Upward to Faith Mercy and Freedom

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to ponder the role of freedom in our embrace of faith and how we need to expect our experience to change with maturity.

Faith in Our Love and Mercy

The Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Galatians proclaims the Importance of Faith.

* [5:1–6] Paul begins the exhortations, continuing through Gal 6:10, with an appeal to the Galatians to side with freedom instead of slavery (Gal 5:1). He reiterates his message of justification or righteousness by faith instead of law and circumcision (Gal 5:2–5); cf. Gal 2:16; 3:3. Faith, not circumcision, is what counts (Gal 5:6).

* [5:1] Freedom: Paul stresses as the conclusion from the allegory in Gal 4:21–31 this result of Christ’s work for us. It is a principle previously mentioned (Gal 2:4), the responsible use of which Gal 5:13 will emphasize.

* [5:3] Cf. Gal 3:10–12. Just as those who seek to live by the law must carry out all its contents, so those who have faith and live by promise must stand firm in their freedom (Gal 5:1, 13).

* [5:6] Cf. Rom 2:25–26; 1 Cor 7:19; Gal 6:15. The Greek for faith working through love or “faith expressing itself through love” can also be rendered as “faith energized by (God’s) love.” (Galatians, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 119 praises God for giving such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by.

* [Psalm 119] This Psalm, the longest by far in the Psalter, praises God for giving such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by. The author glorifies and thanks God for the Torah, prays for protection from sinners enraged by others’ fidelity to the law, laments the cost of obedience, delights in the law’s consolations, begs for wisdom to understand the precepts, and asks for the rewards of keeping them…

* [119:48] I lift up my hands to your commandments: to lift up the hands was an ancient gesture of reverence to God. Here the picture is applied to God’s law. (Psalms, PSALM 119 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke presents Denunciation of the Pharisees and Scholars of the Law.

* [11:37–54] This denunciation of the Pharisees (Lk 11:39–44) and the scholars of the law (Lk 11:45–52) is set by Luke in the context of Jesus’ dining at the home of a Pharisee. Controversies with or reprimands of Pharisees are regularly set by Luke within the context of Jesus’ eating with Pharisees (see Lk 5:29–39; 7:36–50; 14:1–24). A different compilation of similar sayings is found in Mt 23 (see also notes there). (Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)

The daily reflection is from the archives and was written by Luis Rodriquez, SJ. who comments that Jesus disapproves of placing observance purely on external things, regardless of internal disposition, and of making righteousness look like jumping through external hoops.

Jesus uses the giving of alms as an example. It is not just a matter of going through the mechanics of dropping coins in the temple collection box. Giving alms is expected to come from inside, from a desire to share with the needy or to contribute to a good cause, like the upkeep of the temple, and it is this disposition of the heart that makes a person clean or unclean, as the gospel of Mark [7:15] reminds us.

