November 12, 2026
Thursday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time, Memorial of Saint Josaphat
Gospel: Luke 17:20–25

Today is Thursday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time. The Church today celebrates the Memorial of Saint Josaphat. The recently published Roman Missal tells us: St Josaphat (c. 1580–1623) was born in Volodymyr-Volynskyi (Ukraine) of Orthodox parents. He later became a Catholic and entered the Basilian Order at Vilnius. As Archbishop of Polotsk, he worked faithfully for the reform of the Church and unity between East and West. He faced much opposition and suffered martyrdom at the hands of an angry mob at Vitebsk (Belarus).

Today’s Gospel passage from Saint Luke presents a dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees. In this exchange, Jesus speaks with the Pharisees about the Kingdom of God. Let us reflect.

The Pharisees believed that Jesus was the Messiah who would come to lead the Jews in a revolt against the Roman Empire, and that the Kingdom of God He would bring was a continuation of the present political order. They failed to realize that the Kingdom of God of which Jesus spoke was already present in the midst of the world. Likewise, we too often fail to perceive the Kingdom of God present among us, because we too tend to think that the Kingdom of God of which Jesus speaks seems not to exist at all.

In reality, the Kingdom of God of which Jesus spoke is a world filled with love and mercy, a world filled with hope. In the Kingdom of God of which He spoke, there is only the God who loves man and the man who is loved by God. The living Word of God is the principle that the Kingdom of God of which Jesus spoke follows, and the core of the Word of God is love. Love covers a multitude of failings and brings God’s mercy to those who are weak, so that they no longer feel despair, but are filled with hope for the future.

Today, let us follow the example of the martyr Bishop Saint Josaphat: even when confronted with resistance, let us remain full of hope in the word of God, with hearts abound in faith, and offer our prayer to God:

Stir up in your Church, we pray, O Lord,
the Spirit that filled Saint Josaphat
as he laid down his life for the sheep,
so that through his intercession
we, too, may be strengthened by the same Spirit
and not be afraid to lay down our life for others.
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.

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica