hope for a better world, a bright and peaceful future, if we are not willing to share what we ourselves have received. Only then can we affirm — with truth and courage — that no one has been left behind (8). Wisdom teaches us that we can make a better way. To help with hunger and housing ministries at our parish, contact: socialconcern@hnojnc.org.

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Faith Book

Mini reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for people on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading: [Jesus said to his disciples] "Therefore, stay awake, For you know neither the day nor the hour."

Reflection: Our daily routine can be shattered by the unexpected and sudden demands life puts on us and our loved ones. Will we be ready to respond? It depends on how well we have tended to our "oil" supply.

So, we ask ourselves:

What helps me "stay awake" and alert to God’s entrance into my daily life?
Is there a practice of prayer, or reflection, I can adopt to help me better respond to Christ each day?

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“Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion’ but says, ‘I’m in favor of the death penalty,’ is not really pro-life.”—Pope Leo XIV

Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each week I am posting in this space several inmates’ names and locations. I invite you to write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know: we have not forgotten them; are praying for them and their families; or whatever personal encouragement you might like to give them. If the inmate responds, you might consider becoming pen pals.

Please write to: Women on death row, 1034 Bragg St, Raleigh, NC 27610. Females are housed at NC Correctional Institution for Women

Moore Blanche #0288088 (On death row since 11/16/1990)
Carlette Parker #0311386 (4/1/1999)

For security reasons, use this address for mailing: Central Prison, PO Box 247, Phoenix MD 21131

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First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

Every culture and religion has its own way of celebrating weddings. Each also has its risks getting things wrong. Weddings were a very big deal in Jesus’ day. Even more than now. Then, weddings could last the whole week! They might start late, well into the night, because the families had to negotiate the dowry before the wedding could begin. A long negotiating was a compliment to the bride; she was a treasure. Finally, when the dowry was settled, the groom would come and all would go out to meet him. They would need oil. Lots of oil. The feast would begin and, remember, it could last a week! Christians hearing the parable would liken the bridegroom to Christ. He was expected to return and begin the messianic banquet. They would also liken the foolish girls to less fervent Christians. Christians suffered for their faith and they were tempted to disappointment. Why doesn’t Jesus come and set things right? What’s taking him so long? We are attempted to ask the same questions these days. There’s a lot wrong with the world -- so much suffering! Ukrainians, Jews and Palestinians, and let’s not forget young Russian soldiers too. What to do? The parable speaks of vigilance, preparedness and watchfulness; especially in the face of such tragedies. We must not limit the idea of being ready to welcome the Lord to only the moment of death. That is not what the parable is saying. The kingdom of heaven begins here and now. Christ comes into our life every day, in many ways. But are our eyes and ears open to perceive his presence? Are we alert to welcome him and to respond to his invitation, “Follow me”? How might we be prepared when he does come? The kingdom of heaven is present when “kingdom activity” is taking place: the hungry are fed, the thirsty given water; the sick and imprisoned visited; homeless given shelter; refugees protected and the oppressed set free. We do not have to wait for death to experience the kingdom of heaven. The bridegroom Jesus comes to us to form us and lead us to the full life which has been made possible by his death and resurrection. This parable is the second of four stories Jesus tells about how we are to live until he comes. We might conclude from it that the virtuous are those who stay constantly alert. But note that all the virgins “became drowsy and fell asleep,” because the bridegroom was delayed. The difference between the wise and foolish virgins is that the wise ones are prepared and have brought extra oil to see them through their waiting for the bridegroom. He is delayed, but that does not mean that he will not come. It’s only when he comes that the celebrating begins. So, we are being asked to live in hope that what Jesus has promised will come to be, but for now we wait and hope. The parable contrasts wisdom and folly; being sensible and being silly. It’s an invitation to us. Which would we rather be? Ready, or distracted? The oil is a symbol for readiness, not just at the end of our lives, but now. Ready for any surprise, good or bad, which we must face in our lives. “Stay awake” -- Jesus’ advice to us today, especially at the key moments, the turning points, in our lives. Be prepared, be wise, then go ahead. What can help us stay awake, keep us alert to what’s happening in our lives now? The parable suggests what we already know: we need to learn patience. This is particularly true with God. God keeps us waiting. The bridegroom, Jesus Christ, arrives late and because he does, we might not
be prepared. The wise ones in the parable are prepared for the delay. We could enter into the parable and say something like: “I thought I brought enough oil to get me through the wedding. But the bridegroom is in charge, not me. My task is to be ready and prepared, even for the delay.” We are a fast-moving society. We don’t like delays. They are working on
the highway near us and people, myself included, complain about the delay the work causes. I was at a retreat center a while back and the internet was slow. I didn’t like waiting for the information I was looking for on my browser. So we ask ourselves: what is the oil I have in my lamp as I wait for the Lord to come? What do I need that will sustain me during the delay? As I look around at those who are “awake” in my faith community they seem to sustain themselves by a regular habit of prayer; worship with others; works of mercy; acts of justice and forgiveness. Is it any wonder that the wise virgins cannot share their oil. We can not share the spiritual reserves that keep us prepared to meet the Lord when he comes. A word about our second reading. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, the first written and official document of our Christian
faith. It was written about 20 years before the first gospel was written. It is important because it shows, from the beginning, that the faith of Jesus’ original disciples was not only in Jesus’ resurrection, but of our own as well. Believers in Jesus’ resurrection will share in his risen life. So our faith did not come from a long process of development and theological refinement as did, for example, the doctrine of the Trinity. Our belief in the resurrection and our share in it was there at
the very beginning. That is why Paul tells us we must, “not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.” Those who have “fallen asleep” ahead of us, will be given life by God and so shall we, as Paul advises, “console one another with these words.”

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Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director, Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh, NC

“For taking thought of wisdom is the perfection of prudence.”—Wisdom 6:15

We could use more people seeking after Lady Wisdom these days. It would take those who would be willing to not rush to judgement. The perfection of prudence means the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason, or the skill and good judgment in the use of resources. For example, we need more everyday people to understand violence in its
various forms and then, be willing to advocate peacefully for change. In his book, “Spiral of Violence,” the late Archbishop of Recife in Brazil, Dom Helder Camara, Servant of God, speaks to a reality that happens repeatedly in our world and, as we see easily in hindsight, in the U.S. Jim Crow era. Camara tells us that, “There are three kinds of violence. The first, mother of all the others, is institutional violence. It legalizes and perpetuates domination, oppression, and exploitation. It crushes and eliminates millions of people in its silent and well-oiled cogs.” This primary, basic, number 1 violence is the everyday effect of structurally ingrained social injustice. For example, our now defunct U.S. Jim Crow laws had Black Americans sitting at the back of buses, going to separate schools, only using designated bathrooms and drinking fountains, only being allowed to live in certain areas, red-lining real estate to prevent mortgage approval, and so forth. Camara then states that this generates the second: “The second is revolutionary violence, which is born of the will to abolish the first.” This is a reactionary revolt by the oppressed or the young. The violence here is not necessarily from the oppressed. The Civil Rights Movement was a nonviolent movement against Jim Crow Laws where demonstrators were hosed, beaten, burned, or bombed. This becomes Camara’s third violence. Camara explains: “The third is repressive violence, which stifles the
second, by making itself the helper and accomplice of the first violence---the one that causes all the others.” Thus, institutional injustice (violence #1) is maintained through repression (violence #3) by those who hold the power. As Camara finally states, “There is no worse hypocrisy than only calling the second ‘violence,’ while pretending to forget the first one, that gives it life, and the third, that kills it.”It is my hope that you, the reader, will seek wisdom on this issue of violence in all its forms in today’s world. As Camara wisely declares, “Without justice and love, peace will always be a great illusion.”

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Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading: [Jesus said to his disciples] "Therefore, stay awake, For you know neither the day nor the hour."

So we ask ourselves:

What helps me "stay awake" and alert to God’s entrance into my daily life?
Is there a practice of prayer, or reflection, I can adopt to help me
better respond to Christ each day?

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Reflection on Matthew 25:11-13 from Sacred Space: A Service of the Irish Jesuits

Trying to stay focused in the here and now is not an easy thing to do in modern living. There are many distractions and a lot of media buzz and hype that aim to drag our attention hither and thither. It was taking their eye off the ball that distracted the foolish virgins and meant that they were very ill-prepared for any unexpected happenings that might take place as they waited for the wedding feast to begin. We are well advised to look for God’s presence all around us on a regular basis, as signs and sightings of his presence – when noticed – are a wonderful grace that help us to achieve our aims. No matter when the groom arrives, if he has been part of my usual activities, I trust he will show himself to me along the way.

Further Reflection: This is a parable that can be undone by focusing on what seems like "selfishness" in the prepared bridesmaids. I need to ask the help of the Holy Spirit who inspired Jesus to speak in this way to help me to listen and humbly to learn. Jesus tells us that there is a right time and a time when it will be too late. I ask God's help that I may realise what it is I might do now, how I might recognise the approaching bridegroom and welcome him. Jesus, you were in Jerusalem, close to the showdown with your people. Many of them would be like the foolish virgins, caught unawares by the Messiah. The wise virgins would be those who recognised and followed Jesus. For me, millennia later, this speaks of the moments of grace and opportunity: as when a great love comes into my life, or a chance of reconciliation, or an unexpected blow. It comes unexpectedly, as a shock, and can find me fumbling. -Lord, give me the grace today to find you in every encounter. Make me ready to recognise you. The lamp is given us by God and our prayer or time given to God is the oil. All of God's action in our lives is his gift, but it needs our openness and welcome. Prayer builds up our 'supply of oil', which can give light and fragrance to the rest of our lives.

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Commentary on Matthew 25:1-13, from Living Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits

The second chapter of the Eschatological Discourse consists of three long parables, all of which are familiar to us. They have the common theme of preparation for the final coming of the Lord, whenever that will be. Today’s reading is the parable about the wise and foolish bridesmaids. The story likely reflects common wedding customs of the time. The bridesmaids who attend on the bride are waiting for the bridegroom to come. The time of his arrival is not known. Perhaps, at that time, it was his way of asserting his male authority from the very beginning of their marriage. In the story there are 10 bridesmaids altogether. Of these we are told five were “wise” and the others were “foolish”. The “wise” young women all brought an extra supply of oil with them while the “foolish” ones only had their lamps. The lamps consisted of oil-soaked rags at the top of a pole and needed to have oil added every 15 minutes or so. The bridegroom was long in coming. The implication is that he was taking much longer than expected. In fact, he was so long in coming that the bridesmaids all fell asleep. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, the call went up: Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him. Immediately the young women got ready and trimmed their torches. The charred edges had to be cut away and the rags soaked in more oil. The foolish ones immediately realised they were running out of oil. They ask their companions to share some of their oil. These refused on the grounds that there was not enough to go round and none of them would have enough. The foolish ones were told to go off and buy some more for themselves. However, while they were still away, the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went into the marriage celebration with him and the doors were shut. When the foolish bridesmaids finally arrived with their new supply of oil, they found the doors closed in their face. They cried out: Lord, lord, open to us. But the bridegroom answered: Truly I tell you, I do not know you. Again this is a parable warning us all to be ready when the Lord comes. In the early Church, he had at first been expected to come in the very lifetime of the early Christians. This belief is reflected in the First Letter to the Thessalonians (read during the weekdays of the Cycle 1 First Readings), which is the earliest writing of the New Testament. But Jesus did not come and, by the time Matthew’s Gospel appeared, people were beginning to realise that his coming could be in a more distant future. It is in this context that today’s parable gives a warning. If the Lord was not going to come soon, then some people might begin to take things easy and become lax in their living of the gospel. Today’s passage suggests that that is not a very wise way of behaving. The bridegroom may not have come when expected, but he did come. And, when he came, half of the group were not ready. In other places, Jesus has warned that the: ..day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matt 24:36) Because: the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. (1 Thess 5:2) The only policy is constant readiness. If we are not ready and he does come, then we may find the doors closed and hear what are perhaps the most chilling words in the whole Gospel: …I do not know you. In John’s Gospel, Jesus says that, as the Shepherd, he knows his sheep and they know him. Not to be known by Jesus means to have broken our relationship with him through sinful and loveless behaviour. To be in that state when he comes is truly tragic. The choice is ours, as we have been given adequate warning. While the Gospel is speaking about the final or eschatological coming of Jesus as King and Lord, it would be very complacent of us to think that there are no signs of its happening in the near future. That would put us in the same category as the foolish bridesmaids! While the final coming may still be far off, our own rendezvous with the Lord can be at any time. For all practical purposes, that is the time for which we must be prepared. Our news media is full of reports of lives being cut short by accident, illness or violence. Any of us could be one of those victims, young and in perfect health with a whole life before us. But the Lord calls when he calls. Will I have ‘oil in my lamp’? That is, what would I be able to show the Lord in terms of gospel-centred living? Maybe we think the “wise” young women in the story were selfish not to have shared their oil, but there are some things which we have to bring to the Lord on our own. We cannot borrow the good life that someone else has led. It has to be totally ours. Clearly, the best way to prepare is not to think anxiously of the future, but to concentrate on the here and now. Let us learn to live totally in the present, to seek and find God there. If we can do that, then all the rest will take care of itself. And, whether the Groom arrives early or late, it will not matter. Because he has been constantly part of our everyday lives. And, apart from the insurance that it gives, is it not by far the best way to spend our days?

