November 2025: Newsletter Reflections

From the Intercom Archives

 

Solemnity of All Saints

1 November 2025

 

  1. Actively Cultivate Spiritual Need

     Jesus blesses the ‘poor in spirit.’ This week, I will actively resist self-reliance. Before each task or decision, I will pause for a short prayer of dependence: ‘Lord, I need your wisdom and strength here.’ This small act cultivates the humility required to receive His kingdom.

 

  1. Practice Intentional Mercy

     ‘Blessed are the merciful.’ I commit to one specific act of mercy this week for someone who doesn’t deserve it. It could be forgiving a minor offense without holding a grudge, or showing kindness to a difficult person. This active choice aligns my heart with God’s character of grace.

 

  1. Engage in Peacemaking

     Peacemakers are called God’s children. I will not avoid a difficult conversation. Instead, I will proactively seek to mend a strained relationship by listening first, seeking to understand rather than to be understood. This is the hard, active work of reconciliation.

 

  1. Courage for Righteousness

     Jesus blesses those persecuted for righteousness. I will identify one situation where I normally stay silent about my faith or values to avoid awkwardness. This week, I will courageously, yet gently, speak up or act according to my convictions, trusting in the promise of my heavenly reward.

 

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The Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

2 November 2025

 

  1. On Unasked Compassion
    Jesus wasn’t summoned; He acted from pure compassion. He sees our deepest griefs before we even form the plea. This reminds me that His love is proactive, meeting us in our silent despair with a word that can restore what was irrevocably lost.

 

  1. On Interrupting Sorrow
    Jesus interrupted a funeral procession. He is not afraid to step into our deepest pain and disrupt it. This challenges me to believe He can still interrupt cycles of grief and hopelessness today, bringing life to situations that appear finished.

 

  1. On the Power of a Word
    An entire life was restored with the simple phrase, ‘Young man, I say to you, get up.’ The same voice that spoke creation into being speaks into our dead places. My hope is found in the power of His word to resurrect what is lifeless within me.

 

  1. On Witnessing Awe
    The crowd’s reaction was holy fear and awe. Witnessing Christ’s power changes us. It moves faith from theory to experienced reality. This passage invites me to look for His works, allowing them to stir fresh awe and propel me to share the news.

 

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The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

9 November 2025

 

  1. On Holy Zeal
    Jesus’ righteous anger reveals a passion for His Father’s house. It challenges my own complacency. What in my life – my heart, which is now God’s temple – should be cleansed to restore its proper purpose: pure worship, uncluttered by the world’s commerce and selfish motives?

 

  1. On True Worship
    The temple was meant for prayer, not profit. Jesus disrupts the system that hindered access to God. He calls me to examine my own practices: do I prioritize ritual and convenience over genuine, heartfelt connection with Him? True worship requires a clean, undivided heart.

 

  1. On the New Temple
    When Jesus speaks of the temple’s destruction and raising, He points to His body. The center of worship is no longer a building but a Person. Through the cross and resurrection, God’s presence dwells directly with humanity, offering grace and access to all who believe in Him.

 

  1. On Remembering
    The disciples remembered and understood after the resurrection. This shows that Christ’s actions often find their full meaning in light of the cross. It encourages me to trust that even in events I don’t yet understand, His purposes are at work, and clarity will come in His time.

 

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Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

16 November 2025 • World Day of the Poor

 

  1. On the Temporary Nature of Things
    Jesus points to the magnificent temple, stating it will be utterly destroyed. This is a stark reminder that even the most stable and beautiful human institutions are temporary. My security cannot be founded on anything of this world, but only on the eternal, unchanging character of God.

 

  1. On Not Being Terrified
    Jesus predicts wars and disasters but commands, ‘Do not be frightened.’ His words are not a promise of escape from hardship, but of His presence within it. This gives me a supernatural peace, knowing He is sovereign over global chaos and my personal struggles alike.

 

  1. On the Purpose of Persecution
    Jesus says persecution will be an opportunity for testimony. This reframes suffering from something to be feared to a platform for witness. It challenges me to rely on His promised wisdom and words in difficult moments, trusting that He will use them for His purpose.

 

  1. On Enduring to the End
    The ultimate promise is not a life without pain, but the preservation of our souls. ‘Standing firm’ through endurance, not escape, is the path to life. This steadies my heart, focusing my goal not on temporary safety but on final salvation through faithful perseverance.

 

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Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

23 November 2025

 

  1. On the Nature of True Faith
    Amidst the mockery of leaders and soldiers, a condemned criminal sees the truth: Jesus’s kingdom is not of this world. His simple plea, ‘Remember me,’ reveals a faith that needs no miracles, only the recognition of a Savior in the most unexpected place.

 

  1. On the Immediate Grace of Jesus
    Jesus offers no probation or purgatory to the thief, only immediate grace. ‘Today you will be with me.’ This is the stunning promise of salvation: it is a gift received in a moment, based not on a reformed life, but on faith in the person of Christ.

 

  1. On the Depth of Christ’s Ministry
    Even in His excruciating suffering, Jesus ministers. He extends compassion and assurance to a fellow sufferer. This shows that His heart for the broken and lost never stopped, demonstrating that His mission of salvation was actively fulfilled even on the cross.

 

  1. On the Hope for the Undeserving
    The thief admits he is getting what his deeds deserve, but Jesus offers what he doesn’t. This is the gospel’s core: paradise is not for the self-righteous, but for those who, in humility, cast themselves on the mercy of Jesus, the sinless King.

 

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First Sunday of Advent

30 November 2025

 

  1. On Spiritual Complacency
    People in Noah’s day were oblivious until the flood came. Am I similarly asleep, absorbed in life’s daily rhythms, while remaining spiritually unprepared? Lord, shake me from my complacency and keep me watchful for your coming.

 

  1. On Being Truly Ready
    Two men will be in the field; one is taken. Does my external Christian activity mask an unprepared heart? Am I living in a state of genuine, moment-by-moment readiness, or am I presuming on God’s grace and assuming I’ll have more time?

 

  1. On the Unexpected Moment
    Jesus compares his return to a thief in the night. Does this sense of holy urgency inform my choices? Or do I live as if that day is far off, structuring my life around everything but the promise of his sudden appearance?

 

  1. On Active Watchfulness
    ‘Therefore keep watch.’ This is a command to active, intentional living. What does ‘keeping watch’ actually look like for me today? Is it merely a head knowledge, or is it transforming my priorities, my prayers, and how I love others right now?

 

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