September 19, 2026 // Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time // Optional Memorial of Saint Januarius, Bishop and Martyr

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Psalm: Psalm 56:10c-12, 13-14

Reflect on the Word // 

I feel God’s presence with me working everything out as I walk the cobblestone streets and take in the panoramic views of the Umbrian countryside. I would be heading to Rome the following day to make a Jubilee pilgrimage with a group of women, but this day I am alone, walking the streets of Assisi on my own. It was a last minute decision to squeeze in this visit to the city of Saint Francis and Saint Clare and the newly canonized Saint Carlo Acutis. I hoped it was a good idea, that the added travel hassle would all be worth it, and that I would be safe as a single woman traveling solo in a foreign country.

I think how two days prior to leaving I was in urgent care with an infection in my injured toe. With each step painful, I didn’t know if I would manage all the walking necessary for this trip. “Now I know that God is with me” (Psalm 56:10c). I feel Him with me as I enjoy this city on my own, just me and God. God has blessed my decision to trust Him and release all the fear (see Psalm 56:12). He heals me even down to my toes. The words from today’s Responsorial Psalm are literally lived out in me: “I walk in the presence of God in the light of the living” (Psalm 56:14). 

Our walk with the Lord also includes the physical aspects of our human experience. God is concerned with my spiritual walk with Him as well as my ability to actually walk during a time of physical injury. Our human sufferings can be vehicles for greater trust as His presence works everything out for our good. Whatever path we walk today, may we know that God is truly with us (see Psalm 56:10c).

Relate to the Lord // Make this Psalm your prayer today: “I walk in the presence of God in the light of the living” (Psalm 56:14).