September 10, 2026 // Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Read the Word //  Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Luke 6: 37-38

Reflect on the Word // 

One of the most life-changing and empowering books I have ever read is Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyers. My very first spiritual director recommended it to me and gave me much-needed permission to “turn the channel” and gain better control of my thought life. Up until then, I always felt like a victim of my imagination, needing to dwell on whatever thoughts drifted in and out. Once I learned to stop ruminating and to be intentional with my thinking, my struggles with anxiety diminished greatly. 

I still need the reminder, and today’s Gospel offers us an example of what happens when we forget to be vigilant in our thought life. 

When we are in the habit of judging others, we live in a space where we feel we are being judged. When we spend our time condemning others, we are quick to think we, too, are being condemned. We know that God forgives our sins and loves us, but I appreciate that this Scripture is giving us the actual recipe for how to stop feeling like we are on everyone else’s radar: stop doing it ourselves (see Luke 6: 37)!

The times that I forgive others, I feel freedom in my soul, a release from bondage that only Jesus can give. I want the gifts that the Lord offers, I want them in “good measure, packed together, shaken down and overflowing,” all poured into my lap (Luke 6:38). What a promise!

In order to experience this reality, not just to have the Lord do these things for me but to really live at the level of knowing all of this goodness to be true, I have to adjust how I think. 

God wants us to be free at every level. We don’t earn His love with our good behavior, but here the Lord offers us the secret to really experiencing all He has in store for us, His children whom He loves so much. 

Relate to the Lord // Pray for the grace to become aware of your thoughts today and take captive every thought for Christ (see 2 Corinthians 10:5).