Daily Gospel Reflection
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October 1, 2026
Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit.
He said to them,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter, first say,
‘Peace to this household.’
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves his payment.
Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you,
eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them,
‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’
Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you,
go out into the streets and say,
‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet,
even that we shake off against you.’
Yet know this: the Kingdom of God is at hand.
I tell you,
it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day
than for that town.”
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The full readings of the day from the Lectionary are available here.
Jesus sends the seventy-two out as lambs among wolves, without sustenance or anything of value. The only thing they carry, and that they have to give, is peace. The mission is to confront a hostile world with peace. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who left us her “little way,” teaches that holiness is not achieved through greatness but through small things done with great love, and helps us realize that this kind of sanctity is not reserved for the extraordinary. It is available for all of us to labor in the most minuscule acts of love. We labor for peace out of love and through our acts of love.
In a world ridden with violence, we can see that the need for peace is not hidden; the harvest is plentiful, obvious, everywhere. But few are the laborers willing to do the work of justice and peace. Few of us are willing to leave behind the things that bring us comfort to proclaim the truth that may make those who have plenty or are unwilling to receive the message of peace uncomfortable.
The order of events in this text is telling. The seventy-two accept a stranger’s hospitality. They then heal the sick. Then, and only then, are they to announce that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” The announcement doesn’t precede the healing. The kingdom is not a message about some future arrangement. It has actualized in the healing of a body, of a house, of a community.
My prayer today is that we may each become an instrument of God’s peace in a world of conflict. That we seek the strength to act with gentleness and compassion like the disciples and Saint Thérèse. And that our actions reflect God’s love and bring harmony to those around us. Amen.
Prayer
Dear Lord, we have so many responsibilities and commitments to honor today. Through all of this, we ask that your Spirit remind us again and again about what really matters. Let your peace be ours. Let your joy fill us. Help us to be attentive to the concerns and the celebrations of others. Fill us with gratitude and with the grace to live in the moment. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St.Thérèse of Lisieux, also known as "the Little Flower," lived uneventfully within a convent and battled tuberculosis for most of her life, dying at the age of 24. How did this obscure young woman become one of the most honored saints in the church?
Thérèse Martin was born in 1873 in Normandy, France. Her mother, St. Zélie Martin, died when Thérèse was four. Nevertheless, Thérèse grew up in the care of loving sisters and her adored papa—St. Louis Martin. Thérèse was a sickly, sensitive child, and she had trouble containing her emotions. Through her constant work to overcome her selfish and overly sensitive idealism, Thérèse discovered the transforming power of love.
When she was fourteen, Thérèse wanted to join the Carmelite convent where her godmother Pauline was a nun. The bishop did not allow her because of her young age. When Louis took her and her sister Céline on a pilgrimage to Rome, Thérèse broke through the line at the papal audience to the feet of Pope Leo XIII, begging his permission to enter the Carmelites. Pope Leo XIII wisely and diplomatically advised her to follow the judgment of the superiors, and if it was God's will, then she would surely enter. Thérèse was wildly unsatisfied with this response and refused to leave until the Vatican Swiss Guards carried her away.
Finally, less than a year later, Thérèse was granted permission to join the Carmelite convent. It is funny that the eager young Thérèse, full of intense desires to be a missionary, chose life in a cloistered convent. Yet it was in the routines of cloistered life that Thérèse found she could prove her love. This burning love of hers that naturally desired to burst out into the world in romantic grand gestures flowered in the routine tasks of cleaning and laundry, and expressed itself in learning humility and charity towards the ordinary women who made up her community. She seized every opportunity to love others more than herself: she smiled at nuns she did not like, she refused to complain, she performed small hidden favors for others. And thus, Thérèse's "little way" was conceived: to do all things, particularly the small things and menial things, with great love.
"Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love?” she wrote. “Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers, and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love."
Thérèse contracted tuberculosis, but she tried to hide her illness, continuing her daily work until her body broke down. She died at the young age of twenty-four on September 30, 1897.
As she approached her death, Thérèse began to write her memoirs under the direction of her godmother, Pauline, then the Prioress of their Carmelite convent. One year after her death, her autobiography, L'histoire d'une Âme (Story of a Soul), was published. It became an instant spiritual classic. The wild popularity of her autobiography led to her very rapid canonization in 1925. In 1997, Pope John Paul II declared her a doctor of the Church, a title given to 38 saints known for elucidating the faith through their words or example. She is the patron saint of missionaries, pilots, those who are sick, and florists.
Materialism promises that we can build ourselves up with what we add to our lives: we buy expensive watches, cars, and clothes to both manifest to ourselves and to signal to others our wealth or status. St.Thérèse understands that desire for greatness, that desire to cement our own worthiness in our own eyes, in how others see us. Thérèse's genius lies in her response to that desire. Her greatness is in her self-divestment, in her intense dedication to pouring out love through the smallest, most insignificant moments of daily life. Her little way shows us that we do not have to be a missionary or martyr to find holiness—we can become a saint by going about the actions of our daily lives with great love.
A statue of Thérèse of Lisieux stands in the Knott Hall chapel. The stained glass window is from the chapel in Morrissey Hall, which is named after St.Thérèse the Little Flower; the other wooden statue of St.Thérèse, shown at the right, stands in that chapel. A number of her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
To learn even more about Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux, whose little way bears fruit in great love—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Thérèse is in the public domain. Last accessed September 27, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