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ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence. Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others. Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God? With others in my life? What am I grateful for? Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret? I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt. God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

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Opening Prayer

Teach me to go to this country beyond words and beyond names.
Teach me to pray on this side of the frontier, here where these woods are.
I need to be led by you.
I need my heart to be moved by you.
I need my soul to be made clean by your prayer. I need my will to be made strong by you.
I need the world to be saved and changed by you.
I need you for all those who suffer, who are in prison, in danger, in sorrow.
I need you for all the crazy people.
I need your healing hand to work always in my life.
I need you to make me, as you made your Son, a healer, a comforter, a savior.
I need you to name the dead.
I need you to help the dying cross their particular rivers.
I need you for myself whether I live or die.
It is necessary.
Amen.

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Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions” 2011. A service of the Southern Dominican Province

We shouldn't be distracted by the "unreal" details of the parable in today's gospel. Why didn't the maidens, who had oil, share with those who didn't? Where could those in need ever find a market to buy oil at midnight? Why did they cry out with the special title "Lord, Lord" to the bridegroom? Why didn't he recognize them (after all, they were in the wedding party)? We have to allow Jesus, the storyteller, the creative license to include details that will help him paint a picture to give us insight into, what he describes as, "the kingdom of heaven." We know that in Jesus' time marriages were arranged by the families of the couple. Fathers arranged the marriage, while mothers set the terms. First, there was the betrothal period of a year or so after the terms of the marriage were set. Then the bride was transferred to the husband's home. These marriage practices may help explain the delay in the groom's coming. Today's parable is the second in the sequence of three that emphasize preparedness while we await the Lord's Second Coming. Like the others, the parable of the ten maidens, emphasizes the need to be vigilant and ready NOW for the Lord's return. There are choices we must make NOW in the light of our hope and as we wait. We do what we can to nourish our spirits, form our minds and fortify our wills -- NOW. We can't put off for tomorrow decisions that show our fidelity to God and commitment to Jesus and his ways. If we delay doing that, isn't that a sign of our lack: of faith in Christ's presence NOW, as well as our hope in his final coming? We can't prepare for the in-breaking of Christ into our lives at the moment he comes. The parable urges a more constant vigilance and state of preparation. Nor can we rely on the vigilance and preparedness of others. No one can take responsibility for us, we must do that for ourselves -- ready to greet Jesus each day of our lives and then when he comes at the end. What is clear in this parable is that when the critical moment of Jesus's entry into our lives arrives, it will be decisive. Preparation time is over. If we have lived vigilant lives we will enter the wedding feast with Christ our bridegroom. The foolish maidens arrived after the door was locked and when they knocked the door was not opened. It was too late. Poor choices were made, the time for preparation was over. The parable has allegorical features. For example, the wise maidens trimmed their lamps when the bridegroom's arrival was announced. Psalm 119 refers to God's Word as "a lamp unto my feet." Hearing the Word of God will illumine us and help us recognize the Lord when he arrives. The light of the Word will also sustain us until he does. For some this is a welcome parable; for others it is an ominous one. For those whose lives have been lived actively seeking and doing God's will, their light will shine bright and the door will be opened for them. Those who have lived by false lights and indifference to their future fate will find the door barred. "What's taking so long?". We live in an impatient world. Someone got angry the other day at the supermarket. We were on the "Express lane--10 items or less," the sign said. But the man in front of me had 12 purchases. The woman behind me challenged his "lack of consideration." "Can't you read the sign," she told him sternly, "10 items not 12!" In light of today's parable we too might express some impatience and ask, "What's taking the Lord so long?" But we know we don't have to wait till our deaths or the Second Coming for the Lord's arrival. The kingdom Jesus brought about in word and deed comes into our lives every day in a variety of ways. The parable reminds us to be alert and prepared for it. Meanwhile, during our waiting time, the Lord has taught us that we can welcome the kingdom's arrival by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless and setting free the oppressed. So, while we wait for the final arrival of Christ we have plenty to do, because he comes daily in disguised and surprising ways. Wisdom is a key virtue for our gospel today. It helps us stay vigilant and guides us in the practical choices of daily life. And so we pray, "Come Spirit of Wisdom." "Come Spirit of Vigilance." "Come Spirit of Preparedness."

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Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.

Reflection Questions:

What does it mean to live in the moment?
What does it mean to live now as if Jesus were already here?

Are there times in my life when I have been wise?
Are there times in my life when I have been foolish?
Which times define me?

Are there people that we know of, say someone diagnosed with a terminal illness, who might make a different choice about what they do and how they live based on this diagnosis?
Why do we not do so as well?

Why does every age seem to have people who predict the end of the world as we know it?

Until the second coming arrives, what are we to do meanwhile?

Did you know that there are still people who profess that if you are not Catholic you cannot get into heaven?
Is being in the right religious group important for our salvation?

Why do we keep referring to the kingdom of heaven as if it were heaven itself?

“He will come again to judge the living and the dead”. What does this mean for you?

Matthew uses the phrase: ”weeping and gnashing of teeth” six times, Luke once, and Mark not at all… How do you react to Matthew’s emphasis on the final judgement?

How does our emphasis on reward and punishment (Heaven or Hell) as motivators for good behavior fly in the face of real love for God?
Can you love what you fear?

How does focus on the “selfish” maidens miss the point of the story?
How or why do we lose focus on what is really important in our lives?

Do I believe that Jesus is present in our world right now, or only at end times?

One commentary suggested that the response of the wise virgins to the foolish virgins was to illustrate that you have to have your own faith, that someone else cannot believe for you. How do you react to that?

Is our putting off until tomorrow decisions that show our commitment to Christ due to laziness, denial, or lack of faith?
Can others actually help us with this task?

Henri Nouwen had a completely different viewpoint: …worrying about the next life seems a false preoccupation. When my clear goal is the eternal life, that life must be reachable right now, where I am, because eternal life is life in and with God, and God is where I am here and now. Does that liberate us or scare us?

Father Jude Siciliano said in a commentary on this gospel: People will desire it; many will believe God’s promise; many will commit themselves to wait for its realization. But only a few will find their desire, their belief, and their commitment in ample supply. Time and the flame of the weary, mundane ordinariness of life will try to lick dry our desire for the Kingdom and our belief in God’s promise.
Does this play out in my own life?

If this parable is read as a Wisdom teaching, then what is the wise thing for me to be doing today?
Am I doing it, or do I live in denial?

Why is it that we tend to think we need more “stuff” (as in more oil) in order to be prepared for the worst in our lives?

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Closing Prayer

If you are in a group that is meeting this week (several are) some group prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session, allowing for each person to offer personal prayers, if he or she wishes to. (If you are doing these reflections individually, simply say all the parts…) From this week’s letter from Paul to the Thessalonians:

Leader: Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be unaware about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

Speaker 1: For the Lord himself, with a word of command, and with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Speaker 2: For whom among those who have gone before us should we pray? (responses from group members)

Speaker 3: Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the. Lord in the air.

Speaker 4: For whom among us, who might need lifting up should we now pray? (responses from group members)

Leader: Thus we shall always be with the Lord… therefore, console one another with these words.

All: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization
(Taken from the gospel for today's session)
Therefore, stay awake

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Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
This parable, at first glance, would seem to suggest that the virgins were foolish because they did not come prepared with enough oil. Another possibility is that their mistake was assuming that having oil was preferable to staying around to greet the bridegroom. So what if they did not have enough oil? It would not have been great, but at least they would have been there to welcome the bridegroom and to join in the festivities. They took the focus off the bridegroom and put it on lighted lamps and the oil for those lamps, assuming that having perfectly lit lamps was absolutely necessary to be part of the celebration. This parable really speaks to the worriers and the perfectionists among us, those who think we need to be sinless to be loved by God and to be welcomed into God’s kingdom. The kingdom of God is not about our imperfections, our mistakes and our sins, but about our right relationship with Jesus the bridegroom. I take some time to reflect on my relationship with Jesus, looking especially on what habits of the heart I can cultivate to make that relationship stronger—mercy, forgiveness, generosity, concern for the poor that results in actually trying to do something to mitigate their pain. For example, I pray for the wisdom to discern what is important in my life and what needs to change for me to participate joyfully in the wedding feast that is God’s presence in my life.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:
Let us imagine the scenes of this parable, then translate it to our own times. In the wedding ceremonies of Jesus’ time, the actual wedding began with a formal betrothal, under the special bridal tent(Huppah). Here, the groom would give the bride money or a valuable object such as a ring, and a cup of wine was customarily shared to seal their covenant vows. In this public ceremony under the huppah, the couple entered into the betrothal period, which typically lasted for about a year. Although they were considered married, they did not live together or engage in sexual relations. This was as binding as a marriage itself. On the wedding day, the groom would take the bride from her father’s house to her own, but only after all of the negotiations (What dowry the bride’s father pays, what property the groom’s family bestows on the bride, etc.) were completed. It is surprising that this was not all done before the actually wedding day, but it seem that this was not always the case. So depending on how the negotiations went, the arrival of the bridegroom and his bride was an ever-moving target. Therefore, the guests and the lamp bearers (the 10 young women) went to the groom’s house and waited for the party to start. Someone in the groom’s entourage might go ahead and alert the guests that the bridal couple was coming, but only after they had actually set out from the bride’s house. As we look at this parable of the poor young women who ran out of oil, and the five wise ones who brought enough, we try to find who we might be in this story. Translating it to real times, what am I waiting for? Is it Happiness? Family? Financial security? God? Death?, the Second Coming? Am I willing to wait even though what I am waiting for seems to take a very long time? Can I trust myself to the unknown and develop the patience needed? Do I focus too much on the future, with its fears and rewards, instead of living fully in the present? If someone were to ask me for spiritual or material help on their particular journey, how would I respond? Where does generosity and love come in? I talk to Jesus about entrusting myself to the unknown, asking for his wisdom and his help in the waiting room we call life.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:
Justice Bulletin Board (as appeared in “First Impressions”)
Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.—Matthew 25:12

It would be pretty scary that when we meet our God, who has counted every hair on our head, that we might be unknown. Since today's Gospel is about a wedding, I thought about how our lives could be fashioned as a memorable cake in God's eyes. Feel free to add your own special ingredients.

The Compassionate Life Cake
Ingredients
4 lb. of compassionate love
1 lb. of mercy
1 lb. of tenderness
1 lb. of humbleness
½ lb. of justice
½ lb. of grace
¼ lb. of forgiveness
¼ lb. of good humor
1 pint of laughter
1 cup of common sense
2 tsp. of adversity
1 oz. of spirit
. . .and a sprinkle of beauty

Put your compassionate love, mercy and tenderness into action together. Combine humbleness, justice and grace and mix well with forgiveness and good humor. Don't forget the laughter! Be sure to include common sense and season with a touch of adversity and a dose of spirit. Combine all the ingredients and sprinkle with the beauty of wisdom. Take a lifetime to perfect your creation. May you live your life compassionately and with passion.

—Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Coordinator of Social Justice Ministries, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Raleigh, N.C.

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Poetic Reflection

Read the following poem by Mary Oliver. How does it capture the sense of what we should be focusing on as we prepare to meet Jesus?

Making the House Ready for the Lord
Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed but
still nothing is as shining as it should be
for you. Under the sink, for example, is an
uproar of mice—it is the season of their
many children. What shall I do? And under the eaves
and through the walls the squirrels
have gnawed their ragged entrances—but it is the season
when they need shelter, so what shall I do? And
the raccoon limps into the kitchen and opens the cupboard
while the dog snores, the cat hugs the pillow;
what shall I do? Beautiful is the new snow falling
in the yard and the fox who is staring boldly
up the path, to the door. And still I believe you will
come, Lord: you will, when I speak to the fox,
the sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering sea-goose, know
that really I am speaking to you whenever I say,
as I do all morning and afternoon: Come in, Come in.

