October 27, 2025 // Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Romans 8:12-17
Reflect on the Word //
I drove into our driveway and heaved a sigh of relief. My husband wasn’t home yet. It had been a rough week, and I decided to treat myself to a coffee and a trip to the store to browse the fall decor. That always lifted my spirits! However, unloading my bags of goodies, I felt guilty. Did I really need all this fall decor when I already had bins of them? Frankly, no, and it was becoming a pattern.
In today’s First Reading, Saint Paul writes: “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Romans 8:15). What does that mean for me, Lord? How do I fall back into a spirit of slavery?
Asking the Holy Spirit to open my eyes, the answer crystallized. It’s when I look to outside things to bring me comfort before I turn to God. My go-tos are shopping, eating, binge watching, etc. Of themselves, these aren’t bad things (if you moderated the binge), but when I’m stressed and anxious, I tend to run to these first for immediate comfort and to mask what I am feeling.
God asked my heart, Why do you not come to Me, my daughter? Dwell in my mercy. Allow Me to comfort you. Deep in my heart I knew this, but I needed the reminder. When I go to Him first and refresh myself in His presence, then I can enjoy the simple pleasures of a good meal or favorite show without an inordinate attachment to them.
Is there a spirit of slavery in your life? Maybe it’s a sinful habit that has taken root or something that’s innately good, but has become an obstacle in deepening your spiritual life. The Holy Spirit wants to enlighten our hearts, particularly through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We are daughters of God called to live in the freedom of His love and not in a spirit of slavery.
Relate to the Lord // Ask the Lord to reveal any disordered attachments (something you turn to or rely on instead of Him). Ask Him for the grace to turn to Him today.
Bobbi Rol is a wife and mama living on the Monterey Bay in California with her husband, daughter (also a Blessed Is She writer), and three teen boys. When she is not driving her kids to school, practices, and games, she can be found by the ocean, catching a movie, or collecting journals and stationery. She was a contributing author to Gift: Study on the Eucharist, And Hay Became Holy, and our children’s devotional prayer book, Rise Up. Find out more about her at https://www.instagram.com/
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