October 24, 2025 // Optional Memorial of Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Romans 7:18-25a
Reflect on the Word //
My feet were aching, and my body was worn. The altitude hit me, and I felt dehydrated. “What am I doing here?” I found myself yelling this aloud with the ridgeline in sight, soon after arriving at a false summit. Every step up the mountain was painful. I tried resisting the wind’s force to look ahead and see how much farther ahead my friends had gotten. Swallowing the remaining droplets of my water bottle, I realized that the only way forward is further up, and I resolved to keep going. Beginning again, my heart revealed my fear: It’s too much. I can’t do it. I called out for help, and the couple I was with stopped and came back for me.
They came for me. They found me stuck and stopped dead in my tracks. My pack was at my feet to give my back some reprieve, and they carried it for me for a mile’s stretch. With electrolytes and encouragement in tow, we pressed ahead together and finished the 13,000-foot hike.
As the burden on my back grew lighter, I reflected on my noble aspirations and the desire for the higher things. Stuck in the mire of misery and self-sufficiency, I realized that I can’t achieve great things alone. I can’t muscle my way up to the summits of a 13,000-foot hike, much less the summits of eternity. I need help. I am a creature, a beloved daughter of the Father Who made me dependent and in need of community, dependent and in need of Trinitarian communion.
How often do we find that we are like Saint Paul in today's First Reading, knowing what is right and failing to do it? He says, “For I do not do the good I want” (Romans 7:19). We know self-reliance is not the right course of action. We are tempted to “go it alone” for reasons as varied as the means by which we attempt to prove ourselves, though. In His severe yet tender mercy, the Father reminds us that our worth lies in being loved by Him. All that He asks is that this truth be shared.
Relate to the Lord // What burden are you trying to carry on your own? Who can you share it with today?
Senite Sahlezghi is a consecrated virgin for the Archdiocese of Denver. Native to Colorado, she is a first generation Eritrean American, is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a master’s in Counseling Psychology, and serves as the School Counselor for St. John Paul the Great Catholic High School. Grateful to be in a place surrounded by mountains and live music, the greatest privilege of her life remains being called to be Christ’s bride.
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