CCAS Administrative Assistant 10/28/26 CCAS Administrative Assistant 10/28/26

Solemnity of All Saints

November 1, 2026

What does it mean to be blessed?

GOSPEL

Matthew 5:1-12a

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven."

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

I am a college sophomore attending Mass on the feast of All Saints at our University chapel. I hear the assigned Scriptures for the day and I am puzzled. I wish I could say my confusion was about a profound theological issue. But I’m 19 years old, not the age when I, or my classmates, pondered serious spiritual, or theological questions. After hearing the reading from the Book of Revelations I’m confused by the response to the question put by the elder about the identity of the innumerable people dressed in white robes: “from every nation, race, people and tongue.” The elder answers his own question: “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress, they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” There is the source of my question: how can you wash robes in blood and have them come out white? It was not until years later that I decided to satisfy the quandary the reading raised in my sophomore mind. Revelation presents us with several visions of the heavenly court. Earlier (chapter 4) it gave a vision of God sitting on a throne, surrounded by 24 elders. They are beholding the image of the slain Lamb of God, who has “power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (5:12). In today’s reading a vast number of people have joined the audience, “From every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (v. 9). It is a white-robed throng holding palm branches. Their white robes are given them because they were martyred. Their palm branches are celebratory, signs of a feast. They are innumerable and the language that identifies them is apocalyptic, “These are the ones who survived the time of great distress.” That is how their robes were washed in the blood of the Lamb. They were martyred during the great persecutions for their faith in the Lamb of God. Now these “witnesses” (that’s what “martyrs” means) are saved from pain, hunger, thirst and persecution. Are they the people Jesus describes in the Beatitudes who, despite present afflictions for their faith in him, “will be comforted… will inherit the earth...will be satisfied, etc.”? Originally, All Saints Day celebrated those who had died as martyrs in persecutions. In the early church, and some churches today, “saints” was the name for Christians (Cor. 1:2; 14:33). Today we remember, celebrate, and assure one another, “See what God can do among ordinary people! Just as they are saints, so shall we be.” Correction – “So are we now! Praise God!” If we are in church today (or, possibly live streaming) what will we see? Of course, the Book of the Scriptures catches our attention during the first part of the Mass. After hearing God’s Word, we turn to the altar and the bread and wine we will offer for consecration. But, as our eyes turn towards the altar, perhaps our gaze will fall on the images of the saints that surround us in statutes, paintings and mosaics on the walls. There they are, those Beatitude people described in today’s gospel: once poor in spirit, mourning, lowly, justice-seekers, persecuted, martyred for their faith, merciful, peacemakers – God’s children whose lives reflected the animating and faith-sustaining presence of the Spirit. After such reminders of God’s great works in the lives of the saints, we have reason to give thanks. The presider will introduce the Eucharistic Prayer, “Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.” And we will respond, “It is right and just.” True enough, but there is more to include in our thanks, more saints, not from the past. but those who are among us now. Who are they? How do their lives reflect the holiness of God? Thank you God for their witness to your presence among us, doing what you have done through your Son and his saints through the ages. On my desk I have a reminder of God’s active and inclusive Spirit. It is Robert Ellsberg’s book, “All Saints” (New York: Crossroad, 1998). Ellsberg includes biographical sketches of those named saints by the Catholic Church. He also includes Christians from other denominations, as well as Muslims, Jews and even those without membership in any faith tradition. It is what the Book of Revelation reminds us today: “After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people and tongue.” The feast of All Saints is a feast of the Holy Spirit. The second person of the Trinity took flesh to save us. The third person, the Holy Spirit, is God acting among us, bringing God’s plan for us humans to fulfillment. The Spirit works in many ways, but one sign of the Spirit’s presence is the creation of a community of life. The Spirit is God’s communication of grace, pouring the life of God into us limited humans, who often go astray, forming us into a people who are enabled to walk in God’s ways. As the visionary of the Book of Revelation tells us today: “After this I had a vision of a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation, race, people and tongue.” The Spirit links all humans through the universal love of God. How do saints come about? Through the limitless work of the Spirit. Where and when does this happen? In every land and every age. Through the Spirit we are, even now, being united to God and connected to one another. I like the tradition in some churches and denominations that begins prayer by greeting the gathered community with, “Good morning saints!” And isn’t that what we celebrate today, the Spirit’s ongoing work of grace that forms us into a holy community, a community of saints?

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Quotable

“A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love, is the Church that the world needs today.” —Pope Leo XIV

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Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. —1 John 3:1

All Saints’ Day is an opportunity to reflect on what it means to live as children of God. And what better way than to look at the lives of saints through the lens of some themes of Catholic social teaching. The following quotes come from the book, Saints and Social Justice: A Guide to Changing the World by Brandon Vogt (Our Sunday Visitor, 2013).

LIFE AND DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON--St. Peter Claver--Born in Spain in 1580, he would spend his life in Columbia serving African slaves. Yearly, ten thousand Africans arrived despite Popes Paul III and Urban VIII condemning slavery. Peter “sensed that while he couldn’t suppress this great injustice, he could at least alleviate the suffering by promoting the dignity of the slaves” (30).

OPTION FOR THE POOR AND VULNERABLE--Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati--“Applying his gifts as a layperson, Pier Giorgio knew that followers of Jesus “should always prefer the needs, concerns, and desires of the poor and vulnerable above their own” (79).

DIGNITY OF WORK AND RIGHTS OF WORKERS--Servant of God Dorothy Day--She and Peter Maurin launched The Catholic Worker in 1933.”The paper aimed to put Catholic social teaching in ordinary terms and to promote the transformation of society--especially the sphere of work. . . It called readers to make a personal response” (111).

SOLIDARITY--St. John Paul II--The term “solidarity” was birthed when the Pope visited Poland in 1979 and flowered with a national labor union of the same name. “The group [80% of Poland’s workforce] never resorted to violence, but through strikes and protests, they opposed the Soviet Regime. A deep spirituality fueled the Solidarity movement. . .and [the Pope] regularly sent financial aid and spiritual materials. . .writing strong letters. . .” (120-121).

CARE FOR CREATION--St. Giles--Orphaned at an early age, he gave away his inherited wealth and aimed to become a hermit in the woods. This man of the mid-seventh century “shunned the unnecessary domination of animals. . .saw the land as a gift from God meant to be shared and cultivated rather than property to be owned, exploited . . .” (137).

Child of God, how are you living and loving?

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Faith Book

Mini reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for people on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Book of Revelation reading: “After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”

Reflection: There are saints, not from the past, but those who are among us now. Who are they? How do their lives reflect the holiness of God? Thank you God for their witness to your presence among us, doing what you have done through your Son and his saints through the ages.

So, we ask ourselves:

Who are the everyday saints we know and meet in our lives?
What about their lives displays the living presence of God to us?

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You’re Blessed

This insight titled “God Wills Our Happiness” is found in The Message Devotional Bible, a special edition released in 2018.

In Matthew 5, Jesus is training us to live not in reaction to our sin and guilt, not in response to people stronger than we are, not in desperation by any means at hand, not to survive in a sea of cynicism and malice, and certainly not to live egocentrically with the self as center and master. He is training our minds and emotions to live in response to the realities inherent in the kingdom of God: to live by faith and love. When Jesus came and began teaching his generation what is involved in a world ruled by God (not by a king or emperor or general), he picked up the great word blessed—“happy, fortunate.” God wills our happiness. He blesses. There is no question about that. Read along as publisher Don Pape and members of the NavPress team share the Scripture.

When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.
“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
“You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
“You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.
“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

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All Saints

Commentary from Living Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits on Revelation 7:2-4,9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

The Solemn Blessing prayed during the Mass for today’s Feast of All Saints is: God’s holy Church rejoices that her children are one with the saints in lasting peace. As we come to the end of the Church year we celebrate this great feast of All Saints. It is important to emphasise from the beginning what we mean here by ‘saints’. Normally we apply the word to people of extraordinary holiness who have been canonised or beatified by the Church. Among them, each one has their favourites: St Francis of Assisi, St Therese of Lisieux, St Anthony, St Joseph, St Jude and so on. But today’s feast uses the word ‘saints’ in a much wider sense. It refers to all those baptised Christians who have died and are now with God in glory. It also certainly includes all non-Christians who lived a good life sincerely in accordance with the convictions of their conscience. While we do not know how many people we are talking about, we know it is a very large number. Putting it another way, there is no way we can decide which people have made an irrevocable choice of rejecting what is true and good and have chosen to be alienated from God forever. But hopefully, their number is much smaller. There is a third group which we will remember tomorrow, and they are those who have died, but still need a process of purification before they can come face to face with the all-holy God. The Gospel chosen for today’s feast is interesting. It gives us what we know as the Eight Beatitudes from the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. It is, in fact, a charter for holiness. When many people think of holiness, they think of keeping the Ten Commandments and perhaps some other requirements of the Church like going to Mass on Sundays or fasting during Lent. What we often tend to forget is that the Ten Commandments really belong to the Old Testament and are part of the Jewish law. Of course, they are still valid and Jesus said clearly: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. (Matt 5:17) We might say that the Beatitudes are an example of that fulfilling. The Beatitudes go far beyond the Ten Commandments in what they expect of a follower of Christ, and yet the sad thing is that one hears of relatively few Christians saying that they base their lives on the Beatitudes. When we go to confession it is the Ten Commandments we normally refer to and not the Beatitudes. And this is sad, because it is clear from their position in Matthew’s Gospel that the Beatitudes have a central place. They are a kind of mission statement saying what kind of person the good Christian will be. Let us look at them briefly, but first we need to clarify a few of the terms used. The word ‘blessed’ is sometimes translated ‘happy’. It might be more accurate to translate it as ‘fortunate’. In other words, people who have these qualities are really in an envious position. All of these beatitudes are indications that we belong to the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’. This is to be understood not as a place, still less as referring to life after death. It rather describes the kind of society that exists when we live according to these values—a place of truth and love, of compassion and justice, of peace, freedom and sharing. The general message is that those are really blessed when they know their dependence on God and on their sisters and brothers—when they commit themselves totally to the Way that Christ invites them to follow. The Gospel says that particularly blessed are:

Those who are poor in spirit: They are those who are aware of their basic poverty and fragility and of how much they need the help and support of God as opposed to those who foolishly claim independence and full control of their lives.
Those who are meek: These are the people who reach out to others in care and compassion and tenderness, who constantly are aware of the needs of others.
Those who mourn: Those who are in grief or sorrow for whatever reason will be assured of comfort from the loving community in Christ they have entered.
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: Whatever the price, these people will work that everyone will be given what is their due to live a life of dignity and self-respect. The price they may have to pay could be high, very high, even life itself.
Those who are merciful: They are the ones who extend compassion and forgiveness to all around them.
Those who are pure in heart: This does not refer to sexual purity, but rather to a simplicity and total absence of duplicity, prejudice or bias. Not surprisingly, they are described as being able to see God. For such people, God’s presence is all too obvious in every person and experience.
Those who are peacemakers: This is perhaps one of the most beautiful of the Beatitudes. These are people who help to break down the many barriers which divide people—whether it is class, occupation, race, religion, gender or anything that creates conflict between individuals or groups. Not surprisingly, these people are called “children of God”. God sent Jesus among us precisely to break down the barriers between God and his people and between people themselves.
Those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness: Persecution of itself is not a pleasant experience, and may result in loss of life. But blessed indeed are those who have the strength and courage to put the values of truth and love and justice for all above their own survival. Among the saints we most honour today are the martyrs, those who gave their lives in the defence of truth, love and justice.

