October 18, 2026 ~ 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ year A

Spiritual Reflection

October 18, 2026 ~ 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ year A (pdf)

“Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God
what belongs to God.”    Mt:22:21 

…Do we not consider ourselves the worthy owners of the different graces that we receive from God? Do we not turn away from God because we think that we can manage without Him? Does God not continuously bestow countless graces upon us? God sustains our lives and gives us health and strength. Thanks to Him, we can see, hear and walk. God gives us the ability to think and to act. Are we grateful for these graces?

 If God did not sustain us and bestow new graces upon us at every moment, then we would lose everything in an instant. Meanwhile, deafened to God’s knocking and immersed in the spirit of this world by looking at the world without faith, and constantly maintaining the absurd conviction that we gain everything we have on our own, we turn away from God. Do we remember that the work by which we make a living is a gift from God? Certainly our Heavenly Father is the one who bestows upon us the necessary strength and ability to make it possible for us to work. 

Everything is alms from God’s love. Do we thank Him more than just occasionally for these alms from His love? When we fail to thank God for these gifts that we receive from Him, we behave as if we were self-sufficient, as if our lives and the fate of the world depended on us. Is not a beggar, who is closed to his “knocking” Benefactor, a pitiful person because he has it in his head that he himself is a king? St. Paul asks, “What do you possess that you have not received? But if you have received it, why are you boasting as if you did not receive it?” (1 Cor 4:7) Why do we boast, even if in the depths of our own hearts, about our abilities, talents and achievements, instead of thanking God for these gifts?

If your openness to God continues to increase, then He will gradually take everything from you. Perhaps His knocking will take the form of certain events thanks to which you lose your friends or the environment and surroundings to which you are accustomed. Perhaps you will lose your position in society, which provides you with a sense of security and self-worth. Or, perhaps, you will not be able to fulfill your own plans concerning your education, starting a new family, or a professional career.

It is very important that you agree to lose. In addition, it is very important that you joyfully accept the concrete realities of the path to sanctity which you have been invited to follow. Do not forget the pearl you want to obtain is the Kingdom of God’s reign. Moreover, it is not a surprise that we have to do away with our own wills and give up our own visions of life in order to open ourselves to everything that is God’s will and His vision of life. At a certain point on this path the “knocking” light can show you that seeking support in yourself is merely an illusion. As a way to purify you from this illusion, God may allow you to experience some type of physical or psychological disability, fatigue, or decreased resistance to stress.

The truth about your own weakness will help you to turn your heart away from self-love, which sooner or later can become a source of torment for you or anyone who concentrates on himself…

A person who is poor in spirit cannot imagine any other rescue for himself apart from God. Therefore, such a person knows that he has to call upon God with the greatest determination that he can muster up within himself.

                                                    S.C. Biela, Open Wide the Door to Christ, pp.15-18

 References from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

 224     If God is the only One, everything we are and have comes from him: "What have you that you did not receive?"48 "What shall I render to the LORD for all his bounty to me?"

 2638  As in the prayer of petition, every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving. The letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving, and the Lord Jesus is always present in it: "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you"; "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving."

 Questions for Reflection

 1.      Am I grateful to God in all circumstances or do I cling to my own will and/or my own vision of life?

 2.      October is ‘respect life’ month. What is my attitude toward all stages of life? Do I consider difficult stages as gifts from God or problems to be solved?

 3.      In discovering my weaknesses, how can Mary, the lowly Handmaid of the Lord, guide me, in contrition and gratitude, toward Jesus the Redeemer?

 Prayer after Sharing

 Thank you, God, for allowing me to see the truth about my weaknesses and how it calls upon the abyss of your merciful Love.