November 10, 2025 // Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Wisdom 1:1-7 

Reflect on the Word // 

I was agonizing over a stressful relationship during a video chat with a beloved mentor and friend. She drew three concentric circles. “These are the spheres of control,” she explained. “The one in the center is what you can control. The middle is what you have some control over, and the outer ring is what you have no control over.”

I have used this tool countless times over the years. A recovering people pleaser, I like to think that I can make others feel a certain way about me. The truth always reveals itself when I pray with the circles, though: The only thing I can control is my own actions. I cannot control my circumstances, nor other people’s reactions to me. I can’t control my kids, my friends, or my parents. Everything I can’t control, I surrender to the One Who can.

Our First Reading says, “ [T]hink of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart; because he is found by those who test him not, and he manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him” (Wisdom 1:1). Just as I have spheres of control, I also have spheres of influence and authority. I owe most of my vocational energy to my husband and children. My life needs to revolve around the Word of God and the Sacraments, so that I can “seek him in integrity of heart” and accomplish my mission. I am also called to bring Jesus to my extended family, friends, students, and neighbors, but wisdom calls me to prioritize the innermost sphere.

We all have a mission field. Our job is to know which parts of our life we are called to influence, where we rightly wield authority. We may be able to convince others of our pure intentions when we overstep the bounds of our authority and attempt to seize control, but “God is the witness of his inmost self, and the sure observer of his heart, and the listener to his tongue” (Wisdom 1:6). If we are honest in prayer, the Spirit of Wisdom will guide us.

Relate to the Lord // Pray with the three concentric circles Elizabeth described. What can you control? What do you need to surrender to God?