This is the kind of Christian we are all called to be. It is these qualities which made the saints and which will make saints of us too. They go far beyond what is required by the Ten Commandments. If taken literally, the Commandments can be kept and not with great difficulty. Many of them are expressed in the negative, “You shall not…” So we can observe them by doing nothing at all! “I have not killed anyone… I have not committed adultery… I have not stolen…” Does that make me a saint? Being a Christian is a lot more than not doing things which are wrong. The Beatitudes are expressed in positive terms. They also express not just actions, but attitudes. In a way, they can never be fully observed. No matter how well I try to observe them, I can always go further. They leave no room for smugness, the kind of smugness the Pharisees had in keeping the Law. The Beatitudes are a true and reliable recipe for sainthood. The Second Reading reminds us today: See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. Saints are not self-made people. They are people who have responded generously to the love of God showered on them. And the completion of that love is to be invited to share life with God forever in the life to come. The Second Reading also says:…what we will be has not yet been revealed. We do not know, and have no way of knowing, what that future existence will be like, and it does not help very much to speculate. In fact, some of the conventional images of heaven are not terribly exciting! Kneeling on clouds and playing harps for eternity—partly derived from a too literal reading of the book of Revelation—is not exactly a turn-on! It is better to go along with St Paul who says that life face to face with God is something totally beyond our comprehension. Let us rather concentrate on the life we are leading now and let it be a good preparation for that future time. Indeed, the First Reading from the book of Revelation presents an apocalyptic vision of those who have died in Christ. They are numbered at 144,000—a number taken literally by some Christian sects. However, the number is clearly symbolical. It consists of the sacred number 12, squared and multiplied by another complete number, 1,000. It simply represents the total of all those who have died faithful to Christ their Lord. They represent “every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages”, for access to Christ is open to all. They are dressed in white robes with palms in their hands. They are the robes of goodness and integrity. The palms of victory are a reference to the joyful Jewish feast of Tabernacles, for these are the ones invited to live in God’s tent or tabernacle. Together with them are the angels, the 24 elders (perhaps representing the 12 patriarchs and the 12 Apostles) and the four living creatures (a very high rank of angels), all prostrate in adoration before the glory of God. The song they sing has been magnificently set to music by Handel in his “Messiah”. Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honour, power and strength are seven attributes of perfect praise. And who are these people in white robes? These are they who have come out of the great ordeal…In other words, they are those who have been through persecution, particularly the persecution of Nero, which occurred about the time this book was written. And, paradoxically:…they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is the blood of Jesus Christ which brings salvation, but only to those who have united with him in sharing its effects. Many of them, of course, are martyrs and they have mingled their own blood with that of Jesus. It is a picture of total victory, and the end of all the pains and sorrows they endured in this life. It is not a newspaper reporter’s description of heaven! Today’s feast is first of all an occasion for great thanksgiving. It is altogether reasonable to think that many of our family, relatives and friends who have gone before us are being celebrated today. We look forward to the day when we, too, can be with them experiencing the same total happiness when:

They will hunger no more and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat,
for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
(Rev 7:16-17)

Today is a day also for us to pray to them—both the canonised and the uncanonised—and ask them to pray on our behalf that we may live our lives in faithfulness so that we, too, may experience the same reward.

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ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

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Opening Prayer

(adapted from Unfolding Light, by Steve Garnaas-Holmes courtesy of Lourdes Alonso)

Rejoice in the Lord always… I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all… The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus

For the empty seat, we hold silence. Love, have mercy.
For the two hundred thousand, we weep. Love, have mercy.
For the homes incinerated, we mourn. Love, have mercy.
For the rule of law, we lament. Love, have mercy.
For kindness and nonviolence, we pray. Love, have mercy.
For those who stand and speak on behalf of those who cannot, we pray. Love, have mercy.
For those who act out of a pure heart and soul, we pray. Love, have mercy.
For faith in one another, we pray. Love, have mercy.
For justice that dismantles oppression, hope that overcomes despair, for faith that overpowers dread, for love that defeats fear, for joy that will not be taken from us, we pray. Love, have mercy.

For what else shall we pray?

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be… world without end. Amen.

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Companions for the Journey by Jean Shively, Lecturer in New Testament Studies, St Andrews, Scotland

Context
The beatitudes introduce the Sermon on the Mount, a collection of Jesus' teachings. Matthew places the Sermon at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, emphasizing that Jesus is the authoritative teacher of God's people. Jesus breaks into the public arena proclaiming, "repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near" (Matthew 4:17). He calls his first disciples from the task of fishing for fish to the task of fishing for people (verses 18-22).
Then, he shows the disciples just what this new kind of fishing looks like by preaching the good news of the kingdom of heaven to people and manifesting its power by healing every kind of disease and affliction (verses 23-25). The presence of this kingdom of heaven liberates. Then, Jesus climbs a mountain with the crowd he has so excited and sits down in the posture of a teacher encircled by his newly-called disciples. They are the primary targets of his instruction in the principles of life in the kingdom of heaven.

Content
A key principle of embracing this life is "blessedness." This is a refrain that runs throughout verses 5-10: those are blessed who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are persecuted. The word "blessed" does not mean "holy," and neither does it mean "happy" in the sense of being in a good mood. Rather, the word, "blessed" refers to a fortunate state of life. Jesus is saying that those who are poor in spirit are fortunate! It may surprise us that he speaks these words about those whose present circumstances seem so unfortunate. Jesus can speak such words because he is revealing a kingdom perspective. The first and the last of the nine beatitudes extend his proclamation of the good news by applying the presence of the kingdom of heaven to the poor and persecuted (verses 3, 10). These beatitudes act like bookends for the rest of them, indicating that the kingdom of heaven is the controlling concept of the section. It is so because those who possess the kingdom are "blessed." "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (verse 3). "Blessed are those who are persecuted... for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (verse 10). The verbs in these two verses are in the present tense: "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The kingdom that Jesus proclaims infiltrates the present condition of the unfortunate and transforms it. Jesus had begun his public ministry announcing that the kingdom of heaven has come near. Later, when Jesus sends his disciples out to preach and heal, he tells them to make the same announcement as they go (10:1, 5-8). The kingdom of heaven breaks into the world with the words and work of Jesus. The present conditions of the unfortunate are variations on the same theme. The language of each beatitude reflects Old Testament language: Those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, and who hunger and thirst for righteousness suffer because of their faithfulness to God, and they trust in God to vindicate them (Isaiah 61:1-2; Psalm 24:3-4; Psalm 37, especially verse 11; 42:1-2). While those who oppress God's people may be fortunate for a moment, they who trust the Lord will be fortunate forever. Jesus calls those who would be his followers to the same radical commitment and hope. After listing the beatitudes, Jesus says, "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account" (verse 12). The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who suffer because of their faithfulness to Jesus. But Jesus is also calling them to follow his own way, since he himself will suffer for his faithfulness to God, trusting that God will vindicate him. While Jesus affirms the present experience of the kingdom of heaven in verses 3 and 10, he promises future vindication for the unfortunate in verses 4-9. While the verbs in the second half of the beatitudes in verses 3 and 10 are in the present tense, the verbs in the second half of the beatitudes verses 4-9 are in the future tense. The promise of future vindication does not mean, however, that the focus is entirely future. Jesus insists that God has the final word, bringing assurance into the present. This is why he can say, "Blessed are those who mourn...blessed are the meek...blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...blessed are the merciful...blessed are the pure in heart...blessed are the peacemakers." Jesus gives his followers eyes to see that the future is certain and this transforms the present.

Claim
Jesus calls us to join a radical kingdom. He gives us a radical vision to match, that the kingdom of heaven infiltrates our present. We can continue fishing for people, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom at great cost to ourselves, fighting oppressive powers in Jesus' name. We can suffer for the sake of Jesus and the gospel, with the assurance that God has the last word. When we see people receiving the word of God, and finding healing and freedom in Jesus' name we can announce, "the kingdom of heaven has drawn near."

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Living the Good News

Reflection Questions:

What do you think the word “blessed” means?
Are you “blessed”?

What does it mean to be poor in spirit? What is its opposite?
If I am poor in spirit, what will my focus be on?
If I am poor in spirit, what will be my attitude toward God?

What is the kingdom of heaven, if it is not heaven itself?

The Greek word for mourning can mean both sadness cause by conditions of one’s life, but it can also mean an inner agony—an attitude-- that can lead to repentance… Which do you think Matthew is referring to here?
What are some things that hinder us from mourning?
What/who comforts us? In what way?

How does the world define meekness?
How does Matthew seem to define meekness?
How was Moses meek?
How was Jesus meek?

What am I hungering for?
What are some biblical examples of hungering and thirsting for righteousness?
How will it characterize my life if I hunger and thirst for righteousness?
How do I get there?

What is mercy?
What does a merciful person look/act like?
What are some biblical examples of mercy?

If we realize that “heart” in scripture really refers to our thinking, what does it mean to be pure of heart?
Where do ostentatious practices of religiosity/piety fit into this beatitude?

What groups or individuals were persecuted in Matthew’s time?
What groups, religious or otherwise, are persecuted today?
If I am persecuted, what might be my usual response?
What would be a proper response?

What people are insulted today?
Have I ever, wittingly or unwittingly, insulted a person?
Is it sometimes easier to insult and denigrate groups of people who do not share the same political or religious values as I do—especially if this is done from afar?

There is an argument from some quarters that the beatitudes enable a victim mentality… Do I agree?

The Irish Jesuits, in” Sacred Space” wrote that the beatitudes are not a set of regulations, but a blueprint for personal or spiritual happiness… Do I agree or disagree?

Which beatitude irritates me? Comforts me? Challenges me?
Do I know of anyone who embodies one of these beatitudes?

Which of the “be-attitiudes” telll me of the kind of person I ought to be?

Who are the ordinary saints we meet in our everyday lIves?

Do I consider myself a saint? (In the early Church, all Christians were sometimes referred to as “the saints”)

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Closing Prayer

From Thomas Merton:

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For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today's session:
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.

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Meditations
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
What would be the beatitudes for the real world people live in everyday?
Blessed are the rich and famous, for they shall have what they want.
Blessed are the powerful, for their wills will be done.
Blessed are the strong and young for they shall draw a lot of attention to themselves.
Blessed are the white and well educated for they shall own the earth.
Blessed are Americans for they shall have the earth’s riches at their beck and call.

These beatitudes, or something like them, seem to reflect the way our world is run. They are what a lot of people in world value and would call “blessings.” They may make us wince, but haven’t we been encouraged to live by them, in one way or another, since we were young? Their values were passed on to us by our parents, in school, through advertising—all the sights and sounds we see on TV ads present these worldly beatitudes by showing us the successful, young and powerful who seem to lack for nothing. Which of the world’s beatitudes is a particular temptation for you? How do you deal with it? Which of Jesus’ beatitudes do you find the most comforting? Why? Which do you find the most annoying? Why? Which beatitude do you have the most difficulty living out? Why? Imagine Jesus saying these beatitudes to you directly and looking straight into your heart. Pray for the openness to hear what He says to you.

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
The first thing Jesus does here is issue a series of statements, that are very short and repetitive, like a litany or a poem; they each start with the Greek word makarioi, which means blessed or happy or fortunate. For us, because “blessed” has become church language, it might help to substitute the more familiar word “fortunate” and see how it makes us feel. That might help us get closer to the counter-intuitive feel of these statements. Recite the beatitudes, using the word “fortunate” instead of “blessed”. How difficult do you find these statements?

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:
(From Songs of Life: Psalm Meditations from the Catholic Community at Stanford, by Ann Marchand Greenfield) In considering the first beatitude (blessed are the poor in spirit—Isaiah 61:1-3), I need to understand that poverty of spirit means that I am utterly dependent upon God’s grace… this leads to humility and repentance. I read the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). I place myself in the events of this little story. What does the temple look like? Where is each man standing? What is the posture and manner of the Pharisee? How about that of the tax collector? With whom do I identify more: the man who did what he was supposed to, prayed regularly, gave to the poor, and was an honest, good person; or the tax collector, who preyed on the weak and the helpless, extorting monies from them they could little afford and raking off a profit for himself? When we try to be good people, is it hard not to be a little smug at times? I try to put myself in each man’s shoes. First I look at the part of me that loves and honors God and tries to be a good person. Do I unconsciously measure my goodness against that of others around me? Isn’t that a natural thing to do? Now I look at the part of me, like the tax collector, that has done some things for my own advancement that I am not too proud of—a sleazy little lie here, a little shameless flattery there, perhaps a little character assassination to top it off. Which side do I emphasize when I pray? I speak to Jesus about both sides of my nature, and pray for the understanding to know when I have been wrong, for humility which does not allow for personal pride in my own goodness and for the wisdom to know that both the understanding and the humility are gifts of God.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:
It must be noted that included in Jesus’ blessings are those who have been victimized by society. Make no mistake here: He is not telling his disciples to become victims. Some may interpret the passage in that way. As we shall see, those who are victimized—struck on the cheek, have a shirt taken, forced to go a mile (5: 39- 41)—are not to be victims. Instead, they are to take the initiative and choose to turn the cheek; give not only the shirt but the cloak as well; go the extra mile. You may be victims to brute force, Jesus seems to be saying, but you don’t have to think like victims. Those who hear the blessings at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount know with certainty of the ultimate victory of God’s reign and so receive the blessings and assurance they convey. Beatitude people do not have to serve power, scheme or join the many ways the world has of taking care of itself. That having been said, stop and reflect on any situations in which you have been complicit in the ways the anawim (the poor, the lost, the forsaken) are ignored or taken advantage of in this society of ours or in the world in general. For Jesus is not telling people to seek to be poor, grieving, mocked and persecuted, and he is not giving us license to ignore social injustice because, after all Jesus calls those anawim “blessed”… So, what is one small thing you can do to alleviate the situation of someone who is hated, bullied, imprisoned because of poverty, mourning the loss of a loved one or the loss of justice for a loved one, in pain, mentally ill, discriminated against because of religion, skin color or sexual orientation?

