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Today’s Word: 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (All Souls Day) – November 2, 2025

Wisdom 3:1-9

Psalms 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6

Romans 5:5-11

John 6:37-40

Today is the thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time. It is also the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day). Yesterday, Nov. 1, was All Saints Day. These days are typically celebrated where large Christian populations reside, like Europe, South America and the United States.

Speaking from a Catholic point of view, we recognize and honor the blessed holy ones (saints) who have gone before us. We recognize those that are known and unknown. For All Souls Day, it is a time where we honor and recognize all those (family, friends and so on) who have gone before us, and especially those souls that may still be in purgatory.

Therefore, the readings for today (All Souls Day) seem to emphasize hope in God’s mercy, the importance of prayer and love for all those who have departed before us, and the purification of those souls in purgatory before entering heaven. The key themes include the understanding that the souls of the just are in God’s peace, the belief in salvation through Christ’s sacrifice while still sinners, and the hope for resurrection for all the faithful departed. 

The souls of the just are in God’s care, as it says in the Book of Wisdom (the first reading) today, “But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them.” (Wisdom 3:1, The Great Adventure Bible – Revised Standard Version – 2nd Catholic Edition). We know this brings them peace as the passage continues. It says, “In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be an affliction, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace.” (Wisdom 3:2-3, The Great Adventure Bible – RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition). This appears to provide a sense of comfort and security, while pointing out that those who have died in God’s grace are not truly lost.

Jumping to the New Testament theme, the reading from Romans emphasizes the idea Christ died for us while we were still sinners, proving God’s love. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:8-10, The Great Adventure Bible – RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition). The passage further demonstrates that if God has already reconciled us through Christ’s death, we can have even greater confidence in being saved through His life.

Jesus speaks a promise to those listening that he is doing the “will of him who sent me.” (John 6:39, The Great Adventure Bible – RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition). The promise is that for everyone who “sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life;” (John 6:40, The Great Adventure Bible – RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition), and Jesus will raise them on the last day. This is the hope for resurrection.

Take time to pray for loved ones and all those departed from us. Lift them up in prayer. Pray for yourself as well. You, me, all of us are on a journey to sainthood and purification. Offer those petitions to the Lord this day, and every day.

So I believe this message is good for this week as well as last week. It always seems appropriate. So, as I will leave you with this scripture from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, take heart in Paul’s words, where he writes, “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition)

Stay strong with your faith and try to persevere through all hardships. And always…ALWAYS…give thanks to God!

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Today’s Word: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 19, 2025

Exodus 17:8-13

Psalms 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

2 Timothy 3:14-4:2

Luke 18:1-8

Greetings everyone. This week the Sunday readings consist of themes of persistent prayer and lasting faith. I am going to particularly focus on three of the readings in today’s post. I believe these three passages show that a persistent reliance on God is necessary for victory, righteousness, and eternal life. So let’s get into the readings for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The first reading from Exodus tells the story of the Israelites’ battle with Amalek. As Joshua and his troops fight, Moses stands on a hill holding the staff of God. As long as Moses holds his hands up, the Israelites take control and readily win the fighting However,  when Moses’ arms get tired and fall, Amalek and his army start to win. Moses must rely on Aaron and Hur to hold his arms up for him until the battle is won. 

I believe this shows how Moses’s persistent, intercessory prayer demonstrates that God is the true power behind any success, and not on the strength of the Israelite army. When Moses gets tired and requires assistance from Aaron and Hur to help him illustrates how prayer can be difficult and tiring. This, I feel, reflects the idea that we,  as a Christian community, should support one another in faith and intercession

In the New Testament, the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Timothy, Paul urges Timothy to remain faithful to the scriptures he learned in his youth, and to continue to preach the word diligently because “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, The Great Adventure Bible, Revised Standard Version – 2nd Catholic Edition). St. Paul tells Timothy to remain steadfast in preaching the Word because the task of spreading the Gospel is difficult at times and hardships can occur.

