Daily Gospel Reflection
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October 25, 2025
Some people told Jesus about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.
He said to them in reply,
“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way
they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!
Or those eighteen people who were killed
when the tower at Siloam fell on them—
do you think they were more guilty
than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!”
And he told them this parable:
“There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard,
and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none,
he said to the gardener,
‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree
but have found none.
So cut it down.
Why should it exhaust the soil?’
He said to him in reply,
‘Sir, leave it for this year also,
and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;
it may bear fruit in the future.
If not you can cut it down.’”
During my undergraduate years in English literature, I studied numerous poets. Besides writing critical analyses and term papers on them, some poems really resonated with me. One of them was “Eve” by Christina Rossetti. Here, the reader envisions the narrative from Eve’s perspective after the expulsion from Eden. At one point, Eve, in deep pain, cries out:
“As a tree my sin stands
To darken all lands;
Death is the fruit it bore……
I chose the tree of death.”
The image of the bewailing Eve clearly conveys her deeply rooted repentance. She was banished and sad, but she was also repentant. She is in no way more sinful than we are. There is no comparison in the act of sin, and we are not allowed to take self-comfort from the punishment of others and consider ourselves the righteous ones. In every moment, it is not us being righteous; it is ever God being patient and loving.
Today, the gospel is evidently straightforward, with a clear message of repentance. It summons us to repent while we still have time. Repentance has the power to take away our imminent punishment, like the people at Nineveh were saved when they repented. Repentance brings solace in God’s heart, because being merciful and kind, God does not take pleasure in the death of people.
Repentance has a profound effect in the heavens as well as on earth. It brings joy and reconciliation in the world when we forgive a repentant brother/sister; it simultaneously brings joy in the angels when a sinner repents.
We experience our profound belovedness in the fact that the Lord keeps extending the time. God patiently waits and wants us to show up. It is in repentance and coming back that we feel free, loved, and blessed, because the repentant can return to God, who is the source of love, our joy, and our true home.
Prayer
Our sinful actions, words and omissions make us like barren trees. They deserve harsh consequences. And yet, you, Jesus, offer us hope and healing, a hand of reconciliation and restored relationship. Your love for us must be incredibly great because you never tire of forgiving us. Help us to appreciate that forgiveness, not taking it for granted, but not shying away from it either. Thank you for your patience with our weakness and your healing forgiveness of our sins. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. John Houghton was the first of England’s martyrs to be killed under King Henry’s revolt from the Catholic faith.
John was born in 1486 and educated at Cambridge. He joined the Carthusian order of monks in 1515, and in 1531 was elected to lead the community’s monastery in London.
Three years later, King Henry VIII enacted the Act of Succession, which attempted to legitimize his second marriage and the children it produced (namely Elizabeth, who was later to become queen). The act was accompanied by a requirement that all subjects swear an oath recognizing it and the king’s supremacy.
As the act stood in contradiction to Church teaching on marriage and divorce, John requested an exemption for his community. He was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
After several months of imprisonment, a compromise was reached that allowed Catholics to take the oath in good conscience by adding the phrase, “as far as the law of Christ allows.”
Soon afterwards, however, Henry declared himself the head of the Church of England with the Act of Supremacy. Again, all subjects were forced to swear an oath to acknowledge this second act; John and several other Carthusian leaders refused and asked for an exemption. They were arrested by Thomas Cromwell and thrown into prison again. In 1535, they were condemned to death, and on May 4 of that year, they were hanged, drawn, and quartered; John was the first to suffer.
They were taken to the place of their execution while still wearing their habits. St. Thomas More, also imprisoned for refusing the oath, could see John and his fellow Carthusians being drawn (dragged) by horse to their fate. Thomas’ daughter was visiting at the time, and he said to her, “Look, Meg! These blessed Fathers be now as cheerfully going to their deaths as bridegrooms to their marriage!"
After being hanged nearly to death, and before being quartered, the executioner tore open John’s habit to expose his chest. John exclaimed, “O Jesus, what would you do with my heart?”
John was the first Carthusian martyr, and the first among the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales. The 40 Martyrs are representative of the hundreds of Catholics who were tortured and killed in this dispute between England and the Church between 1535 and 1679. In 1970, the Church selected 40 from among these martyrs—men and women, laypeople, ordained, and religious—to represent the 300 or so who died. In Wales, these saints are honored today; in England they are celebrated on May 4.
St. John Houghton, you gave your heart to Jesus and your life for the truth—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. John Houghton is in the public domain. Last accessed October 4, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
