Sunday, October 25, 2026: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Reflection

“You shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus reminds us that “the whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:40).

On September 7, 2026, Pope Leo expressed hope that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia would “bear fruit.” Like Jesus, our Pope does not “let up” on the directive to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Pope Leo, in his wisdom, does not leave it there. In his May encyclical, Magnifica-Humanitas, he reminds us that God offers us the grace to live as Jesus teaches.

“Without faith, each person might feel alone and become suspicious of others, seeing them as strangers and enemies,” Pope Leo said. “By grace, however, we are brothers and sisters who can live in harmony: meeting one another, forgiving one another and listening to one another in the Lord.”

And finally, there is 9/11. As I write this reflection on September 12, the images of strangers and neighbors helping one another are especially salient. Twenty-five years have passed, yet those images remain with us. They remind us that, even in the midst of tragedy and uncertainty, we are called to love one another.

Action

Give your heart over to our Provident God and allow God to lead you each day in loving your neighbor as yourself. Rejoice in God’s amazing grace, which makes it possible for us to do so.