Today in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells another parable. This story is about the persistent widow who goes to a judge repeatedly in order to render a just sentence. As many times throughout the gospels, Jesus teaches through the stories in order to teach his disciples lessons. In this particular story, the lesson is “they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1, The Great Adventure Bible, Revised Standard Version – 2nd Catholic Edition). The parable states a widow continually asks a corrupt and unjust judge for a just ruling against her opponent. The judge, who “neither feared God nor regard for man;” (Luke 18:2, The Great Adventure Bible, Revised Standard Version – 2nd Catholic Edition), eventually gives in just to basically get her off his back and stop bothering him. He didn’t believe in God or did not care about anyone else. So, in this, it feels like Jesus contrasts the unrighteous judge with a just and loving God. This means, if a corrupt official will act because of persistence, how much more then will a righteous God offer and give justice and good things to those who cry out to him?

The parable also seems to reassure believers that God hears their prayers and will act on behalf of his people. And remember, as I have talked about this before, God works in his own time. So the answer may not present itself right away or when you would like. And it may not be the exact answer you were looking for. This process requires confident and persistent faith, even when God’s response seems delayed.

Jesus concludes this parable ends with a touching question. Jesus asks his disciples, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8, The Great Adventure Bible, Revised Standard Version – 2nd Catholic Edition). This, I believe, seems to challenge listeners to consider whether they will remain faithful and persistent in prayer and trust in God’s timing and will. 

The theme of persistence and remaining faithful reminds me of this scripture from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians where he writes, “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition)

Stay strong with your faith and try to persevere through all hardships. And always…ALWAYS…give thanks to God!

kellym40 faith

Today’s Word: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 27, 2025

Genesis 18:20-32

Psalms 138:1-3, 6-8

Colossians 2:12-14

Luke 11:1-13

God is good! God is great! God is merciful and kind! I believe we see that in today’s readings. I think it even goes back to my first episode where I talked about it being right and just to give God thanks and praise. Let me just go through the readings, but I do want to spend a little time with the gospel for today.

So we see God’s mercy in the first reading from Genesis. This is the scene where the Lord God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin. However, Abraham spoke with the Lord and asked him if 50 righteous people were there, could God spare the whole city. And if 45 people were there, could he spare the lives of all. Abraham went all the way down to 10 righteous people. Each time, God showed mercy and said he would spare the whole city because of the righteous few.

The Psalm today is about giving thanks to God. I believe many of the Psalms are all about praising and thanking God. Although, some of them do express other themes or emotions.

In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, Paul talks about those who believe and their union with Jesus through his death and resurrection, having “forgiven us all our trespasses.” (Colossians 2:13/RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition). This, of course, was done when Jesus was put upon the cross. Paul’s letter states, “having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:14/RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition).

In Luke’s Gospel today, we get a beautiful passage about prayer. The verses begin with Jesus telling his disciples how to pray, and the Lord Jesus gives us the “Our Father” prayer. He gives his disciples the prayer in verses 2-4 of the gospel. Let me just speak about the Our Father. It is a beautiful, complete prayer itself. When you say the prayer, you are invoking God’s name and identifying it as holy and sacred. “Hallowed be thy name.” You then pray for God’s  Kingdom. “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Next in the prayer, you ask the Father for daily provisions. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Then we ask for forgiveness of our sins and pray that we may forgive others. “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” In the last lines of the prayer, we ask the Father to help us with temptation, evil and sin. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” So that is the “Our Father.” So then, the next time you pray it, think about the words and what the prayer actually is. Think about what Jesus was telling his disciples when he taught them this prayer.

After this prayer, Jesus goes on and talks about unceasing prayer. Jesus tells them if you persevere in prayer, it will be done for you according to God’s time and plan. “For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:10/RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition).

This speaks of the heavenly Father’s love and mercy for all of us. As Jesus continues his talk with his disciples, he tells them they would give good gifts to their children when they ask, even those who sin, so it is right when Jesus says,, “if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13/RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition). 

