Daily Catholic Lectio
Wed, 7 Oct 2026
XXVII Week in Ordinary Time
Our Lady of the Rosary, Memorial
Gal 2:1-2, 7-14; Lk 11:1-4
Let Action Become Prayer
Jesus presents love of God and love of neighbour as the greatest commandments. One way to grow in love of God is through prayer. Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray.
At the time of Jesus, prayer often meant reading the Scriptures and singing hymns of praise. Jesus reduces the words and increases the actions.
The prayer taught by Jesus invites us to three actions.
(a) God is our Father; therefore, we are all brothers and sisters. This is not a relationship based on blood or marriage, but on covenant. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel became God’s people through the covenant at Sinai. God was their Father. In the New Testament, through the new covenant established in the blood of Jesus, God becomes our Father.
(b) “Give us each day our daily bread.” In the Old Testament, during the journey of Israel through the wilderness, the Lord gave them bread each day. The manna given by the Lord became a sign of God’s protection. At the same time, it taught the people of Israel to live with trust, surrender, contentment, and concern for others.
(c) “We forgive; forgive us.” We are called to bear with one another’s faults. When others do wrong against us, instead of responding only according to strict justice, we are invited to forgive them with mercy.
Let us not understand prayer merely as a time or place for listing our petitions. Let us understand prayer as a time to set right our relationship with God. Today we also celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary.
On 7 Oct 1571, after the victory at the Battle of Lepanto, Pope Pius V honoured the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Victory and encouraged the faithful to pray the Rosary. Later, Pope Gregory XIII gave the feast the title “Our Lady of the Rosary.”
As the beads move through this chain, which seems to have neither beginning nor end, they remind us of our own life that continues to move forward.
In the Rosary, we meditate on the mysteries of Christ: His birth, mission, life, death, and resurrection.
Prayer is therefore not only what we say with our lips. Prayer becomes complete when it shapes the way we live. Let our actions become prayer.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
A Yesni Prays Initiative
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