We need to pray that, as we go through external observance of good norms, including during the celebration of the Eucharist, we do so with the proper disposition in our hearts, because it is this that yields fruit in our lives. (Rodriquez, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Acts of mercy are examples of almsgiving,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"What our Lord says, 'Give alms, and behold, all things are clean to you,' applies to all useful acts of mercy. It does not apply just to the one who gives food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, hospitality to the wayfarer or refuge to the fugitive. It also applies to one who visits the sick and the prisoner, redeems the captive, bears the burdens of the weak, leads the blind, comforts the sorrowful, heals the sick, shows the erring the right way, gives advice to the perplexed, and does whatever is needful for the needy. Not only does this person give alms, but the person who forgives the trespasser also gives alms as well. He is also a giver of alms who, by blows or other discipline, corrects and restrains those under his command. At the same time he forgives from the heart the sin by which he has been wronged or offended or prays that it be forgiven the offender. Such a person gives alms not only because he forgives and prays but also because he rebukes and administers corrective punishment, since in this he shows mercy... There are many kinds of alms. When we do them, we are helped in receiving forgiveness of our own sins." (excerpt from ENCHIRIDION 19.72) (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler reflects on the message of Paul to the Galatians. Paul proclaims that following Jewish Law for Gentiles is a form of slavery. Paul urges us to favour demonstration of faith by action. We are our faith as we put our trust in God’s Love. We live in the freedom of the Children of God. Pharisees wash before prayer and extend the practice even before eating in a Pharisee interpretation that consuming food is a form of prayer. Jesus proposes that they are too concerned with outer piety. Friar Jude suggests that excessive concern with outer piety can apply to Catholics' spiritual actions and judgement of people in worship. Friar Jude urges us to purify our hearts to see the goodness of God all around us.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Psalm 119:41, 43-45, 47-48  comments that when St. Paul says, “For freedom Christ set us free,” he is talking about that kind of freedom: the freedom to do something beautiful, the liberty to do what pleases the Lord (Galatians 5:1). God didn’t make us free so that we could ignore his commands; he knows they are what guide us to reach our full potential. They are what set us on the path of excellence. Excellence at what? Love of God and love of our neighbors.

Jesus delivers us from sin so that we can “walk at liberty” and become like him (Psalm 119:45). We are free to look out for someone else’s needs before our own. We are free to sacrifice on someone else’s behalf. The more this happens, the more like Jesus we become. It will look different for each one of us. A contemplative monk grows in loving in a different way than a young father does. A corporate executive conforms herself to Christ differently than someone living in a nursing home. But for each of us, true freedom comes as we receive the grace to live up to our potential.

Remember, loving isn’t accomplished in a single moment or gesture. It happens over time and with practice, just as every rehearsal enables the flute player to play even more beautifully.

“Father, thank you for setting me free to live in a way that pleases you!” (Meditation on Psalm 119:41, 43-45, 47-48, n.d.)

Feeling at Home

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces researcher and storyteller Brené Brown who shares her sense of spiritual homesickness and tells of her soul’s regular longing for home.

 

Over the past two years, I’ve found that I’m more spiritually homesick than not. Spiritual homesickness has become an almost daily dulling grief. It’s not depression or exhaustion. It’s an uncomfortable knowing that I’m coming to the end of one thing and the beginning of the next. I’m leaving and arriving. There’s fear, but there’s also joyful anticipation.  

Today, when I return home to the place in me where God dwells, I’m no longer interested in making it a quick visit so I can run back to the world of “what other people think” and “what I can get done.” Today, I can barely be dragged out of the house. I’m drawn to different conversations and deeper connections. I want this sacred space to be my home, not somewhere I visit to buttress my “real life” that’s on the outside of my connection with God. I’m starting to wonder if my alga, my pain, is fueled by my separation from God and from my True Self.… 

Leaving the first half of life is scary. Most of us have the first-half-of-life hustle down. The thing is, I’m just never, ever homesick for the first half of my life when I walk away from it…. Maybe I’m not homesick for the first half of life because it’s really never been my true home.  (Rohr, n.d.) 

Reference:
Brené Brown, “Nostos and Alga: Returning Home in the Second Half of Life,” foreword to  Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, by Richard Rohr, rev. ed. (Jossey-Bass, 2024), vii, ix–x. 

An AI  Overview Franciscan priest Richard Rohr explores the concept of the two halves of life in his popular book, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life. [1, 2]

We are offered guidance by the Spirit as we navigate the reality of the “Two Halves of Life” and our struggle with the transition from Building the Container in the first half to filling the "container" built in the first half with deeper meaning, self-honesty, and the True Self.

References

Galatians, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/galatians/5? 

Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/11?37 

Meditation on Psalm 119:41, 43-45, 47-48. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/10/13/1692771/ 

Psalms, PSALM 119 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/119? 

Rodriquez, L. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton On Line Ministries. Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-october-13-2026 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Feeling at Home. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/feeling-at-home/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). What Makes the Heart Clean and Holy? Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Angels of Triumph

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the connection to angels as servants of God in our Christian heritage.

