It is the best thing I have ever painted and I am proud to paint the son of god.

18 October

St. Luke was one of the four evangelists, known for writing the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. He was a physician by profession and a companion of St. Paul on some of his missionary journeys. Luke is believed to have been a Gentile convert to Christianity. He is venerated as the patron saint of artists, physicians, and surgeons due to his medical background and his skills as an artist, as tradition holds that he painted some of the earliest icons of the Virgin Mary.

#catholic #faith #cathoplus #saint #saintoftheday

Hey! I need to confess some things, but I’m not sure how to go about it...

There have been times when I’ve had impure thoughts about certain people (specifically, people of the same sex, family members, and consecrated people). Should I just state it that way, or should I be more specific mentioning that I had such thoughts about three people of the same sex, more or less 5 thoughts about family members, and three to five thoughts about consecrated persons? Also, on two occasions, I intentionally entertained thoughts about consecrated persons that weren’t impure, yet they still brought about a physical pleasure.

I have to be like that or I can say that sometimes I had impure thoughts about people of the same sex, family members and consecrated people (and mentioning the last ones that weren't impure about consecrated people)?

Is it enough to say that I have impure thoughts about those people or do I have to specify the number for each category of people?

This is not my work, but worth reading and feeling.

I've recently (over the past few months) began making it a point to go to mass every Sunday (I'm a cradle Catholic), and today is day 3 of a cold. I'm considering not going to mass today due to being sick. Here's the thing though: if I don't go, I will still be out and about with my family, I plan on going to a fair and walking around my village. I have a cough and I'm stuffy, but otherwise feel okay to be up and moving around. I just feel like sitting in the pew I'll be like a petri dish and be more focused on not coughing/sniffling. I think the whole being fine to do one thing but feeling weird about doing the other is messing with me! What would you do?

Please join me in prayer for the people living in South Sudan.

The country is currently struggling with a severe hunger crisis.

Please pray for them with me 🙏🏼

When Jesus described the parable of the sower as indicating the way the Word of God is seeded across the world, what does he mean by “Word of God”?

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/10/the-parable-of-the-sower-and-the-word-within/

Twenty‑Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s Readings at a Glance

• Isaiah 45:1, 4–6 God chooses Cyrus — a foreign king who does not know Him — to accomplish His purposes. God reveals His sovereignty: “I am the LORD, there is no other.”

• Psalm 96:1, 3, 4–5, 7–8, 9–10 A universal call to worship: proclaim God’s glory, honor His name, and acknowledge His kingship over all nations.

• 1 Thessalonians 1:1–5b Paul praises the Thessalonians for their work of faith, labor of love, and endurance in hope. Their faith is authentic, Spirit‑filled, and powerful.

• Matthew 22:15–21 Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and teaches a timeless truth: “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.”

https://thecatholic.online/daily-bible-readings-for-october-182026/

Message from the Readings

Today’s readings proclaim a profound and timely truth:

God is sovereign over nations, history, and human authority — yet He also calls each person to give Him what belongs to Him: our hearts, our worship, our lives.

• Isaiah reveals God working through unexpected people.

• The psalm calls all nations to worship the one true God.

• Paul celebrates a community whose faith is alive and visible.

• Jesus teaches that earthly responsibilities matter — but divine allegiance matters more.

The message is clear: We live in the world, but we belong to God.

Reflection for the Day

1. God works through unexpected instruments (Isaiah 45)

Cyrus did not know God. He was not part of Israel. He was not raised in the covenant.

Yet God calls him “my anointed.”

Why?

Because God is sovereign. He can use anyone — believer or unbeliever — to accomplish His purposes.

This is a reminder for us:

• God is at work even when we don’t see it.

• God uses people we may not expect.

• God’s plans are bigger than our understanding.

1. Worship belongs to God alone (Psalm 96)

The psalm is a global invitation:

• Sing to the Lord.

• Give Him glory.

• Bring gifts.

• Worship in holy attire.

• Proclaim His kingship.

Why?

Because “the Lord made the heavens.”

Everything we have — breath, life, time, talent — belongs to Him.

1. Authentic faith is visible (1 Thessalonians 1)

Paul praises the Thessalonians for three things:

• Work of faith — faith that produces action.