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Poetic Reflections
This poem is from a book called Dimestore Saints: Sonnets from the Gospel of St. Matthew by David Craig. David Craig was a professor of literature and creative writing at the Franciscan University of Steubenville for more than 30 years. Note: A poustinik (see line 7) is someone who is an anchorite or a hermit, who is called by God to live a life of fasting, prayer, and solitude while remaining radially available to serve their local community.

For Father Pelton, Madonna House Spiritual Director
The poor in Spirit don’t own their shirt, or their back.
They love downtown, might have a little dog.
Their music comes from a plastic radio, a stack
Of LP’s. They eat in soup kitchens—adjust in fog.
No one knows if they’re guests or community workers.
Blessed are those who mourn, What else can they do?
They are poustinikis (or Communists). Or shirkers,
Though how they’re perceived only matters in Saturday’s pew.
Blessed are the meek. They alone will stock the earth.
They’ll play cards by the old kitchen word-burning stove.
(Maybe you’ve seen them on some other turf.
They move through lots of places. They were meant to rove.)
Jesus, maker of ways, complete what you start.
I waste in shallow sins, a satisfied heart.

Read the following poem by Robert Browning Hamilton… what does it tell us about our own growth and development as a human being and as a follower of Christ?

I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chattered all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne’er a word said she;
But oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!

CCAS Administrative Assistant 10/21/26 CCAS Administrative Assistant 10/21/26

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 25, 2026

How well do I love God and neighbor?

GOSPEL

Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

The Pharisees show up frequently in the Gospels, don't they? Usually, they are portrayed as opponents of Jesus, sometimes violently so. Yet some Pharisees were sympathetic to Jesus. Paul was once a Pharisee, as was Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night. There were approximately 6,000 Pharisees in Jesus' time. The name Pharisee is generally understood to mean “separated ones.” They sought to distinguish themselves through their observance of the Law and the traditions of their ancestors. Some looked down on ordinary people, whom they considered insufficiently observant of the Law. These people were sometimes referred to as the “people of the land.” The Pharisees were primarily laypeople, although some priests may also have belonged to the movement. They zealously sought to preserve the teachings of the Law and the traditions of their ancestors. They strove to protect the integrity of those teachings. To keep people from violating the Law, they developed additional rules and interpretations that served as a kind of “fence” around it. But how could an ordinary shepherd, housekeeper, or butcher possibly observe all those regulations? A person who wanted to be faithful to God might turn to a Pharisee or rabbi for guidance. Perhaps that helps us understand the question put to Jesus in today's Gospel: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” In other words: “Help me understand God's Law. Sum it up for me.” According to a traditional saying, a teacher might be asked to summarize the Law while standing on one foot. The answer would have to be brief and to the point. Jesus recognized the importance of the Pharisees' zeal for the Law. His criticism was directed especially at religious hypocrisy and the tendency of some to look down on ordinary people. Some appeared to believe that their strict observance of the Law put them in especially good standing with God. Matthew tells us that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees. They approached him with their question: “Teacher, which commandment of the law is the greatest?” It is almost as if they were saying, “Standing on one foot, Rabbi, can you sum up all God's commands and all the rules and regulations handed down by our teachers?” Jesus responds with a brief and pointed statement: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” In other words, love God with your whole being. The Pharisees would have recognized this commandment. Jesus was not making it up; he was drawing from Deuteronomy 6:5. It is part of the central Jewish prayer known as the Shema, named after its opening Hebrew word, meaning “Hear.” Jesus declares this the greatest and first commandment. But he does not stop there. He joins it to a second commandment from Leviticus: the command to love one's neighbor as oneself. He takes these two teachings and brings them together. The message is clear: “Love God with your whole being. Express your love for God by loving your neighbor. You cannot separate one from the other. Where do we find the Image of God?Jewish tradition forbids the making of images of God. This distinguished Israel's worship from that of many neighboring peoples, who worshiped their gods through images and statues. Imagine a pagan asking a Jew, “Where is your image of God?” A Jewish response might be: “Look at the human person. We are made in the image of God.” In other words, the image of God is reflected in every human being. That is the connection we can draw from Jesus' teaching in today's Gospel. How can we, as human beings, pay proper homage to an invisible God? How can we honor God in our world and in our daily lives? Jesus shows us how. He takes the commandment to love God with our whole being and joins it to the commandment to love our neighbor. In effect, he tells us: “If you want to love the God you cannot see, love the human being you can see.” Each human person bears the image of God and deserves to be treated with dignity.

A Reminder on Our Doorposts.

Let us return for a moment to the central Jewish teaching Jesus quotes. The Shema includes these words: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” In Jewish homes, a small container called a mezuzah is traditionally affixed to the doorpost. It contains a parchment scroll inscribed with passages from the Torah, including the Shema. The scroll is carefully prepared by a trained scribe. The mezuzah is placed on the doorpost at an angle. Some Jews touch or kiss it as they leave their homes and as they return. We might imagine the prayer accompanying that gesture: “As I leave my home, may I live in the world in a way that reflects my love and devotion to God and God's ways.” and...As I return home, may I show that same love and devotion in the way I treat my family and all those who enter my home. Inspired by this Jewish tradition, we might write the commandment Jesus gave the Pharisee on a special piece of paper or card and place it somewhere we will see it as we leave and enter our homes. We might even kiss it as a reminder of Jesus' central teaching: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ...You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Just a brief look at the Exodus reading for it is relevance these days. In Exodus, God gives the Israelites a clear command: “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.” God reminds the people that they know what it means to be strangers in a foreign land, to live with uncertainty, and to depend on the kindness of others. This message speaks powerfully to us Christians today as we encounter immigrants seeking safety, work, and a better future for their families. Whatever their country of origin or legal circumstances, immigrants are human beings with dignity, families, hopes, and fears. They are not simply a political issue; they are our brothers and sisters. The central question is not simply, “Where do these people come from?” but “How are we treating them?” God reminds us that our faith must be visible in the way we treat the vulnerable. When we defend the dignity of immigrants, listen to their stories, and respond to their needs, we put God's command into practice.The stranger among us may be precisely the person through whom God asks us to demonstrate the love of Christ.

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Quotable

“Every migrant is a person,” and therefore has “inalienable rights that must be respected in every situation.”—Pope Leo XIV

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Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

“You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.”—Exodus 22:21

I once read that the greatness of a nation rests in how that nation cares for children. Children are the future and, if they are in peril, so is that future. Pope Leo writes a beautiful message for last month’s 112th World Day of Migrants & Refugees” titled, “Even Just One of These Children (cf. Mt 18:10).” He writes: My thoughts turn to the words of Jesus that profoundly challenge our consciences: “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me” (Mt 18:5). It is not a question of numbers or statistics. The Gospel invites us not to calculate even one. Every child, every human being, possesses an infinite dignity. Each is created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26); each is a presence of the Lord. Before every migrant child, we are called to make an act of humanity and faith, for we are able to welcome and encounter the Lord. This call becomes even more pressing in the light of another of the Lord’s affirmations in the Gospel of Matthew: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Mt 25:35). Sadly, migrant children are more easily ignored, because they lack adults capable of protecting and supporting them. It is necessary, then, to intervene in their countries of origin in order to remove the causes that compel them to flee, while at the same time offering protection and welcome in the countries of transit and destination. The cry of displaced children rises to God today, just as did the cry heard in the Book of Exodus [Ex 3:7–8] . . .God hears their cry and, in order to bring about liberation, he forcefully appeals to the conscience and action of each one of us, just as he did with Moses. We cannot remain indifferent, nor can we become accustomed to such suffering. Message of the Holy Father for the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2026 Imagine if our nation truly treasured children. There would have been no child slaves from the inception of our country; no Trail of Tears; no child labor especially during the Industrial Revolution; no child trafficking; and no child who is hungry, homeless, lacking medical care, caught in generational poverty or in jail for fleeing their country of origin. Will we ever be a nation that values the lives of children by restoring the natural world to full health for future generations of children? We cannot remain indifferent.

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Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Reflection: The way we know that we are living Jesus’ commandment of total dedication to God, who is unseen, is to make that love visible by loving our neighbor as self. Jesus’ life shows us whom he considered his neighbor. Besides his disciples and friends, neighbor for Jesus included the least likely, the overlooked, the vulnerable and the people who are usually described in stereotypes.

So, we ask ourselves:

Is God at my center, the inspiration and impetus behind my thoughts, feelings and actions?
Who is the surprising neighbor Jesus is calling me to love?
And how shall I share Jesus’ love with that person(s)

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I have a picture on my wall, a gift from a rabbi. It shows her blessing an unfurled scroll of the Torah. The scroll was old and tattered, so the community removed it from the tabernacle and from its beautiful cloth covering. They had it restored, but before putting it back into the tabernacle, they blessed and rededicated it. This is how they did it. With the congregation assembled in the synagogue they unrolled the scroll and encircled the community with it -- some members of the
community, wearing white gloves, held the scroll, all the rest were inside the circle made by the unfurled scroll. The rabbi, dressed in liturgical robes and on the inside of the circle with the community, is shown in the process of rededicating the scroll before putting it back in the tabernacle. A member of the congregation said, “We couldn’t just put it away, after all it’s not an antique, a dead book. It’s the living Word of God.” The community was also rededicated along with the scroll. Another symbol, or sign of the Jewish community’s dedication to God’s Word, is also evident, closer to home -- in fact, at the entrance to Jewish homes. It is the mezuzah, a cylinder that is placed on the doorpost of a home. It contains a scriptural quote. For example, the one Jesus quotes in part today, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore you shall love the Lord, our God, with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength” (Dt. 6:4). Where I grew up I used to see my Jewish neighbors kiss their fingers and then touch the mezuzah on entering and leaving their homes. Such is the devotion to God’s Word by our Jewish sisters and brothers: to encircle a community of worshipers with the written word; to kiss it as they come and go each day from their homes. Of course the mazuzah is not a good luck charm, nor kissing it mere superstition, but an expression of their desire to live a life guided by and strengthened by God’s Word, as part of a community, in their homes and beyond. When asked about the greatest commandment Jesus quoted the central
commandment of Jewish faith, the one posted on the door frames. Then he takes another teaching, one among many more in the Old Testament, and places it alongside the first. Total love of God is the first commandment and joined to it, love of neighbor as yourself. If a pagan were to ask a Jew, “Where is your image of God?” They would respond, “In God’s image we were made.” I.e. “The image of our God is to be found in each human being.” That’s what Jesus is implying in today’s gospel. How can we mere humans pay proper homage to an invisible God in our world, in our daily life? Jesus shows us how. He takes the command about loving God with all of ourselves and puts with it the love of neighbor. As Scripture suggests elsewhere: if you want to love the God you can not see, love the human you can see. Each of us is a dwelling place of God, “In God’s image we were made.” As I write this Israel is about to invade Gaza. Thousands have died on
both sides, and thousands more will die from violence, hunger, destroyed hospitals, missals, etc. Do both sides see what both believe, “In God’s image we are made.” I shed tears watching the nightly news of the war. I have no easy answers, none are possible. From this distance I can pray and send messages to my government representatives -- “Don’t forget the
civilians caught in the middle. Don’t forget to work for peace!” For a narrative preaching the preacher might pick a favorite saint, or one relevant to the local community and show how they were characterized by an intense love of God and neighbor. For example, one of our great Dominican Saints was Rose of Lima. She was born in Lima Peru in 1586 and her name was Isabel. But they called her Rose because of her extraordinary beauty. She was besieged by suitors. The parents hoped for a “good marriage;” a good financial arrangement, because they needed the money. Rose longed for the day when she could live for God alone. Her model was Catherine of Siena (another great woman Dominican). Catherine
spent three years in her parent’s home under a staircase in constant prayer. Rose imitated Catherine, moved into a little hut in the garden and devoted herself to constant prayer. Remember, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart with all your soul, and with all your mind.” But like Catherine, Christ urged Rose out and she practiced works of mercy for the poor, the indigenous and slaves. In addition, she wasn’t just concerned about personal sin, but social sin; the Spanish had
conquered and oppressed the natives. Rose had wanted to love God with all her heart, with all her soul with all her mind and she did that by devoting her heart, soul and mind to loving her neighbor. Just like us gathered in worship, Rose was encircled by the Word of God and it was as if she kissed that Word and was guided by it in her going to and coming from serving others. These two women show us what God’s grace can accomplish within us; that we mere humans are capable, with God—of loving God with all our heart, soul and mind -- and our neighbor as our self. The first reading from Exodus shows that God has always been especially concerned about the neediest in society. Today’s selection comes from a
section in Exodus called the “Book of the Covenant,” which is a teaching of social ethics based, not on laws, but on compassion. For those in most need, laws that prohibit certain acts are not enough to protect them. Because the Israelites experienced God’s compassion when they were slaves in Egypt and as they traveled through the desert they, in turn,
were to be compassionate to those in similar need. Their laws were to reflect the compassion they received. For example, they were to remember that they were once aliens in Egypt, so they were not to wrong the alien, or stranger in their own land. What does that say to our current refugee crisis here at our borders and those bused to our cities? The media coverage of our own border situation these days has made us aware of the dire circumstances of those who have had to leave their homes because of poverty and violence to find refuge in our country. Strangers and immigrants in a strange land are vulnerable to abuse and being taken advantage of. They have left the support of their families, culture and familiar surroundings in an attempt to flee their homeland and find protection. In many ways they are like the Israelites in Egypt, strangers in a foreign land and totally dependent on the hospitality of its native people—us.