Now, I mentioned earlier in my first post and spoke about it in my second one, about the seasons in the liturgical year of the Catholic Church. I just want to touch on now about the Sunday readings. Every Sunday in mass, we hear a gospel reading. The gospel readings are broken down to three cycles: A, B, C. The Gospel of Matthew is A. Mark is Year B. And then Luke in Year C. Currently, the Church is in Cycle C, so we are mostly reading from the Gospel of Luke in Sunday liturgy. 

John’s Gospel, known to be more “challenging” than the other gospels because John talks about Jesus’ divine nature and his role as the son of God, is primarily heard during Lent and Easter, and some during the Christmas season.

So you can probably expect to hear the Gospel of Luke in these Sunday scripture readings throughout the rest of this season of Ordinary Time. Remember, Advent begins the new liturgical year, and it is the four weeks prior to Christmas. I believe Advent will start on the last Sunday in November on the 30th this year.

Now, I will leave you with this verse, “The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!” (Numbers 6:24-26, RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition).

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Creating and Sustaining a Life of Prayer, Part 4

This is part four of my prayer series. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and have been able to take away helpful information about your own prayer life. This series was built on the foundation of learning about prayer, how to use it in your daily life, and, today, learn to create and sustain a life of prayer.

A helpful way to do that is to break down the way in which you pray. Let’s take the word PRAY and make an acronym. By doing this, it makes praying more meaningful.

The first letter in our acronym (P) stands for PRAISE. Let praise begin your prayer. Be thankful. Psalm 100:1-4 says, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing! Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name!”

For the third letter (A) we ASK. Ask God for good things. Matthew 7:7-11 tells us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for brad will give hi a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” And remember, God wants you to ask. He will answer, but remember to give thanks to God, glorify Him. (John 14:13). Whatever you ask should be consistent with His word. (John 15:7). And what you ask of the Lord, should bring you joy. (John 16:23-24).

The second letter is (R) and stands for REPENT. Be sorrowful for whatever wrong you have done, even if you don’t know if what you did was wrong. Ask God to help you see whatever wrongdoing you may have done and be sorrowful and show remorse. Repent. Ask for forgiveness. Refer to Psalm 19:12, 14, where it says, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

The final letter (Y) represents a time to be still. It means to YIELD. This is when you pause and stop talking, and you wait, listen, and seek to hear from God. How do you practice yielding to God when you pray? Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

So use PRAY when you pray. Let it help you continue your prayer life and you may see the goodness and wonders of God. Romans 12:12 tells us, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

One of my favorite passages in the bible is from Psalm 63. In verses 1-4 it says, “O God, your are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirst for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.” This also refers to another Psalm, as in Psalm 141:1-2, “O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!”

Again, I hope you’ve enjoyed this series. I will pray that you may keep that focus to Christ Jesus and the heavenly Father. Remember also that God hears us and knows what may be in the silence of our hearts. So take comfort in knowing that, as it says in Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

Take care and God bless you!

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Creating and Sustaining a Life of Prayer, Part 3

This week is part three of my four-part series on prayer. How are you doing on your prayer life? Prayer is essential for our relationship with God. I have already said it is a conversation with God, so open up to Him about anything.

Last week, I talked about sin and confessing those sins to God. He is good and he hears what we have to say. If we are truly sorrowful, He will surely heal a contrite heart.

This week I want to talk about being thankful in your praying. So when you pray, you can also be intentional. Count your blessings to cultivate a grateful a heart. Some ways you can do that is to stop and smell the roses (thank God for creation), smile (thank God for what we have), don’t stop believing (remember what Jesus did for us, keep the faith).

Here’s a little exercise for you to do over the course of five days. In those five days, begin thanking God for your blessings. Do this by organizing circles of people to pray for. Divide them into three groups – Inner Circle, Middle Circle and Outer Circle.

Your Inner Circle should be your smallest circle and should consist of a close group of friends and family. Your next circle – the Middle – should be a little bigger and would consist of good friends, acquaintances and extended family. Your largest circle would be your Outer Circle. This circle is comprised of people we don’t know or have few interactions with. For example, these people could be a celebrity, delivery person, neighbor down the street, etc.

