THE DAILY GOSPEL AND READINGS 31 OCTOBER 2026

Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 484

Brothers and sisters:
As long as in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is being proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Indeed I shall continue to rejoice,
for I know that this will result in deliverance for me
through your prayers and support from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
My eager expectation and hope
is that I shall not be put to shame in any way,
but that with all boldness, now as always,
Christ will be magnified in my body,
whether by life or by death.
For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.
If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.
And I do not know which I shall choose.
I am caught between the two.
I long to depart this life and be with Christ,
for that is far better.
Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.
And this I know with confidence,
that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of you
for your progress and joy in the faith,
so that your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound on account of me
when I come to you again.

Responsorial Psalm

R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.
I went with the throng
and led them in procession to the house of God.
Amid loud cries of joy and thanksgiving,
with the multitude keeping festival.
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.

 

 

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.

He told a parable to those who had been invited,
noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.
“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,
do not recline at table in the place of honor.
A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him,
and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say,
‘Give your place to this man,’
and then you would proceed with embarrassment
to take the lowest place.
Rather, when you are invited,
go and take the lowest place
so that when the host comes to you he may say,
‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’
Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

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THE DAILY GOSPEL AND READINGS 30 OCTOBER 2026

Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 483

Reading 1

Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus,
to all the holy ones in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi,
with the bishops and deacons:
grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God at every remembrance of you,
praying always with joy in my every prayer for all of you,
because of your partnership for the Gospel
from the first day until now.
I am confident of this,
that the one who began a good work in you
will continue to complete it
until the day of Christ Jesus.
It is right that I should think this way about all of you,
because I hold you in my heart,
you who are all partners with me in grace,
both in my imprisonment
and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel.
For God is my witness,
how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer:
that your love may increase ever more and more
in knowledge and every kind of perception,
to discern what is of value,
so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ
for the glory and praise of God.

Responsorial Psalm

R. (2) How great are the works of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart
in the company and assembly of the just.
Great are the works of the LORD,
exquisite in all their delights.
R. How great are the works of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Majesty and glory are his work,
and his justice endures forever.
He has won renown for his wondrous deeds;
gracious and merciful is the LORD.
R. How great are the works of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has given food to those who fear him;
he will forever be mindful of his covenant.
He has made known to his people the power of his works,
giving them the inheritance of the nations.
R. How great are the works of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.

 

 

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.
In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy.
Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking,
“Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?”
But they kept silent; so he took the man and,
after he had healed him, dismissed him.
Then he said to them
“Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern,
would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?”
But they were unable to answer his question.

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All Shall Be Well: Julian, Francis, and Sacred Noticing

 

On my last trip to England I sat in Julian’s cell in Norwich. It’s a small room, quiet and plain. I expected to feel the narrowness of her enclosure. Instead, I felt spaciousness, the way a small window can frame an entire sky.

Julian is best remembered for one line from her book showings: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” We often hear it as gentle comfort. But she wrote it in a century of plague, war, and a fractured Church. Her “all shall be well” is not a promise that nothing bad will happen. It is a statement about who holds what happens.

That is where her path and mine meet.

My formation is Franciscan. With Duns Scotus, I believe the Incarnation was never Plan B, a repair after the Fall. Christ was always the point. Creation was made through love and for love, and every created thing carries the trace of its Maker. Francis sang this to Brother Sun and Sister Water. The Celtic Christians named it in their thin places, where the veil between heaven and earth wears almost through.

Julian comes to the same truth by another door. She is shown something “the quantity of a hazelnut” lying in her palm and asks what it is. The answer: it is all that is made, and it lasts because God loves it. Here is a mystic noticing one ordinary thing and finding all of creation held inside it. That is Sacred Noticing.

We differ however, and the difference is a gift. Julian went inward and stayed put; Francis went outward and kept walking. Her visions came in one grace-filled illness. The noticing I practice is for traffic, kitchens, and hard conversations. Yet we share the same trust: the presence we seek is not somewhere far off. It is already here, already holding.

Julian goes further than most of us dare. She calls sin “behovely,” fitting in some way we cannot yet see, and says our wounds will one day be seen as honors. That speaks to what I call the spiritual footprint, what we have, what we are, and what we leave behind. Our footprint is real, but it does not get the last word. Julian saw that God is headed toward healing, not just pardon. Love, she wrote at the end, was his meaning.

So, this is what I carried home from that little room in Norwich. All shall be well, not because I can see how, but because each time I truly notice something, a hazelnut, a face, a wound, I find it already held.

 

 

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