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Quotes from Pope Francis on the Synod

“The journey of synodality is the journey that God wants from his church
in the third millennium.”
“A synodal church is a listening church, aware that listening is more
than hearing. It is a reciprocal listening in which each one has
something to learn.”
“The protagonist of the Synod -- the Spirit.”
“Communion, participation, mission.”
“All are called to participate.”

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Justice Bulletin Board Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director, Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh, NC

You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.—Exodus 22:20

I had an argument awhile back with my cousin who was upset by the children at our border. He thought we should send them back. I had to remind him that our own grandmother came to this country as an unaccompanied teenager at the turn of the last century. She worked as a maid in the household that took her in. I am so grateful that she had the courage to make the trip and that this country didn’t turn her away. She and my grandfather raised four children and their two sons, my uncles, both served our country in World War II. My grandmother’s parents sent her to America to escape death by tuberculosis that was sweeping Poland. The families at our borders today are facing death by drug gangs and the hopelessness of extreme poverty. It takes so much courage to do what they are doing, to leave loved ones, to cross unknown paths. And isn’t courage, a value that our country reveres? We have a broken immigration system that is long overdue for a legislative overhaul. Meanwhile, many migrants and/or refugees suffer and are dehumanized. Towns at the border of our country are struggling to respond. As Catholics, we believe that everyone is made in the image of God and deserving of respect. This is a complicated problem in need of well-thought-out solutions. Cardinal Blase Cupich recently commemorated the 40th anniversary of his predecessor Cardinal Joseph Bernardin's "consistent ethic of life " speech at the site of that 1983 address, Fordham University. During the speech, Cupich proposed an “integral ethic of solidarity.” Cupich said, "that [this] ethic grounds our respect for life both interpersonally and within the human family. Solidarity points to the interconnectedness of all human beings, to the unity that they should strive for, and the responsibility for the common good that we all share. Solidarity is a moral virtue. It is a disposition of gratitude to God for the gifts he
bestows upon us, and of service to those who suffer" (ncronline.org 9/27/2023). We need more standing together as fellow human beings these days. Perhaps, solidarity could become a basis of all discussions around this issue of immigration. Here at Cathedral, we have a Justice for Immigrants group that works with Catholic Charities. We would like to have more people willing to advocate for reform. Contact Luisa Martin-Price at socialconcern@hnojnc.org.

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Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading: Jesus said... “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Reflection: The way we know that we are living Jesus’ commandment of total dedication to God, who is unseen, is to make that love visible by loving our neighbor as self. Jesus’ life shows us whom he considered his neighbor. Besides his disciples and friends, neighbor for Jesus included the least likely, the overlooked, the vulnerable and the people who are usually described in stereotypes.

So we ask ourselves:

Is God at my center, the inspiration and impetus behind my thoughts, feelings and actions?
Who is the surprising neighbor Jesus is calling me to love?

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ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

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Opening Prayer

From Thomas Merton:

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Companions for the Journey

from " America", the national Jesuit Weekly magazine:

If you look up the word “love” in a dictionary, you will find something like this: Love means having an interest in and a warm regard for another, and wishing good for the other. That definition is satisfactory, though a bit flat and dull. This Sunday’s Scripture readings can help us fill out the dictionary definition and deepen our understanding of the biblical concept of love. In today’s reading from Matthew 22, Jesus is challenged to choose the greatest among the 613 commandments in the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament). He names two: love of God (Dt 6:4-5) and love of neighbor (Lv 19:18). These commandments cover two dimensions of the biblical concept of love. The third dimension—God’s love for us—is even more basic. God’s love for us is the fundamental presupposition of the entire Bible. God has loved us first, and so we can and should love God in return. God’s love has been made manifest in God’s gift of creation, in the choice of Israel as God’s people, in sending Jesus to us and in giving us life and the promise of eternal life. The theological virtue of love has its origin in God. Those who have experienced God’s love can love God and others in return. The excerpts from Psalm 18, today’s responsorial psalm, express dramatically the experience of someone who has encountered God’s love and loves God in return. The psalmist proclaims, “I love you, O Lord” and describes the experience of God as the ultimate source of security and hope with a long list of images: strength, rock, fortress, deliverer, rock of refuge, shield, horn of salvation and stronghold. The key to keeping the two commandments to love God and to love one’s neighbor is the recognition that God has loved us first. The commandment to love God, which is known as the Shema (“Hear, O Israel”) and is a quotation of Dt 6:4-5, was (and is) part of Jewish daily prayer. The text suggests that our love for God must be total, involving all aspects (heart, soul and mind) of our person. The theological virtue of love has God as its object. The commandment to love one’s neighbor (Lv 19:18) is part of what is known as the biblical Holiness Code. It challenges us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. While lack of self-esteem is a serious problem for some today, most of us are pretty good at taking care of ourselves (or at least we think we are). The challenge of the second love commandment is for us to take something of the care and concern that we instinctively show for ourselves, and to apply it to others. Whom should we love? Who is our neighbor? Today’s reading from Exodus 22 provides us with some examples. The neighbor includes not only family members and friends but also aliens or strangers, widows, orphans, the poor and the very neediest in society. In the New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan and other texts, Jesus pushes the definition of neighbor to include even enemies. In this framework the neighbor is not necessarily someone who can offer us repayment or provide some advantage for us. Love of neighbor is not simply enlightened self-interest. Rather, we should love our neighbor because God has loved us first, and in loving our neighbor we respond to God’s love for us and repay that love. Jesus ends the conversation with the Pharisees by claiming that the whole Law and the prophets depend on these two commandments. The idea is that if we truly observe the two love commandments, to love God and love the neighbor, all the other commandments will be carried out naturally, as it were. Observing the biblical love commandments is in the final analysis an expression of faith. The biblical concept of love is far richer and deeper than any dictionary definition can supply.—by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J.

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Living the Good News

Reflection Questions:

By Daniel Harrington, S.J.:
How do you define love?
In what moments in your life have you experienced God’s love for you?
Why should you love your neighbor?
Where does faith come in?

Do I realize that my love of God is preceded by God’s all-encompassing love of me?

Which of the three: God, self, neighbor, is the hardest for me to love?

Has there been anyone it was tough to love this week?

Is it sometimes easier to love those who are not in our faces every day, or those who pose no threat to our comfort and well-being?

Have you ever, in spite of your emotional inclinations, treated someone as you wanted to be treated, not as (s)he deserved? How did it make you feel?

Is there only one way to love one another as God has loved us?

“Love one another as I have loved you”—why is this a particularly high, or as some might say, impossible, standard?
Why is God’s love, which is spontaneous, unforced and always there, so different from human love?

In this world’s history, we have refused to recognize whole groups of people who are our neighbors, equally loved by God (Jews, African Americans, immigrants and refugees, the mentally or physically disabled, drug addicts, people on the other side of the political divide, for example). What in the world today exemplifies this lack of love, hatred even, for the other”

We are only about 6% of the world’s population, but we consume more than 33% of the world’s goods. How is this loving others as ourselves?

Do we love those in our lives just as they are, or do we try to change them?

By Jude Siciliano, O.P.:
What do you need to do in order to love God with all your heart, soul and mind?
What can you do to love yourself without being selfish?

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Closing Prayer

Keep me, above all things, from sin
Keep me from love of anything that is not you: money, attention, power, reputation.
Keep me from avarice and ambition and lack of concern for others.
Keep me from anything that is not ordained by your will.
Let me rest in your love and your grace.
That is enough for me.

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For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today's session:
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments:
You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

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Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
Too often, we focus on the second great commandment. However, Thomas Merton considers the commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind: We are what we love. If we love God, in whose image we were created, we discover ourselves in God and we cannot help being happy; we have already achieved something of the fullness of being for which we were destined in our creation. If we love everything else but God, we contradict the image born in our very essence, and we cannot help being unhappy, because we are living a caricature of what we were meant to be. In what ways do I personally fall short of the complete love I am called to? Do I condition my love of God on whether I feel God has been good to me or answers my prayers? Do I sometimes get distracted by my business and worries and shove God to the background of my life? Is my heart too full of other “loves” to find room for Jesus? How much time do I spend each day in conversation with the Lord?

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
Thomas Merton once said” Lord, I have not live like a contemplative. The first essential is missing. I only say I trust you. My actions prove that the one I trust is myself—and that I am still afraid of you”. The question that this raises is how can you love what you fear? (Do we love atomic power or fear it? Do we love a baby or fear it? Do we love our mother or fear her? Do I act kindly toward my neighbor out of love for my neighbor or out of fear God’s punishments if I do not?). Our motivations for our behavior and actions are often mixed, aren’t they? Do I act the way I do because I love God or because I fear God and God’s punishments? What is Jesus telling me about this in today’s passage? How do I move from fear to love?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:
Read Psalm 15—
Lord, who shall be admitted to your tent and dwell on your holy mountain?
Those who walk without fault, those who act with justice,
and speak the truth from their hearts, those who do not slander with their tongue,
those who do no wrong to their kindred, who cast no slur on their neighbors,
who hold the godless in distain, but honor those who fear the Lord;
those who keep their word, come what may,
and take no interest on a loan and accept no bribes against the innocent.
Such people will stand firm forever.

Now consider the following: Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father in heaven. (Matthew 7-22)

Both this quote and Psalm 15 have plenty to say about what one must do to enter the kingdom of God. They insist that we must treat people with justice, tell the truth, refuse to harm anyone, be generous, be forgiving, and keep our word. We meet God not on a mountaintop but in our personal relationships. Unfortunately, these relationships often suffer when we are preoccupied or stressed. We ought to treat our family members with the courtesy we treat our friends, and treat our friends with the respect we afford our professors or bosses. Whoever said: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” got it all wrong. Which of your personal relationships would not stand up to the scrutiny of Psalm 15? What can you do to correct it? Speak to God about this. Be honest and open.

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
Read the first reading for this Sunday from the Book of Exodus—Thus says the LORD: "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans. "If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him. If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."

In this world of ours, where has humanity fallen short of the ideal, particularly concerning immigrants and strangers, those who are poor and need help, those who have suffered losses of friends or family and need a lot of compassion? Read the famous tract from Corinthians 13 and Paul’s description of love. Where have you fallen short of the ideal? What people in your life are you finding it hard to love—those who are demanding, annoying, those taking more than their share of my attention, time or money, those seeming extra needy in one way or another? How does the current pandemic make you short on patience and generosity? Take your intentions and failures to Jesus, who understands, and pick one difficult relationship and pray this week for patience, for the openness to love that God shows every day.

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Poetic Reflection

How does this poem by former Stanford Stegner Fellow Thomas Centollela relate to today’s gospel?

In the Evening We Shall Be Examined on Love—St. John of the Cross

And it won't be multiple choice,
though some of us would prefer it that way.
Neither will it be essay, which tempts us to run on
when we should be sticking to the point, if not together.
In the evening there shall be implications
our fear will turn to complications. No cheating,
we'll be told and we'll try to figure the cost of being true
to ourselves. In the evening when the sky has turned
that certain blue, blue of exam books, blue of no more
daily evasions, we shall climb the hill as the light empties
and park our tired bodies on a bench above the city
and try to fill in the blanks. And we won't be tested
like defendants on trial, cross-examined
till one of us breaks down, guilty as charged. No,
in the evening, after the day has refused to testify,
we shall be examined on love like students
who don't even recall signing up for the course
and now must take their orals, forced to speak for once
from the heart and not off the top of their heads.
And when the evening is over and it's late,
the student body asleep, even the great teachers
retired for the night, we shall stay up
and run back over the questions, each in our own way:
what's true, what's false, what unknown quantity
will balance the equation, what it would mean years from now
to look back and know
we did not fail.