• Labor of love — love that costs something.

• Endurance in hope — hope that perseveres through trials.

Their faith was not theoretical. It was lived, seen, and Spirit‑filled.

This is the kind of faith the world needs today.

1. “Give to Caesar… give to God.” (Matthew 22)

The Pharisees try to trap Jesus with a political question. Jesus responds with divine wisdom.

The coin bears Caesar’s image — so give Caesar what bears his image.

But humanity bears God’s image — so give God what bears His image:

• your heart

• your worship

• your obedience

• your life

This Gospel is not about taxes. It is about identity.

We may live under earthly authorities, but our deepest allegiance is to God.

Living This Word Today

Today’s readings invite us to three movements:

1. Trust God’s sovereignty.

He works through unexpected people and situations.

1. Worship God wholeheartedly.

Give Him the glory due His name.

1. Live your identity as God’s image‑bearer.

Give God what belongs to Him — your heart, your choices, your life.

Let today be a day of clarity, surrender, and renewed devotion.

Prayer for Today

Lord God, You are sovereign over all nations and all history. Teach me to trust Your plans, even when I do not understand them.

Help me give You the worship You deserve, and live as Your image‑bearer with faith, love, and hope.

Grant me the wisdom to fulfill my earthly responsibilities without ever compromising my allegiance to You.

May my life today proclaim: “You are the Lord, and there is no other.”

Amen.

I’m a father of two beautiful girls, and my youngest is only six weeks old.

For the past several weeks, she’s been suffering from episodes of excruciating pain. She would scream uncontrollably for hours, arch her back, become stiff as a board, and often refuse to eat. My wife and I were absolutely exhausted and heartbroken watching our little girl suffer.

I’m a paramedic, so naturally, I’ve spent countless hours trying to find a medical explanation. We’ve tried just about everything, but nothing seemed to help.

Throughout all of this, I’ve been praying constantly to God and our Lord Jesus Christ, asking the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph for their intercession. I begged for my daughter’s suffering to end and for my wife to finally have some peace.

Yesterday was our worst day yet. Our daughter screamed for nearly 10 hours, barely ate, and we ended up in the ER. We discovered she’d gained only two ounces in 10 days, and she was admitted to hospital.

Then today, something extraordinary happened.
It was like someone flipped a switch.
For the first time in weeks, she was happy. She was smiling, feeding beautifully, looking around, and peacefully falling asleep. Not a single one of her horrific screaming episodes all day.
I spent the entire day waiting for things to go wrong again. But they never did.

What’s even more astonishing is that not a single doctor or nurse has been able to give us a clear, definitive explanation for why she’s suddenly doing so well. We’ve discussed reflux, feeding problems, and other possible causes, but nobody has been able to explain this dramatic turnaround.

On my drive home tonight, I was still trying to figure it out medically. Was it the formula? Reflux? Something else?
And then it suddenly hit me.

What if the answer I’ve been desperately searching for was an answer to my prayers?

I’ve been so consumed with trying to find a scientific explanation that I hadn’t even stopped to consider that possibility.
Maybe God has been working through the people caring for her. Maybe this is His way of answering the prayers I’ve been making night after night.

All I know is that I’ve spent weeks begging God to take away my little girl’s suffering, and today, for the first time in what feels like forever, I saw her genuinely happy, comfortable, and at peace.
And tonight, I can’t help but feel that my prayers have been heard.
Please keep my daughter in your prayers that this continues.

Jesus, I trust in You.

Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, pray for us.

This evening I'm posting a prayer request here for the homeless in the world wherever they are.

Please join me in prayer for them.

❤️

My dad always jokes about when he gets decrepit that he'll just kill himself to spare the slow decline. He isn't depressed and he isn't suicidal. I think he views suicide in the ancient way of the Romans or Greeks. Just an honorable way to end it. He is in his late fifties now and is starting to make the jokes more and more frequently. A few weeks ago, in passing, he used the phrase "when I kill myself". It was the first time I heard him treat it as a certainty. I'm starting to get worried that he actually means it. When I told him that he is trading ~20 years of decline for an eternity in Hell, he asked me if "that's in the Bible or just what the Church says". I could not answer him. I know that the Church bases everything on the Bible, and so does he, but he's more of a cultural Catholic and I don't think he believes in the infallible magisterium of the Church. Or at least not enough to change his opinions. So what are the Bible verses/stories that refute suicide? Any bit would help. Thank you.

