FIRST FRIDAY OF THE THIRTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, NOVEMBER 7, 2025

MASS READINGS:

Reading I

Romans 15:14-21

I myself am convinced about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another. But I have written to you rather boldly in some respects to remind you, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in performing the priestly service of the Gospel of God, so that the offering up of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast in what pertains to God .For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to lead the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum I have finished preaching the Gospel of Christ. Thus I aspire to proclaim the Gospel not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on another’s foundation, but as it is written:

    Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.

REFLECTION

“I myself am convinced about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another.”

Sometimes we find that what we do from the sincerity of our heart and intentions doesn’t work out how one intended.

Our visit with cookies to a friend “fails” because they have allergies to nuts and chocolate, have diabetes, or under strict doctor orders to lose weight.

Our advice is rejected, falls flat, or worse, our friend quits talking to us or inviting us to join them for coffee. They literally loathe you for meddling and they quit responding to you.

You offer to help with church activities but the church helpers don’t like your ideas or suggestions and turn you down.

In this world our best efforts can and do go wrong. We can give in to frustration. Fear of failing, anger and doubt take priority over failed “good” intentional acts.

St Paul tells us that he is convinced that we are full of goodness. Our humble message, thoughts, prayer and actions may go unnoticed. It is up to us to figure out what happened when our message or intentions go wrong. What could we have done differently? A bad day, bad chosen words do not invalidate our gifts nor our attempts to show love and concern.

We are called to do His will—not to be successful which can push us toward pride and self sufficiency.

Remember we cannot and should not take credit for our successes. We just have to be willing to serve and let the Holy Spirit lead us.

“The designs of His heart are from age to age, to rescue their souls from death and to keep them alive in famine.”

(Psalm 33)

God Bless You.