Connection to Angels

The reading from the Book of Daniel is a vision of Judgement before the Ancient One.

* [7:9–10] A vision of the heavenly throne of God (the Ancient of Days), who sits in judgment over the nations. Some of the details of the vision, depicting the divine majesty and omnipotence, are to be found in Ezekiel 1. Others are paralleled in 1 Enoch, a contemporary Jewish apocalypse.

* [7:13–14] One like a son of man: In contrast to the worldly kingdoms opposed to God, which are represented as grotesque beasts, the coming Kingdom of God is represented by a human figure. Scholars disagree as to whether this figure should be taken as a collective symbol for the people of God (cf. 7:27) or identified as a particular individual, e.g., the archangel Michael (cf. 12:1) or the messiah. The phrase “Son of Man” becomes a title for Jesus in the gospels, especially in passages dealing with the Second Coming (Mk 13 and parallels). (Daniel, CHAPTER 7, n.d.)

The reading from the Book of Revelation shares the vision of how Michael defeats the Dragon.

* [12:7–12] Michael, mentioned only here in Revelation, wins a victory over the dragon. A hymn of praise follows.

* [12:7] Michael: the archangel, guardian and champion of Israel; cf. Dn 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 9. In Hebrew, the name Michael means “Who can compare with God?”; cf. Rev 13:4. (Revelation, CHAPTER 12, n.d.)

Psalm 138 is a hymn of Thanksgiving and Praise.

* [Psalm 138] A thanksgiving to God, who came to the rescue of the psalmist. Divine rescue was not the result of the psalmist’s virtues but of God’s loving fidelity (Ps 138:1–3). The act is not a private transaction but a public act that stirs the surrounding nations to praise God’s greatness and care for the people (Ps 138:4–6). The psalmist, having experienced salvation, trusts that God will always be there in moments of danger (Ps 138:7–8). (Psalms, PSALM 138, n.d.)

The Gospel of John introduces Nathanael, a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.

* [1:47] A true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him: Jacob was the first to bear the name “Israel” (Gn 32:29), but Jacob was a man of duplicity (Gn 27:35–36).

* [1:48] Under the fig tree: a symbol of messianic peace (cf. Mi 4:4; Zec 3:10).

* [1:49] Son of God: this title is used in the Old Testament, among other ways, as a title of adoption for the Davidic king (2 Sm 7:14; Ps 2:7; 89:27), and thus here, with King of Israel, in a messianic sense. For the evangelist, Son of God also points to Jesus’ divinity (cf. Jn 20:28). (John, CHAPTER 1, n.d.)

Molly Mattingly shares some etymology. The word “angel” comes from the Hebrew word “messenger.” The angels in scripture are messengers for God, or their appearance points people to God and Christ. The ones who are named, like the archangels of today’s feast, communicate something about God in their names. Michael is the protector of Israel in Daniel and the leader of heaven’s armies in today’s reading from Revelation. And yet, for such a powerful being, Michael does not claim power. His name points beyond himself to God in a rhetorical question: “Who is like God?” Raphael appears as Tobiah’s traveling companion in the book of Tobit. Raphael – “God heals” – leads Tobiah not just to cure his father Tobit’s optical blindness, but to healing relationships through his journey. Finally, Gabriel most clearly acts as a messenger, interpreting prophecies of Daniel and announcing the births of both John the Baptist and Jesus. In Islamic tradition, Gabriel also dictated the Qur’an to Muhammad. But Gabriel’s name means “God is my strong one” or “God is my hero,” pointing to dependence on God. I find it especially beautiful that “God is my strong one” receives Mary’s “yes” to complete dependence on God, and that he announces God’s arrival as an infant, utterly dependent on human parents, not strong at all. It lays the foundation for Paul’s line: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). 

