Tuesday, 17 November 2026
Tuesday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time | Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
Gospel: Lk 19:1–10

Today is Tuesday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time. According to the General Roman Calendar, the Church today celebrates the Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.

The Missal published by the Catholic Truth Society tells us:

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (1207–1231) was the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary. She was born at either Sárospatak (Hungary) or Bratislava (then in Hungary, now in Slovakia). She married Ludwig IV, Landgrave of Thuringia (Germany), and had three children. Saint Elizabeth was widowed at the age of twenty and thereafter devoted herself to serving the poor and the sick. She founded a hospital at Marburg and joined the Third Order of Saint Francis.

Today, the passage from the Gospel of Saint Luke tells us about an encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector in Jericho, as Jesus was passing through. As I write this reflection on today’s Gospel passage, I see our own image in this tax collector named Zacchaeus. For we too often rush about on the road of seeking Jesus, just like this tax collector Zacchaeus. We too urgently need the sycamore tree to lead us to Jesus, so that Jesus may heal us and restore to us our identity as children of God.

Today, through the Gospel recorded by Saint Luke, Jesus tells us: He is not a God who keeps His distance from anyone. Like a compassionate Father, even before we speak to Him, He takes the initiative to approach us, desiring to stay in our homes and be with us. Because we have become children of God through the Baptism of Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we must live out the spirit of the Word of God. We should take the initiative to welcome those who are marginalized, showing them the love God has for them. We should help those who have lost themselves in life to rediscover the love they have lost, by contemplating all that God has done in us. Through acts of charity in our daily lives, they can cover their sins, and together with us, put on anew the righteousness that belongs to the children of God, so as to share in the inheritance of the Kingdom of God.

O Lord our God, grant us the joy of being unfailingly devoted to You, for to serve the Creator of all good with constancy is full and lasting happiness. 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. Amen.

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica