Faith Today

October 26, 2026

Freedom and Compassion Over Rigid Rules

“"Woman, you are freed from your disability."”
Luke 13:12

Today's Reflection

Dear Brothers and Sisters, today's news reminds us of the urgent need to defend and care for those facing hardship and injustice, as seen in the call for support for Ukraine. Just as Jesus responded to suffering without delay, we too are invited to act with compassion and provide the means for others' well-being and dignity.

Coping

When life feels overwhelming or you are weighed down by burdens, today's readings remind us that God longs to set us free and restore us. Coping with difficulties becomes possible when we allow love, forgiveness, and compassion to break through our struggles, as Jesus did for the woman in the Gospel.

Family

Within our families, the call to be generous, forgiving, and loving as Christ loved us is clear. Paul encourages us to let kindness and understanding be the foundation of our homes, mirroring God's unconditional care for us and making our families places of healing and growth.

Community

A healthy community is built on mercy, uprightness, and mutual support. The psalm and the epistle both highlight the importance of choosing the path of light and encouragement instead of judgment or cynicism, so that together, communities can reflect God's kingdom.

Today's Readings

First Reading · Ephesians 4:32-5:8

[32] Be generous to one another, sympathetic, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ. [1] As God's dear children, then, take him as your pattern, [2] and follow Christ by loving as he loved you, giving himself up for us as an offering and a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God. [3] Among you there must be not even a mention of sexual vice or impurity in any of its forms, or greed: this would scarcely become the holy people of God! [4] There must be no foul or salacious talk or coarse jokes -- all this is wrong for you; there should rather be thanksgiving. [5] For you can be quite certain that nobody who indulges in sexual immorality or impurity or greed -- which is worshipping a false god -- can inherit the kingdom of God. [6] Do not let anyone deceive you with empty arguments: it is such behaviour that draws down God's retribution on those who rebel against him. [7] Make sure that you do not throw in your lot with them. [8] You were darkness once, but now you are light in the Lord; behave as children of light,

Psalm · Psalms 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6

[1] How blessed is anyone who rejects the advice of the wicked and does not take a stand in the path that sinners tread, nor a seat in company with cynics, [2] but who delights in the law of Yahweh and murmurs his law day and night. [3] Such a one is like a tree planted near streams; it bears fruit in season and its leaves never wither, and every project succeeds. [4] How different the wicked, how different! Just like chaff blown around by the wind [6] For Yahweh watches over the path of the upright, but the path of the wicked is doomed.

Gospel · Luke 13:10-17

[10] One Sabbath day he was teaching in one of the synagogues, [11] and there before him was a woman who for eighteen years had been possessed by a spirit that crippled her; she was bent double and quite unable to stand upright. [12] When Jesus saw her he called her over and said, 'Woman, you are freed from your disability,' [13] and he laid his hands on her. And at once she straightened up, and she glorified God. [14] But the president of the synagogue was indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and he addressed all those present saying, 'There are six days when work is to be done. Come and be healed on one of those days and not on the Sabbath.' [15] But the Lord answered him and said, 'Hypocrites! Is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the Sabbath and take it out for watering? [16] And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound these eighteen years -- was it not right to untie this bond on the Sabbath day?' [17] When he said this, all his adversaries were covered with confusion, and all the people were overjoyed at all the wonders he worked.