CCAS Administrative Assistant 10/13/26 CCAS Administrative Assistant 10/13/26

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 18, 2026

What do I owe to civil authorities? What do I owe to God?

GOSPEL

Matthew 22:15-22

The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion, for you do not regard a person's status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" Knowing their malice, Jesus said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax." Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" They replied, "Caesar's." At that he said to them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

It is said that there are two things we can be sure of: death and taxes. While death stirs up emotions of grief and loss, discussions about taxes frequently cause heat and rising tempers. Who should be taxed? How much should they pay? These questions are usually followed by the complaint: “It’s not fair!” As controversial as discussions about taxes are today, they pale in comparison with what they were in Jesus’ time. The Jewish people were heavily taxed by their Roman occupiers. Imagine paying taxes that were used to support a military juggernaut that oppressed and enslaved you. To add insult to injury, the official coins used to pay the tax bore an imprint of Caesar. They also carried an inscription declaring his divinity, which offended the Jewish belief in one God. So there they were, paying taxes that helped maintain their oppression with coins that offended their religious beliefs. It is easy to imagine how heated discussions about taxes could become. And that is what we hear in today’s Gospel. The question put to Jesus wasn’t simply a casual inquiry for abstract discussion. It was a topic of heated debate. And now they were drawing Jesus into it. And more than that, the Gospel says they intended to entrap Jesus. If he said, “Pay the tax,” he would have been siding with the Romans and offending devout Jews. If he said, “Don’t pay,” he could have been branded a revolutionary and a troublemaker. The Romans could have arrested him for treason. Jesus senses the trap. He gets out of it by asking for a coin. They hand one to him. It has Caesar’s image and inscription on it. So, they are carrying the very coin that represents Caesar’s authority and claim to divinity. They are using the Roman coin and paying the tax to Rome. No wonder Jesus calls them hypocrites. Their question wasn’t sincere. They weren’t seeking his wisdom or guidance. They were trying to trap him. But we are here for a different reason. We are seeking his wisdom and guidance. So, we pay attention to what Jesus says. We probably already know his answer by heart: “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” Now, what does that mean? It is something we can ponder throughout our lives as we consider our loyalties to secular power and to God. Jesus seems to be saying that we can have responsibilities and loyalties to government and to God without losing our priorities. But when the claims of government conflict with the claims of God, we have to choose in favor of God and challenge what civil authorities propose. Our presence here today states our priorities. We look to God for our basic strength and direction. Our very identity comes from God. After all, who are we? We say that we are children of God – and more than that, we are made in the “image and likeness of God.” In terms of today’s Gospel, we are coins of God. God has inscribed God’s image and likeness upon us, male and female. If people want to know what God is like and who God is, they should be able to see God’s image in us – in who we are and in how we behave – as easily as Jesus’ opponents could see Caesar’s image on their coins. There is a reason to come here each week: to be reminded of who we are and to have God freshen that divine image in us – the way a coin dealer carefully cleans and restores an old or tarnished coin. The image of God in us can become blurred or forgotten when we feel we haven’t achieved some of our life’s goals; when our financial struggles lessen our sense of self-worth; when our personal relationships are strained; or when people around us measure us by how we dress, the size of our home, our gender, sexual orientation, age, or appearance. But in this place where we have gathered, there should be no such standards of measurement. Here we are reminded of our dignity as beloved children of God, individually formed by God’s hands. Each of us is a coin made in the divine image. The Eucharist will feed us today. It will rebuild and restore the divine life within us, whether or not we think we measure up to some ideal. But Jesus’ words are also a challenge to us: How do we repay to God what belongs to God? We who bear the divine image are called to honor that image in others – even when that image isn’t clear to us, or when another person does not measure up to our expectations. Perhaps someone has offended us, cheated us, or been unwilling to forgive us. The Gospel reminds us that it is time to look again – to look more deeply – and see the image and likeness of God in our neighbor. There is a lot in our world that wants to engrave another image upon us, an image influenced by greed, rivalry, aggression, envy, and prejudice. We need God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves: renew God’s image in us. Psalm 96 is our Responsorial Psalm. It is, in one sense, a response to the first reading from Isaiah. It invites us to give God glory. In other words, to recognize God’s sovereignty, let God’s justice shape the way live in the world. But it also draws us toward today’s Gospel. In the Gospel, Jesus says that we must give God what belongs to God. So, the question Jesus puts before us today is: What does it mean to live as a person who belongs to God?

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Quotable

“Let us never grow weary of seeking justice!” — Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas (2026).

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Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

We give thanks to God always for all of you…increasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance. —1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

There are days when I am so dismayed by the number of needs that cross my desk or come through e-mails that I find myself almost overwhelmed. It is days like this that I must sit back and count the many blessings I have witnessed in how our parish respects life. The dignity of life is a major social teaching. On any given day, there are parishioners who are smiling as they help at Catholic Parish Outreach. There are the loyal teams who bring meals to the Helen Wright Shelter, Oak City Cares Center, and Women’s Center. I hear of the fruitfulness of parishioners doing prayer services with prisoners on a weekly basis. I think about our answered requests for hoodies, undies, food containers, the Crafters’ offerings, and Christmas gifts for people in need. I remember the fun I have had and continue to have through outreach experiences. Our Habitat for Humanity group is working on our 17th project as part of the Catholic Coalition to provide affordable housing. I think about the twelve expectant mothers being helped by the devoted team of Walking with Moms in Need and those that pray during 40 Days for Life. There is our work on behalf of immigrants, refugees, and our new efforts to help the handicapped and address racial injustice. I find myself reflecting on the blessing of the Door Fund/Ministry. We meet weekly with about 15-18 people who are in jeopardy of being evicted. Monies from the Door Fund help our neighbors keep a roof over their head, help people in Recovery Houses get a fresh start, and provide for a myriad of little needs. Then, there is the natural world. We are a universal church that sees all life as connected. To that end, respecting the natural world is being lived out in Cathedral’s Earth Care Community, the Laudato Si’ Circle and by members of NC Catholics Caring for our Common Home. Hearing the cry of the earth, parishioners are seeking to improve our understanding of complex issues and find paths to provide hope to overcome human negligence of our common home. With more parishioners realizing how integral the social teachings of the Church are to the fullness of living their faith by acting upon them, I give thanks to God for all of you.

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Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s I Thessalonians reading: For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also, in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.

Reflection: Paul reminds the Thessalonians that they not only heard the word of the gospel, but saw its effects on their lives. If we are going through a testing time it’s good to remind ourselves how God helped us in the past. Such a reminder can build hope and enable endurance in the present.

So, we ask ourselves:

Is there someone who needs to hear an encouraging word from us?
When I try to give that support will I do as Paul does, remind them of the faith they have received and how God is their source of power and endurance?

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Brendan McGuire Homily

Many of you have seen that advertisement on television for credit cards that always ends with "...What's in your wallet?"
The premise behind that advertisement is to suggest that our credit card in some way defines who we are. In some way, how we spend our money does say something about us. To a certain extent what and where we spend our money tells us
what is important in our lives. Probably a better indicator of what defines us as people is how we spend our time. If we want to know what defines a huge portion of our lives it is where we spend our time. More importantly with whom do we spend our time? Or on what do you spend your time? If we spend time with this group of people then we are saying they are more important versus this group of people. Students at school know this reality all too well. There are other ways in which we could understand what defines us. Yes, it is what we spend our money on; and yes, it is what and where we spend our time.
But it is also with whom we spend our time. The "who" is important. Even more than that, what defines us is who we are willing to stand up for. Who are we willing to defend? Who are we willing to be vulnerable for? That tells us a lot about ourselves. All of these, in some way, all of these together in their complexity will tell us about who we are and what we are. In today's gospel, we hear this story about paying taxes to Cesar or not. People have often misused this scripture to talk about the justification to pay taxes or not pay taxes; or separation of church and state. That is a complete misreading of the scripture. Even the most unscholarly approach can figure out that. Right from the beginning Jesus calls them hypocrites.
We know by the way they ask their question that is a trick question. There is a part of us that has to at least enjoy it a tad bit. How Jesus takes on these most unlikely adversaries; he just cuts them down with two phrases: Show me the coin. Whose head is this on the back? And he just cuts to the quick really fast. We might not be distracted by the brilliance of Jesus' answer but by what is actually happening in the context here. The religious leaders and Herodians were enemies.
Yet these two enemies came together to trick Jesus into saying something that they could hold against him. But what does Jesus do? Jesus reframes it completely. Then asks, "What is their priority in life?" This is not just about the money. It is an indicator. Sure. It is time. It is an indicator. But what in fact is our highest priority? Time, money, who you spend your time with and who we stand up for. All these are indicators. But in the end, we have to ask the question of ourselves; "What is the top priority in our lives?" Everything else flows from that. My fear is that as Catholic Christians, we do not think about that, half nearly enough. We get caught up in the busyness of life. We just churn from day to day. We go almost like on automatic pilot. We do not ask the questions of what is the most important thing in my life. What is the most important reality of my life? And until something actually happens, when we get sick or somebody dies, then all of a sudden our whole reality gets woken up and then we start asking that question. Must we wait for that moment? Is that what has to happen? Is that the only way we are going to wake up from our secular slumber? I plead with you to not. In some way, shape or form, your faith has made a difference because you are here on a Sunday morning when most of the world is in bed or at home relaxing. Somehow you know that it is a priority of something in your life. And this one hour has made itself a priority; whether it is the community; whether it is the environment; whether it is the Mass; There is something. It got you here. But one hour is not enough guys. One hour out of 168 hours will not make a difference. Oh, I would love if it would make that much of a difference. I would cherish that I could stay up here for 10 minutes of preaching and somehow that would radically change your life for the rest of the week. But I am not that foolish. I know that fundamentally it takes more than one hour out of 168 hours to make changes in your and my life. And we have to commit to that extra time. That is what I am asking you to commit to. The one hour is just simply never going to be enough. That is why I keep pushing you to pray every day. We want to be at 10 hours every week. That does not mean that you have to be at your desk praying for one hour a day. But you ought to be working towards something like that; and in the other hours, you ought to be working at being charitable, giving your heart and soul away to someone else. Why? Because that is what defines us. That tells us who we are because we are standing up for somebody. We are spending our time with them. And yes, we are spending our energy and who we are with them. That will make all the difference. Today, the question is not what is in our wallet. But what's in our heart. What is our top priority? When we come to Eucharist, we come to renew ourselves in our number one priority, which is to follow Christ. It is easy for us to say it here but when we walk outside those doors, we have to live it.
And that is the work we spend 167 hour doing. And we need the help every day. And that is why I am asking us to find some time to say; "This remains a priority for me." What's in your heart?

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From Living Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits: Commentary on Isaiah 45:1,4-6; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5; Matthew 22:15-21

In past Sundays we have seen Jesus attacking the religious leaders of his people for their failure to recognise in him the Word of God, the power of God, the compassionate love of God. All they could see was a man who broke their laws. Today, in the first of four challenges by different leaders, they hit back. Their plan was to get Jesus to discredit himself. The first challenge, in today’s Gospel, comes from the Pharisees. Their deviousness is seen in the delegation they sent – a mixture of their disciples (not themselves) and some Herodians. It was a strange mixture because Pharisees and Herodians were bitterly opposed to each other. The Pharisees were rabid nationalists and totally anti-Roman; the Herodians were willing to collaborate with the Romans hoping to benefit from it. In the language of today, they would be called “appeasers” or “fellow travellers”. It was a perfect example of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Both sides hated each other but they hated Jesus even more and both had scores to settle. Or did they hope by sending such a mixed delegation that Jesus would be thrown off the scent of their real purpose? Their opening statement is clever and very flattering. They praise the utter honesty and integrity of Jesus. All of which was perfectly true. Jesus, in fact, is being praised as endowed with God’s own sense of truth and justice, totally impartial, with perhaps a bias for the poor, the weak and powerless. And it is precisely in this strength of Jesus – telling it like it is without fear or favour – that they hope to entrap him.