Spend time organizing your circles and make a plan to go to God on their behalf regularly. Once you make a plan to do this for five days, then make it part of your daily prayer routine. Keep this in mind as your are creating your circles and forming your daily prayer life, Philemon 1:4-6 says, “I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.“

Another note on prayer is that God answers our prayers. Sometimes, though, it may not seem like it. So the important thing is to remember to not be negative if it doesn’t appear your prayer was answered in the way you wanted. God has a plan. Change your “why” into “how.” Ask yourself, “How am I going to use this?” The objective, remember, is to have an intimate relationship with God. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I will conclude this series next week. Be sure to follow my YouTube channel as I post a short video there on every topic that’s talked about here on my blog. I also post other short videos throughout the week and share a verse of the day. I usually post a new video on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Until next week, have a good week and may God bless you!

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Creating and Sustaining a Life of Prayer, Part 2

This week I am continuing my four-part series on prayer. Last week I introduced prayer as a communication between you and God. Prayer can take many forms, but it is essentially a conversation to have with God.

I stated last week in part one to go to God about everything. Use it as a way of getting to know God, communicating our desires to God, listening to God speak truths to our spirit, voicing our needs for God to help us, observing God in creation and praising Him, sitting with God in our pain and asking Him to comfort us, and expressing our gratitude by thanking God. And you can simply do this by keeping prayer as an open-ended conversation with God. Another important part of prayer is confessing our sins. So the topic this week will be about confession/sin as part of praying. Psalm 103:11-12 reads, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

He does remove our transgressions. He cleanses us from our sins through the blood of his son Jesus Christ. We are not perfect. Therefore, we can come to God messy, in our impure, sinful state. C. S. Lewis said confession is like “the threshold of prayer.” We should confess first. Pray and confess for all sins and transgressions, be sorrowful, and ask for help to move away from those sinful ways.

If there is an issue that keeps tripping you up, what do you need to adjust, remove, or add to halp you turn from it?

I know in my life, there have been some things where I seem to keep repeating. I prayed to God for guidance and courage to break away from those sinful ways. I have also tried saying little prayers when I might have felt the urge to commit a sin. I ask for peace to flow over me so that I can turn away. It has helped. I know I just need to be persistent in my desire and need to change. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” We know that, through Jesus Christ, we have eternal life with God.

As it says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We have a forgiving, loving heavenly Father. When we fall, he can pick us up. God gave Jesus as the final covenant for all mankind.

“Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart.” – Paul E. Miller.
Praying helps us stay on track. It helps guide us in our ways. It helps us sustain our relationship with our God.

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Creating and Sustaining a Life of Prayer

Throughout this month, I am going to do a series on prayer and cover such topics as what prayer is, how we use prayer, how to create a consistent prayer life and more. This will be a four-part series.

In today’s lesson, I will touch on what prayer is and how important it is to us as Christians to have some kind of prayer life.

First of all, the definition(s) found in the dictionary are put as “A devout petition to God or an object of worship,” “A spiritual communion with God or an object of worship,” or “The act or practice of praying to God or an object of worship.”

Simply put, “Prayer is simply two-way conversation between you and God.” – Billy Graham.
It is the “most important conversation of your day. Take it to God before you take it to anyone else.” – Anonymous

You can also look at prayer as getting to know God, communicating our desires to God, listening to God speak truths to our spirit, voicing our needs for God to help us, observing God in creation and praising Him, sitting with God in our pain and asking Him to comfort us, and expressing our gratitude by thanking God. And you can simply do this by keeping prayer as an open-ended conversation with God.

Here are some questions to reflect on:
– What is your earliest memory of prayer/praying?
– What is a time when you might have been surprised because God answered your prayer?

Psalm 55:1 says, “Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!”
Prayer is vital to our growth as Christians. The Gospels are filled with moments with Jesus in prayer – when he was alone and with others, before and after healing someone, before meals, and even after being nailed to the cross and as he was dying. Prayer is connecting with and growing with God. Treat prayer as a close relationship you might have with another person. Prayer can be filled with moments of gratitude, praying for others, or just sharing our needs, fear, or insecurities. Just open up a conversation and go to God about everything.
“Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God.” – Mother Theresa

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Paul writes about prayer, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”