The Catholic Calendar for Monday, October 31, 2005
The Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Romans 11:29-36
Psalm 69:30-31, 33-34, 36
Luke 14:12-14

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

In the First Reading, St Paul says "How deep are the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God, How inscrutable His judgments, how unsearchable His ways." It is a pleasant reminder that although we know a lot about the Almighty, He is a mystery beyond the grasp of our human understanding.

The saints understood that God calls all of us even in this life to know and enjoy Him more deeply. Experience convinced them that God’s ways became ever clearer the more they sought His company in habitual prayer, and became more converted from their sins and imperfections.

It is the same for us; we’re all called to the same degree of intimacy with God that the very holiest of people enjoyed. It is important that we remember that the saints became holy not by just wanting to be holy, but by working and cooperating with God’s grace to become holy.

Let us not waste any more of the precious little time we have. Let us work toward our goal with determination and joy, with the certainty that God wants us to know and enjoy Him fully, eternally.

- Donna Raye Nelson, OCDS
(drn3rd at hotmail dot com)