14 November 2026 Saturday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time, or Saturday in Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary Gospel: Lk 17:26-37
Today is Saturday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time, traditionally a day especially dedicated to honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Scripture passage taken from the Gospel of Luke provides us with a section of Jesus’ teaching on persevering prayer. Let us attempt to reflect.
We often see such scenes in our lives: men born of flesh frequently engage in disputes with others over trivial matters of daily life, or seek the judgment of earthly courts due to dissatisfaction with certain worldly things. The one who renders judgment in earthly courts is the judge, and the law he relies upon is human law, intended to resolve disputes and restore harmony among people.
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord! The relationship between man and God can sometimes be like that between the widow and the unjust judge (cf. Lk 18:2-5). When we offer prayers to God, we often experience that, though we consider ourselves to be praying sincerely, we do not feel God’s grace and may even feel that God does not seem to respond to the prayers we offer to Him, nor fulfill all the graces we seek from Him. When this situation becomes the norm, our fervor for God and for the faith will gradually fade; we will gradually distance ourselves from God, and consequently turn to the devil, and gradually perish. For in our eyes, God seems to be one who does not pursue perfect justice, unlike us who live according to God’s will. In reality, God wishes to cultivate our hope through the sufferings we experience in life. As Paul says: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (cf. Rom 8:18-21). That glorious liberty of the children of God is attained through receiving the Baptism of Christ, by which our old self, bearing the mark of death, is crucified together with Christ, who out of love for us gave up his life, so that the self belonging to sin may perish, that we may no longer be slaves to death, but by following the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, become children of God, and thus become co-heirs with Christ, sharing in the eternal divine life of Christ.
Today, the Church dedicates this day to the special honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let us imitate the humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary and devoutly offer our prayer to God:
Almighty and merciful God, graciously keep from us all adversity, so that, unhindered in mind and body alike, we may pursue in freedom of heart the things that are yours. 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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