Thursday, October 1, 2026
Thursday of the Twenty-sixth week in Ordinary Time
Luke 10:1-12
Listen to the whole reading — MP3
First reading
Job 19:21-27
“Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me. Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh? “Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God, Whom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.
Responsorial psalm
Psalms 27:7-8,8-9,13-14
Hear, the Lord, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also on me, and answer me. When you said, “Seek my face,” my heart said to you, “I will seek your face, the Lord.” Don’t hide your face from me. Don’t put your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Don’t abandon me, neither forsake me, God of my salvation. I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord.
Gospel
Luke 10:1-12
Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place, where he was about to come. Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest. Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house. Into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you. Heal the sick who are therein, and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ But into whatever city you enter, and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.
Lectio
Job speaks from the ash heap, his body ruined, his friends turned into accusers, and yet from that place of utter loss comes one of the most astonishing declarations in all of Scripture: "I know that my Redeemer lives." He does not say it because his circumstances have improved. His skin is being destroyed even as he speaks. He says it because something deeper than his suffering has taken hold of him — a stubborn, aching confidence that he will see God with his own eyes, "and not as a stranger." This is not the serenity of a man who has escaped his pain. It is the faith of a man still inside it, whose heart is "consumed within" him even as he clings to the One he cannot yet see.
The psalm gives voice to the same longing, and it names something we often miss: it was God who first said, "Seek my face." Our seeking is a response, an echo. The desire that consumes Job's heart did not originate with Job. And this is the quiet thread that runs into the Gospel, where the seventy are sent out empty-handed — no purse, no bag, no spare sandals — to announce that the Kingdom of God has come near. They carry nothing but the peace they have been given, and they are told that even where it is refused, the nearness of God remains a fact: "God's Kingdom has come near to you." The Redeemer lives whether or not the house receives Him. The nearness is not contingent on our welcome.
Perhaps the invitation today is to notice that both the sufferer and the sent are asked to hold on to something they cannot control. Job cannot control his vindication; the seventy cannot control their reception. Both are asked simply to remain faithful to the truth they've been given and to wait — to be strong and let their hearts take courage — for the Lord who is already nearer than they know.
Where in your life right now are you being asked, like Job, to say "I know that my Redeemer lives" from inside a situation that has not improved — and what would it cost you to say it out loud today?
The seventy were sent to offer peace to a house without knowing if it would be received; who is the person you are afraid to offer your peace to today, for fear it will simply "return to you"?
Saint of the day
St. Therese of Lisieux, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (1873-1897) - Memorial
Ora reads this aloud, every morning, free. Ora