We join the choirs of angels and the communion of saints in praising God every time we participate in the Eucharistic liturgy. “In the sight of the angels [we] will sing your praises, Lord!” (Psalm 138:1) Today, I invite you to consider how you might follow in the archangels’ paths of praise. How might you point beyond yourself, giving God the glory even for the things you do? How might you offer or ask for God’s healing – for your own wounds, for our Church, for the world? How might you practice dependence on God, letting God be your strong one?

Calling All Angels (The Wailin’ Jennies) (Mattingly, 2022)

Don Schwager quotes “The Lord of Angels,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).

"Do you see how he [Jesus] leads him [Nathanael] up little by little from the earth and causes him no longer to imagine him as merely a man? For one to whom angels minister and on whom angels ascend and descend, how could he be a man? This is why he said, 'You shall see greater things than these.' And to prove this, he introduces the ministry of angels. What he means is something like this: Does this, O Nathanael, seem to you a great matter, and have you for this confessed me to be King of Israel? What then will you say when you see 'angels ascending and descending on me'? He persuades him by these words to receive him as Lord also of the angels. For on him as on the king's own son, the royal ministers ascended and descended, once at the season of the crucifixion, again at the time of the resurrection and the ascension, and before this also, when they 'came and ministered to him' (Matthew 4:11). They also ascended and descended when they proclaimed the good news of his birth and cried, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace' (Luke 2:14), when they came to Mary and also when they came to Joseph... Our Lord made the present a proof of the future. After the powers he had already shown, Nathanael would readily believe that much more would follow." (excerpt from the Homilies On the Gospel of John 21.1) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on John 1:47-51 comments that we can celebrate the work that these archangels have done on our behalf and strive to follow their example of quick obedience and love for God.

These three archangels are always ready to hear God’s mission for them and fulfill it immediately. May we follow their example and make ourselves instruments of God’s grace to everyone he sends us to.

“Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, help me follow your example of service to God in all that I do.” (Meditation on John 1:47-51, n.d.)

The article from Franciscan Media discusses the role Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael as messengers from God. Angels appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are named.

Each of the archangels performs a different mission in Scripture: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides. Earlier belief that inexplicable events were due to the actions of spiritual beings has given way to a scientific world-view and a different sense of cause and effect. Yet believers still experience God’s protection, communication, and guidance in ways which defy description. We cannot dismiss angels too lightly. (Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler discusses the authority Israel receives over the nations in the passage from Daniel where the Son of Man is attended by angels. The defeat of the dragon by Michael in Revelation connects us to the Blood of the Lamb and our personal connection to martyrdom. Friar Jude reminds us of the value of wrestling with God in the stories of Jacob and Nathanael.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares how the teachings of Thérèse of Lisieux have supported his own spiritual journey. He introduces Brené Brown, a contemporary teacher who extols the gifts of imperfection. He quotes a line from Leonard Cohen’s song “Anthem” that serves as a reminder when . . .trying to control everything and make it perfect.

The line is, “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” [3] . . . This line helps me remember the beauty of the cracks (and the messy house and the imperfect manuscript and the too-tight jeans). It reminds me that our imperfections are not inadequacies; they are reminders that we’re all in this together. Imperfectly, but together. [4] (Rohr, 2022)

We are open to intervention in our lives in the service of the Will of God that challenges us to deeper relationships with God and others.

References

Daniel, CHAPTER 7. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/daniel/7?9 

John, CHAPTER 1. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/1?47 

Mattingly, M. (2022, September 29). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/092922.html 

Meditation on John 1:47-51. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/09/29/498565/ 

Psalms, PSALM 138. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/138?1 

Revelation, CHAPTER 12. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/revelation/12?7 

Rohr, R. (2022, September 29). Accepting Our Imperfections — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/accepting-our-imperfections-2022-09-29/ 

Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. (n.d.). Franciscan Media. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saints-michael-gabriel-and-raphael 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture ... Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=sep29a