Daily Catholic Lectio
Sat, 3 October 2026
XXVI Week in Ordinary Time
Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17; Lk 10:17-24
Rejoice
God restores everything to Job. The disciples return to Jesus after completing their mission.
Both today’s first reading and the Gospel end on a positive note. Job’s long conversation with God comes to a close. In the end, Job receives back twice what he had lost. In the Gospel, the disciples whom Jesus sent on mission return with joy. Seeing their joy, Jesus too praises His heavenly Father.
But not everyone receives back everything they have lost, as Job did. Some people experience only suffering in life, sometimes even for faults they did not commit, and quietly pass away with a smile.
Life does not always end with a happy ending like a film or a novel. To smile even when there is no visible happy ending requires great courage and a positive outlook.
Joseph in Genesis and Job in the wisdom tradition receive back what they had lost. They rise from humiliation to greatness. Their stories give us hope, but they do not give us a guarantee.
Job’s final words are important: “I have spoken of things I did not understand.”
We often try to understand the realities of life that are difficult to grasp. But the answers we find sometimes create more questions. At other times, the answers disappear from our hands like water slipping through our fingers.
If we can reach Job’s attitude, we can face many problems in life. We can say: “I do not understand everything. But I can still trust.”
In the Gospel, the disciples return after completing their mission. When Jesus sent them out, He told them: “Carry nothing for the journey. Greet no one on the way.”
When I read this, I sometimes imagine the disciples getting everything packed and ready. Then Jesus comes and asks: “What is this? Why do you need that? Why are you carrying this? Leave it behind and go!”
The disciples may not have questioned Jesus aloud, but perhaps they complained within themselves. They may have thought: “How can I manage without this? How can I live without that?”
But when they return after the mission, they do not say that anything was missing. Instead, the things they had once thought necessary now begin to look like unnecessary burdens.
Without even realising it, they discover a new freedom.
They did not fully understand Jesus’ instructions, but they trusted His word. The result was joy and inner freedom.
Children are able to accept that they do not understand something. Adults often struggle with this. We try to understand everything. Sometimes we even pretend that we understand.
Today’s readings teach us a simple lesson: joy is still possible even when everything is not understood.
Job does not understand everything, but he reaches surrender.
The disciples do not understand everything, but they obey and return with joy.
Faith does not always give us every answer. Sometimes it gives us enough trust to continue without the answer. And in that trust, joy becomes possible.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
A Yesni Prays Initiative
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