October 24, 2026 // Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time // Optional Memorial of Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Ephesians 4:7-16 

Reflect on the Word //

I sat across from a dear friend—fresh tears rolled slowly down her face. Her eyes searched for words that would somehow make sense of the suffering she held tenderly in her heart. I sat and listened instead of trying to fix it. As she shared, I recognized parts of my own story within hers—moments of waiting, disappointment, betrayal, and questions that once felt too heavy to bring to God. 

As we sat together, I remembered just how faithfully the Lord had met me there, not by removing every hardship, but by remaining with me through them. His presence became the anchor among the waves. And a quiet realization became the only comfort I had to offer: He knows. He truly knows.

Saint Paul writes, "Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift" (Ephesians 4:7). Before speaking about the gifts Christ gives, he reminds us that Jesus first "descended into the lower regions of the earth" before ascending in glory (Ephesians 4:9-10). Christ did not save us from a distance—He became Man and entered every part of our human experience.

Christ our Lord knew grief, rejection, loneliness, exhaustion, and sorrow. There is no suffering we carry in our lives that is unfamiliar to Him. Because He entered our humanity so completely, we can entrust Him with every part of our hearts. He can then become our anchor when life feels uncertain.

Yet He doesn't only meet us in our suffering—He transforms us through it. Christ gives each of us grace "for building up the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12). The places where we have encountered His faithfulness often become the places from which we can encourage others. In Christ's hands, no suffering is wasted. He forms us through it, then uses our stories to reveal His hope and faithfulness to the world.

Each of us has been given unique gifts through Christ, and many are shaped in the hidden, quiet places where we have encountered His love most personally. The Lord Who entered our humanity is still at work, strengthening us, maturing us, and using our lives to build up His Church with hope.

Relate to the Lord // Pray with us the refrain from the Surrender Novena: “Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!”