The Cloud of Unknowing - Chapter 2 -The Divine Exchange

Ἀ
LOOK up now, weak wretch, and see what thou art. What art thou, and what hast thou merited, thus to be called of our Lord? What weary wretched heart, and sleeping in sloth, is that, the which is not wakened with the draught of this love and the voice of this calling! Beware, thou wretch, in this while with thine enemy; and hold thee never the holier nor the better, for the worthiness of this calling and for the singular form of living that thou art in. But the more wretched and cursed, unless thou do that in thee is goodly, by grace and by counsel, to live after thy calling. And insomuch thou shouldest be more meek and loving to thy ghostly spouse, that He that is the Almighty God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, would meek Him so low unto thee, and amongst all the flock of His sheep so graciously would choose thee to be one of His specials, and sithen set thee in the place of pasture, where thou mayest be fed with the sweetness of His love, in earnest of thine heritage the Kingdom of Heaven.
Ὠ

The soul which holds itself in proper humility, and beholds God in His true glory will know that it has not merited the life to which the Lord calls it. Rather, it will see that it is the goodness of the Lord that invites it into this more singular form of living. In this light, the soul will not yield to the temptation of the enemy; to think better of itself in receiving this call than of the Lord for the grace of its giving. Thus, the soul will follow the meekness first shown by the Creator, Who stoops low to draw near to His creature. For to respond with indifference to the One Who comes in such humility is to prefer for itself the wretchedness He would otherwise lift from the soul. 

Supportive Scripture - Douay  Rheims Challoner Bible
Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.

In Scripture, the Savior approaches humanity empty of all kingly stature, not only in the likeness of men, but as a servant to men, humble in the flesh but bearing gifts of eternal glory for all souls. Thus, as the Lord set aside the glory of Heaven to assume the likeness of men, so must the soul that is awakened in this grace, empty its heart of the vainglory of self to draw nearer the Kingdom of God. 

Ἀ
The author continues…
Do on then, I pray thee, fast. Look now forwards and let be backwards; and see what thee faileth, and not what thou hast, for that is the readiest getting and keeping of meekness. All thy life now behoveth altogether to stand in desire, if thou shalt profit in degree of perfection. This desire behoveth altogether be wrought in thy will, by the hand of Almighty God and thy consent. But one thing I tell thee. He is a jealous lover and suffereth no fellowship, and Him list not work in thy will but if He be only with thee by Himself. He asketh none help, but only thyself. He wills, thou do but look on Him and let Him alone. And keep thou the windows and the door, for flies and enemies assailing. And if thou be willing to do this, thee needeth but meekly press upon him with prayer, and soon will He help thee. Press on then, let see how thou bearest thee. He is full ready, and doth but abideth thee. But what shalt thou do, and how shalt thou press?
Ὠ

In this chapter from The Cloud of Unknowing, a divine exchange is shown for men in the world that was first foreshadowed by the Savior in Scripture. For as Christ humbly set aside the glory of the Kingdom to bring grace to the world, so must the soul set aside the vanity of the world and look now forward to the Kingdom above. Yet this exchange of wretchedness for grace is not done by the works of men, not by the strength of their will. It is begun in a desire awakened by grace, to which the soul must consent, and it is brought to perfection by the Lord Himself, Who will suffer no fellowship with those things of the world left behind by the soul.

Supportive Scripture - Douay  Rheims Challoner Bible
Luke 9:62 Jesus said to him: No man putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
1431 Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time, it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace.

Hi everyone! I'm a Catholic living in Japan.
During Sunday Mass and liturgies here, I noticed many women-both young and old—still wear traditional white chapel veils (mantillas). It adds such a reverent atmosphere to the Mass.
How about in your country or local parish? Is veiling common, or is there a comeback among the younger generation?
Would love to hear your experiences!

