October 19, 2026 Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time or Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues or Saint Paul of the Cross, Priest Gospel: Lk 12:13-21
Today is Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time. Today the Church celebrates the optional memorial of the martyrdom of Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues and their companions, and of Saint Paul of the Cross, Priest. The newly published Roman Missal tells us:
St. John de Brébeuf (1593-1649), St. Isaac Jogues (1607-1646) and their six companions were originally from France and were Jesuit missionaries, dedicating their lives to preaching the Gospel among the indigenous peoples of North America. St. John de Brébeuf was captured by the Iroquois, fastened to a stake, tortured to death and then partly eaten, near Midland, Ontario, Canada. St. Isaac Jogues had already suffered slavery and mutilation during his missionary work, but returned to Canada from France. He was seized by the Mohawks, who thought he was a sorcerer, and tomahawked to death near Auriesville, New York in 1646.
St. Paul of the Cross (Paolo Francesco Danei) (1694-1775) was born in Piedmont, Italy. Following a spiritual conversion, he founded a congregation of missioners with a special devotion to the Lord’s Passion and death (the Passionists). The first house was founded on Monte Argentario. Despite facing many problems, by the time of his death there were twelve Passionist Retreats (community houses) as well as a community of nuns. He had a special interest in England and regularly prayed for its conversion.
Today, the passage from the Gospel of Saint Luke presents to us a man in the crowd who asked Jesus to divide an inheritance for him, and the parable that Jesus told because of this. Let’s try to understand.
Today, in the world in which we live, there are truly many cases of people asking the court to divide inheritance. People often follow the standards of this world to measure their own gains and losses. Recently I saw on a certain short-video platform that there was a rich man who had three children. After he died, his lawyer read the will to his three children. The eldest son received all the valuable notes under his father’s name; the second son received all the houses under his father’s name, while the youngest son only got his father’s car and nothing else. All three children felt it was unfair, so they went to court and asked the court to redistribute their father’s estate.
I think that at the beginning of today’s Gospel, the man in the crowd who asked Jesus to divide the inheritance was probably in a similar situation. (cf. Lk 12:13) Because in his view, he seemed to have suffered injustice, and what he pursued was absolute fairness. Therefore, he adopted the common practice of the Jews at that time, inviting a person of reputation to divide the property for him.
Similarly, we would follow our own will and try every means to accumulate more of everything belonging to this world for ourselves. In their view, only by accumulating more wealth in this world can one gain more security. When their sense of security is basically satisfied by everything they possess in the secular world, they will exhaust all means to accumulate more for themselves, thus forgetting God who created all these things. Even sometimes, we too will be influenced by them, like the rich man called a fool in the parable told by Jesus today, falling into the trap set for us by the master of this world and its agents.
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord! Even if we accumulate more wealth in this world and gain great fame, when we end this present life, these riches and fame can only remain in this world. Everything we now possess cannot earn eternal life for us. After we depart, people may remember that we once existed in this world, but after a period of time, people will forget us. But God of infinite majesty will not forget us. When we end this present life and come before Him for judgment, what is presented before Him is not how much wealth we accumulated in the world. What He is concerned with is how we make good use of everything He has bestowed upon us, fulfilling His holy will in life at every moment, and making the world created by God more beautiful through everything we do in our daily lives.
Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
October 18, 2026 Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel: Mt 22:15-21
Today is the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The passage from the Gospel of Saint Matthew tells us about the dialogue between the disciples of the Pharisees and the disciples of the Herodians with Jesus.
We know that in the time of Jesus, the Pharisees were the “Rabbis” of the Israelites, teaching the people by way of parables. When interpreting the Law, they included the precepts of the ancestors and customs, that is, what they called the traditions of the ancestors—following the logic of this world. This logic told them: if they gave something to others, they must receive in return something equivalent to what they had given. Therefore, they only invited those who seemed to be close relatives to share lunch and dinner with them. The scribes were some kind of biblical scholars. Like the Pharisees, they interpreted Scripture as they pleased, considering themselves as the mouthpiece of God, and regarded themselves as righteous and most holy. The Herodians were an emerging heresy, claiming that Herod was the Christ, and that the Kingdom of Judah had already perished.
Today, the disciples of these two factions came together to trap this Teacher from Galilee. We often, in our lives, act like those Pharisees who designed to ensnare Jesus in His words (cf. Mt 22:15-17), making human rules according to our own will, or to satisfy our personal interests, and intending to impose these rules upon God who created us with His abundant love. For in our eyes, we seem to be more learned than God, and even surpass Him in some respects. At times, we even think that those brothers and sisters who are sent by God to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom before us seem to speak of a God according to their own understanding of the divine will, rather than God speaking to us through His Church built upon Saint Peter (cf. Mt 16:18), continuing to reveal to us the truth about the Kingdom.
In fact, living in this changing world, we are often tempted by the enemy—the devil—just as Saint Peter taught: “Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, prowls around seeking someone to devour; you should resist him with firm faith, and should know that your brothers in the world are suffering the same hardships.” (cf. 1 Pt 5:8-9) If we continue to follow our own selfish desires and passions and obey the guidance of the flesh in our lives, we still live under the dominion of death. Thus, although our bodies have received the Baptism of Christ and belong to Christ, our souls still remain under the dominion of sin and death, still living in darkness. But if we rely on the Holy Spirit of God to mortify the rash impulses of the flesh, we shall live forever.
Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
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