November 7, 2026
Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time, or Saturday in Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Gospel: Lk 16:9-15

Today is Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time, a day traditionally dedicated to the special veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lord Jesus Christ, rich in mercy, through the Gospel recorded by Saint Luke, teaches us how to make good use of wealth. Let’s try to understand.

We often complain to God in our lives, thinking that God is very unjust to those who fear Him. In our view, those who use dishonest wealth to make friends live a richer life than us, enjoying the luxurious life that money brings them, while we, who fear God and live according to His commandments, live in poverty and want because we keep God’s commandments. As a result, those who live with us day and night laugh at us like the Pharisees who ridiculed Jesus (cf. Lk 16:14-15) and regard us as fools. The reason we have such thoughts is because of our fragile human nature, and the origin of this fragile human nature—original sin. As a result, we often think according to thoughts that come from flesh and blood, and deal with our relationship with God using the ways of this world. In our view, like our first parents, we want to obtain the same status and ability as God, and also want to have all the wealth of this world, so that we often abuse all the graces that God has bestowed upon us, and use the hands that God has given us to obtain that wealth which is regarded as unclean in the eyes of God, and then cause our own souls and bodies, like the servant who is unfaithful in small matters (cf. Lk 16:10-12), when the life of this world ends, because we have not made good use of all the graces bestowed by God, to fall into eternal perdition together, body and soul, and live with the enemy of the human soul—the devil.

Remember: Through the reception of Baptism into Christ, we have crucified the old self, which bears the likeness of death, with Christ, so that the sinful self may perish (cf. Rom 6:6). Therefore, in our lives, our conduct must be in accordance with all that we have received. If we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God and live according to the desire of the Holy Spirit, we will surely be able to properly use all the graces bestowed by God like the shrewd children of this world and live in the overflowing love of God. At that time, we will be servants who is faithful in small matters and also faithful in great matters. God, rich in mercy, will surely appoint us to manage all His property, manage His servants, and distribute food to them according to their share, just like the master who gave to his faithful and wise steward (cf. Lk 12:42). Because at that time, what we serve is no longer the perishable wealth of this world, but the imperishable wealth that God has stored up for us in heaven; we no longer serve those who, like us, are created by God in His own image, but God. At that time, we shall be, like Christ, co-heirs with God and become children of God.

Almighty and merciful God, by whose gift your faithful offer you right and praiseworthy service, grant, we pray, that we may hasten without stumbling to receive the things you have promised. 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