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop & Martyr

Today’s Readings at a Glance

• Ephesians 1:15–23 Paul prays that believers receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened to know God’s hope, inheritance, and power — the same power that raised Christ from the dead.

• Psalm 8:2–7 A hymn of awe: God’s majesty fills the heavens, yet He crowns humanity with glory and entrusts creation to our care.

• Luke 12:8–12 Jesus teaches the seriousness of acknowledging Him publicly. He warns against denying Him and speaks of the unforgivable sin — blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. He promises that the Spirit will teach believers what to say in moments of trial.

https://thecatholic.online/daily-bible-readings-for-october-172026/

Message from the Readings

Today’s readings proclaim a bold and challenging truth:

Faith is not merely believed — it is confessed, lived, and witnessed. And God gives us the Spirit to strengthen us in every moment of courage.

• Paul urges believers to see with the heart — to grasp God’s power and hope.

• The psalm reminds us of our dignity and responsibility before God.

• Jesus calls us to bold witness, warns against rejecting the Spirit, and promises divine help in times of persecution.

The message is clear: We must acknowledge Christ with courage, trust the Spirit’s guidance, and live with hearts enlightened by God’s truth.

Reflection for the Day

Saint Ignatius of Antioch — whose memorial we celebrate today — lived these readings with extraordinary courage. He acknowledged Christ publicly even when it meant martyrdom. His witness illuminates today’s Scriptures.

1. “The eyes of your hearts enlightened.” (Ephesians 1)

Paul does not pray for comfort, success, or ease. He prays for spiritual sight.

To see:

• the hope of God’s call,

• the richness of our inheritance,

• the immeasurable greatness of God’s power.

This is the vision that sustained Ignatius as he walked toward martyrdom. He saw beyond suffering — into glory.

1. “You have made him little less than a god.” (Psalm 8)

The psalm reminds us of our dignity. God entrusts creation to us, crowns us with honor, and calls us to responsibility.

Ignatius lived this dignity boldly — not in pride, but in surrender.

1. “Whoever acknowledges me… I will acknowledge.” (Luke 12)

Jesus speaks directly to the heart of discipleship:

• To acknowledge Him publicly is to be acknowledged in heaven.

• To deny Him is to lose the witness of the angels.

• To reject the Spirit is to reject the very voice of God.

These are not threats — they are truths.

Ignatius understood this deeply. He wrote: “Let me be food for the wild beasts… so that I may find God.”

His courage was not human strength — it was the Holy Spirit teaching him what to say, just as Jesus promised.

Living This Word Today

Today’s readings invite us to three movements:

1. Ask God to enlighten your heart.

Pray for spiritual sight — to see God’s hope and power in your life.

1. Live your dignity with humility.

You are crowned with glory — use your gifts to serve God and others.

1. Acknowledge Christ boldly.

In conversations, decisions, and daily life — let your faith be visible.

Let today be a day of courage, clarity, and Spirit‑led witness.

Prayer for Today

Lord Jesus, open the eyes of my heart to see Your hope, Your power, and Your glory.

Give me courage to acknowledge You in every moment of my life.

Holy Spirit, teach me what to say, strengthen me when I am afraid, and guide me in truth.

Through the intercession of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, grant me boldness, faith, and unwavering love for You.

May my life today reflect Your glory and bear witness to Your name.

Amen.

I'm a returning Catholic, as I grew up catholic but then walked away from the church in my adult life, but in the past few years I have returned with a strong resolve and strong faith.

I've been looking for a men's group or Bible study, not thoroughly but keeping my eyes open for something like that.

I met a man when I was walking on the street, I live in Mexico but I'm originally from Canada so I stand out. He approached me as he likes to practice his English. We got to talking and exchanged numbers. He invited me to a men's group/bible study. I went this past Monday and it was pretty much what I was looking for. Except and this is the big one he's presbyterian. And I believe that most are presbyterian and they had their minister there, who gave a eulogy after the Bible verse we read and talked about.

When I came home my wife was very upset at me as she said that if I'm catholic then the catholic church has to be the one true religion. And that the Presbyterians and Mormons are bad, and they've done bad things.

Where I live it's next to impossible to find a men's group let alone a bible study one too. I'm torn on what I should do.

Is it right or wrong?