November 5, 2026 // Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Luke 15:1-10  

Reflect on the Word //

I can still remember the fear that struck my heart as my mind raced with questions: Where is my mom? How will I find her? What will happen to me? While the moment of losing my mom in the store was quickly resolved, it felt like an eternity waiting to be reunited with her. I wondered why my mom left me. However, I was the one who had wandered off, not my mom. She and I shared great relief at our reunion.

Yet, a wanderer I continued to be. I suppose on some level I knew Jesus would always be there, but I pushed limits as a teen and young adult, testing my parents’ rules. I questioned the Church’s “rules,” now understood as teachings to be embraced as our path to Heaven. As a young mother, I questioned what my parents taught me all those years. I needed to find understanding for myself. 

With one foot out the door of the Church, and fairly miserable, I decided I needed a plan to get back on track and get healthy. I created a little list of what I could implement to ensure better mental and physical well-being. The list contained typical items: eat healthier, exercise, and get better sleep. I shared this with my husband, who silently took the list and added “Eucharist.”

My husband’s gentle response quietly reminded me that the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is what I needed most. It was a sobering moment. At the time I did not realize it was part of my journey back to Jesus, fully in communion with His Church. Jesus, like in the parable in today’s Gospel, came after me, His lost sheep. And He did so through my husband’s invitation.

Jesus perpetually comes after us. Because we are imago Dei, we have inherent value and dignity (Source). He, in His unfathomable love for us, will never let us go. Our Good Shepherd will relentlessly pursue our hearts and He will rejoice with all of Heaven when we return to Him (see Luke 15:10).

Relate to the Lord // Have you felt far from the Lord in this season of your life? Pray, “Jesus, Good Shepherd, come for me.”