Deceptively simple

After this flattering softening up and linguistic foreplay comes the apparently straightforward question: “Is it against our Law to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” In fact, this seemingly simple question turned on a red-hot issue. Palestine was a colony of Rome, a very unwilling and troublesome colony. The Jews hated the Romans, hated their brutality, their moral corruption, above all their godlessness. So, the nationalistic Pharisees felt that the taxes should not be paid to the oppressor. It was, one might say, an early version of “No taxation without representation”. On the contrary, for the Herodians, collaboration with the Romans was seen as beneficial. It was a loaded question, something like the old chestnut “Have you stopped beating your wife?” If Jesus said taxes should not be paid, he would have pleased the Pharisees but they could report him for sedition and have him arrested. If he said taxes should be paid he might please the Herodians but almost certainly he would lose all credibility with his own people. The Jews believed that they had only one Lord and Ruler and that was their God. Taxes, or any form of submission, should only be made to him, by offerings made in God’s Temple. So today’s First Reading from Isaiah makes it clear that Cyrus, one of the great kings of antiquity with enormous power and who had made vassals of the Jews, was seen as never more than an agent doing God’s work.

Hypocrisy

Jesus, of course, is perfectly aware of the dangers in giving a straight answer. He accuses them of gross hypocrisy in setting this trap. They have no desire to know the answer. They have their own answers already. Their only intention is to lay a trap for Jesus to hang himself with. Jesus asks them to show him a coin. He asks to know whose image and what is the inscription on it. The head was that of Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor of the day. The inscription would have read, “Tiberius Caesar son of the divine Augustus, great high priest”. Caesar claimed not only political sovereignty but also divine attributes. Worship of the emperor was seen as a test of loyalty to the not very religious central government and would soon become a major issue for the early Christians as it was already for the Jews. For both groups, worship given to the Roman emperor could be nothing but idolatry. Even though, for some, it was seen only a matter of formality, Christians and Jews took it very seriously and many were martyred for their refusal to bow to the emperor. (Different kinds of emperors still produce martyrs in our own day.) And it reminds us of how many Christians – including China today – who refused to acknowledge the absolute power that Communism claimed over their lives. It is basically the stand of the “underground” Church in China and for that many have paid a high price over the past 50 years.

A famous reply

Jesus then gives his famous answer, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.” The answer should not be understood cynically and in line with those who thought that no allegiance at all belongs to the ruling power (e.g. the terrorist or anarchist line), nor, on the other hand, that a civil power has the right to demand total submission of its subjects. No state can claim to itself divine powers of absolute authority (e.g. atheistic dictatorships). All are subject to the higher demands of truth and justice and the inviolable dignity of the person centred in God. We all are, in some way, the citizens of two kingdoms: citizens of the political territory where we belong and citizens in God’s Kingdom. As Jesus says, they both require certain loyalties from us. We all depend to a large extent on our civil government. In modern times very few people can supply their own water, electricity, telephone system. There are many other services which only a civil authority can provide, such as education, hospitals, roads, welfare services for the unemployed, the handicapped, the elderly…It is obvious that if these are services are to continue and even be improved they require the cooperation and support of the community at large. We do this for the most part through paying taxes. Taxes are not just a necessary evil. In a just administration they are our contribution to making the services we take for granted available. In a just tax system, too, we help to spread more evenly the wealth of the community so that each one has access to what they need for a life of human dignity.

Supporting our community

There are many other ways, too, in which we can give our support to raising the quality of life in the community. All of this can be seen as “giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar”. One, unfortunately, does meet people whose only interest is in seeing what they can get out of the community for themselves and their immediate family with no intention of ever giving anything back. But we are also citizens of God’s Kingdom. For much of the time, there is no conflict between “Caesar” and God but not always. We do sometimes, from the standpoint of the Gospel, have to criticise our government’s actions or non-actions. Sometimes we have to refuse to obey our government. In South Africa’s apartheid system, many Christians were forced to violate the immoral laws of their government. In the United States, both black and white people violated the segregation laws operated in many states. In the name of truth, justice and human dignity they had no option. And we need to realise that when we really love our country and its people, then we may have to stand in strong opposition to the authorities on certain issues. Of course, the authorities will try to present such people as traitors and a threat to the stability of the country. But such people, who show they care, often have a far greater love for their country than the so-called “silent majority”.

Two responsibilities

Today’s Gospel makes it very clear that we have two responsibilities: to the government of our country or territory and to God. Where both are in harmony there will be no conflict. Wherever there is immoral or unjust behaviour against people’s dignity and rights, then there has to be conflict. Such conflict is not always bad. On the contrary, it is because of creative conflict that our society makes progress. Provided we always act in a positive and creative way, “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), then the flawed kingdoms that men build can, in time, become the Kingdom of God. As a famous dissident – and martyr, St Thomas More, said: “The King’s good servant, but God’s first.”

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ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

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Opening Prayer

From the Carmelites

Lord, help me to see that serving you and being a good citizen of my country need not be contradictory. Help me the choose wisely in those situations when I must make a choice, always keeping your will and your precepts in my heart. Help me to see in others a witness to your incredible care and love for everyone and everything you have created, because it is all yours.

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Companions for the Journey

From “Working Preacher”

We think of the last days of Jesus' final week as being full of vexation.

Indeed, they were: betrayal, arrest, torture, and crucifixion. But the first two days of the week were also filled with difficulty. In Matthew's version of the week, Jesus enters Jerusalem triumphantly on Monday and proceeds to the temple to cleanse it of abuse. Tuesday is particularly full.

Jesus returns to Jerusalem for a series of pronouncements and confrontations by religious leaders. On this day, Jesus curses the fig tree, is questioned about his authority, offers three parables that each conclude with dire warnings for those who assume they are comfortably within God's favor.

Then he is challenged on whether to pay taxes to Caesar, is questioned about the resurrection of the dead, challenged about the greatest commandment, and engaged in discussion about the nature of the messiah.

Finally, Jesus engages in a long discourse (23:1-25:46) in which he denounces religious leaders, laments over Jerusalem, foretells destruction of the temple, gives his disciples a list of signs concerning the end times, offers additional parables, and tells of the final judgment. Tuesday was a big day.

It seems one of the chief accomplishments of the day was to put the religious leaders in their place. Jesus overwhelms his verbal adversaries and denounces temple leadership so thoroughly that by the next day, Wednesday of Holy Week, the leaders began plotting to arrest and kill this bothersome prophet.

The pericope for this day lies within Tuesday's busy agenda. Here we have the failed attempt by the Pharisees and Herodians to trap Jesus on what appears to be a political issue: whether or not it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. We might imagine the smugness with which they employ this trap. The Pharisees are against the Roman occupation government, so they bring along the Herodians, people obliged to Rome for keeping Herod in puppet power.

Governments are necessary, taxes may be necessary, and every country has a Caesar of sorts to contend with. So, render unto that Caesar whatever is due. But, don't mess around with the things that belong to God.

Whom do we belong to? Sometimes it seems like we belong to Caesar. Taxes, legal restrictions on our freedoms, imprisonment if you engage in civil disobedience. Or, perhaps, we feel that our job owns us. Or our families. Sometimes, we even feel owned by our material possessions. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it: "Things are in the saddle, and ride mankind."

But to whom do we really belong? Take a look at any person. Whose inscription is on him or her? Each is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). There can be no doubt, then, what Jesus means here. Give yourselves to God because it is to him that you belong.

It is God who claims us, who made us in his own image. We do not belong to anything or to anyone else. We don't even belong to ourselves. We belong to God in all our being, with all our talents, interests, time, and wealth. "We give thee but thine own, whatever the gift may be. All that we have is thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from thee."1

The consequences of belonging to God are remarkable. First, it means that God will not forsake us. The Pharisees and the other religious leaders that Jesus denounces were notoriously bad at caring for the people. They forsook their responsibilities and the people God gave into their care. They deserved condemnation. But, God does not forsake his own. By Friday of Holy Week, Jesus made that clear in the boldest way possible.

Second, it means that because we belong to God, we belong to the people of God, the body of Christ. We are baptized into this fellowship and can only lose our membership by turning our backs on God. If there is any alienation, it is our own doing. And, if we return, God is there, as always.

Third, it means that we give to God that which belongs to God's: that is, we give ourselves. We take the sacred trust and invest it in lives of worship. Sometimes, that worship occurs privately, in devotion. Sometimes, in church with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And the rest of the time, it occurs in the sphere of daily work and service. All of this is worship. Ultimately, giving ourselves to God means that we give ourselves to the world.

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Living the Good News

Reflection Questions:

How much time have I spent refelcting on how clever Jesus was t o evade the entrampment by the Phairsees and Sadducees?

How much time have I spent reflecting on the real message, which is: How much time do I spend on worldy things (which are necessary), and how much time on god?

What’s in my wallet and what’s in my heart?

What in your life belongs "to Caesar"?
What belongs only "to God"?
When do these duties overlap?

Have I ever felt that my worldly obligations have taken time away from God?

Has there been a time when I was pressured by the prevailing culture of the workplace or the world I inhabit into making a decision that went against my principles?
How did it turn out?
How did I feel?

When has my duty to God impelled me to speak out against the inequitable or cruel treatment of others by our own government, for example?

Is there a contradiction between being a good citizen and serving God?
Do I see Church and state on a collision course?

If we were to live in a theocracy (no daylight between the laws of God as expressed by religious and civil laws) which religion should be the defining standard?

Do I have a double standard regarding religious intrusions into political discourse (My Catholic views are ok, but others’ religious views are not)?

Should my church tell me whom or what to vote for?
Should it tell me what or whom to vote against?

Does legitimate civil power have a right to ask anything from us (voting in elections, obedience to laws, the payment of taxes, conscription in the military, for example)?
What does it not have a right to ask of me?

Where does the notion of civil disobedience fit into the meaning of this gospel?

What do I think I should render to God on earth, specifically to the people of God, to all God’s creation, including the natural world?
Can the term “rendering unto God” be interpreted as working for just laws, support for the poor and marginalized, respect for all life?
Can it be interpreted and working to wipe out racism, sexism, elitism of any kind?

What am I personally unwilling to render to God?
For this week, keep track of where you spend your money and what you spend it on. What does your checkbook and your datebook tell you about your priorities?

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Closing Prayer

Jesus, I ask for courage to stand up for what is true and just. Help me to speak out against the atrocities of war, genocide, systemic poverty and the cruelties that people seem to visit on one another, all in the name of being right. Help me not to be too quick to judge those whose decisions are other than I would approve of, and help me to have patience with the mistakes I and others make in living out our lives. Then help me to rest in the hope that in Your will is our peace.

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For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today's session: Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.

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Meditations
A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:
(Adapted from “First Impressions” 2002) It is clear from church teaching that we Christians are called to engage the world and bring our beliefs with us into Caesar’s domain. Vatican II reminded us to take our faith into the market place and interpret our times in the light of the gospel. If we have any doubts all we have to do is to read papal and episcopal documents that address: poverty, globalization, war, abortion, the death penalty, health care, environment, the economy. These teachings remind us that the church of Jesus’ followers doesn’t exist apart from the world and that we are called to be agents of change for peace and justice. It is God’s will that all people be treated justly, the poor cared for and everyone must be given respect and treated with dignity as a child of God. What is my job as a citizen to call out the failures and omissions, the cruelties and injustices that our system perpetuates? What is my job as a citizen to address poverty, to care for the sick and lonely, to bring justice to the captives, to welcome the stranger? Is this only the job of government, or do I have a part to play? What am I doing in this regard right now? If not right now, when will be the right time to get started?

A Meditation in the Dominican Style:
(Adapted from Songs of Life: Psalm Meditations from the Catholic Community at Stanford, by Anne Marchand Greenfield)

Psalm 72
God, give your judgment to the king, to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice, and your poor in right judgment.
May the mountains bring forth peace for the people, and the hills justice.
May he defend the poor of the people, and save the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor.
He shall endure like the sun and the moon through all generations.
He shall descend like rain on the meadow, like showers that water the earth.
In his days shall justice flourish, and great peace till the moon is no more.
For he shall save the needy when they cry, the poor, and those who are helpless.
He will have pity on the weak and the needy, and save the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their souls; to him their blood is dear.
Long may he live!

I Read sections from Psalm 72, then I reflect on the way power is revered in our society, and, in the main, how that power is used. What are the dangers of power? This psalm is frequently used as a description of the way an ideal ruler must use power. I think of our history and all of the ways in which power has been abused. Has this been the story in our own church? In our country? Reflect on these verses as you make your voting decisions for November.

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Poetic Reflection

When we say we want to give to God what is God's, what, exactly, do we mean? Wendell Berry reflects on the ways we pay lip service to God, but are really in the service of another reality altogether.

We Who Prayed and Wept
We who prayed and wept
for liberty from Kings
and the yoke of liberty
accept the tyranny of things
we do not need.
In plenitude too free,
we have become adept
beneath the yoke of greed.

Those who will not learn
in plenty to keep their place
must learn it by their need
when they have had their way
and the fields spurn their seed.
We have failed Thy grace.
Lord, I flinch and pray,
send Thy necessity.

—from Collected Poems