Gospel: October 16, 2025

October 16, 2025 (Thursday)

28th Week in Ordinary Time

Psalter: Week 4 (Green/White)

St. Hedwig, religious

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, virgin

Ps 130:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6ab

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With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.

1st Reading: Romans 3:21-30

Gospel: Luke 11:47-54

A curse is on you, for you build monuments to the prophets your ancestors killed. So you approve and agree with what your ancestors did. Is it not so? They got rid of the prophets, and you build monuments to them! For that reason, the wisdom of God also said: I will send prophets and apostles and these people will kill and persecute some of them. But the present generation will have to answer for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was murdered between the altar and the Sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, the people of this time will have to answer for them all. A curse is on you, teachers of the law, for you have taken the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you prevented others from entering.” As Jesus left that place, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees began to harass him, asking him endless questions, setting traps to catch him in something he might say.

Reflection:

Saint Margaret Mary had a divine mission to make known the immense riches of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. At her canonization, Pope Benedict XV said that her mission and message was universal in that the whole Church should grow to love the Sacred Heart devotion, that all might know more intimately how much Christ’s heart is “inflamed with love” for us. In her visions, Christ named Margaret Mary his “disciple of My Sacred Heart.” She was called to be a humble disciple, guarding particularly against the sins of pride, despair and gluttony. In the face of intense temptation to these sins, Christ promised to be an “impregnable fortress,” protecting her. Thus, Saint Margaret Mary teaches us that Christ’s loving heart is our shield against giving in to temptation. In this way there is no room for pride, as we rely not on our own strength, but that of the Lord. Saint Paul teaches us that pride has no place in our redemption either, since “all are graciously forgiven and made righteous, through the redemption effected in Christ Jesus.” Saint Margaret Mary, teach us to love the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Heart that burns with love for us.