October 31, 2026
Saturday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time, or Traditional Saturday Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Gospel: Lk 14:1, 7-11

Today is Saturday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time, a day on which the Church traditionally honors the Blessed Virgin Mary. The passage from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke shows us Jesus at a meal in the home of a leading Pharisee, where He teaches those who were eating with Him. Let us try to understand.

In our lives, we often resemble those who rush to take the places of honor at a wedding banquet (cf. Lk 14:7), constantly seeking to display our own glory before others, while neglecting God who created and governs all things. For in the eyes of God, humanity is but a drop in the ocean, truly insignificant. God invites us, together with our brothers and sisters who, like us, have been baptized into Christ through the one Baptism, to attend the heavenly banquet after being freed from the bonds of sin and death. When we are invited to this heavenly banquet, we should not, like worldly people, always strive for the places of honor, thereby trying to show God how much we love Him, only to be displeasing to God because of the deep pride and all manner of concupiscence in our hearts. Rather, we should imitate Jesus, who is meek and humble of heart, and in all things remain humble, so that all we do may be pleasing to God, and that after this earthly life we may enter the Kingdom of Heaven, to enjoy the happiness and all the riches that God has prepared for us since the foundation of the world and thus attain eternal life.

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord! Remember this: We are children of God. Our thoughts, words, and deeds must be in accord with all that we have received. We should not live for ourselves, but for God. In our lives, we should constantly help our brothers and sisters who are suffering from illness, hardship, despair, and helplessness, as well as those living in darkness—men and women created by God in His own image (cf. Gen 1:27)—so that they may be delivered from their present distress, and, with God’s help, receive some comfort, gain strength to overcome death, and experience in their daily lives the infinite grace that God bestows upon the world. Thus, the fruit we bear will no longer be fruit born of flesh and blood, but fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit and endures. For by then, our thoughts, words, and deeds will increasingly conform to Christ, and through the help of the Holy Spirit of God, we will have obtained freedom, no longer living under the dominion of sin and death, but in the abundant love of God.

Today, let us no longer follow the ways of this world, but follow the way of Jesus. Let us live out the spirit of the Word of God in our lives. With trust in God, let us offer our prayer:

Almighty ever-living God,
increase our faith, hope and charity,
and make us love what you command,
so that we may merit what you promise.
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