Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection October 24, 2026
Saturday – 29th Week of Ordinary Time
24th October 2026 (Saturday)
Psalter: Week 1
Here are the Catholic Mass readings and a daily Gospel reflection for Saturday, October 24, 2026, the Memorial of Saint Anthony Mary Claret. Paul says Christ gives gifts to build up the one body, and Jesus tells of a barren fig tree given one more year.
Catholic Mass Readings
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Ephesians 4:7-16
Brethren: Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended”, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5 (R. see 1)
R/. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the oth Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vine dresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?” “And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig round it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”
Saturday – 29th Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Gospel Reflection
Main Point: A fig tree has borne nothing for three years, and the owner wants it cut down. It is a fair verdict. Then the gardener steps in and asks for one more year, one more chance, a little more care. That gardener is Christ.
1. A man has a fig tree in his vineyard, and for three years he comes looking for fruit and finds none. His decision is reasonable. Cut it down, he tells the gardener. Why should it go on using up the soil? Three years is long enough. The tree has had its chance, and it has produced nothing.
2. We feel the fairness of that, because we have felt it about ourselves. The same sin, confessed and repeated for years. The resolution made and broken again. The prayer life that never seems to grow. Part of us agrees with the owner: cut it down, there has been enough time, nothing is changing. We are hard judges of our own barrenness.
3. Then the gardener speaks, and everything shifts. Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put manure on it. Then if it bears fruit next year, well and good. He does not deny the tree is barren. He asks for more time, and more than time, he offers his own care, his own hands in the soil.
4. This is the heart of it, and it is easy to miss who is who. The gardener is Christ, standing between our barrenness and the just verdict against it, asking the Father for one more year, and offering to tend us Himself. The patience we are given is not indifference. It is bought by a gardener who intercedes for the fruitless tree.
5. But notice he does not simply leave the tree alone. He digs around it and feeds it. The extra year is not for us to keep doing nothing. It is for us to let Him work the hard soil loose, to receive the grace He wants to put at our roots. Mercy buys the time; it also gets to work.
6. Saint Anthony Mary Claret spent his whole life as that kind of gardener, tirelessly, refusing to give up on barren ground. A tireless preacher and founder, he went wherever souls were being written off and dug around them, fed them, gave them one more chance to bear fruit. He believed no soul was simply to be cut down, and he wore himself out on the ones others had abandoned.
7. So if you are the barren tree today, aware of the years and the lack of fruit, hear who is speaking for you. The gardener has asked for one more year, and He is already reaching for the soil around your roots. The time you have been given is mercy with its sleeves rolled up. Do not waste the year He bought you.
My Practice: Name the barren place in your life you have half given up on, and instead of cutting it down, let the Gardener work it this year, one honest confession, one new habit of prayer, one root fed. He has asked the Father for your extra year. Use it.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, we know our barren places, the sins repeated for years, the fruit that never seems to come, and part of us agrees with the verdict: cut it down, enough time has passed. And then You, the Gardener, step between us and that verdict and ask the Father for one more year, and offer to tend us Yourself. Thank You for patience that is not indifference but love with its hands in the soil. Dig around our roots. Loosen the hard ground in us. Feed us with Your grace. And help us not to waste the year Your mercy has bought, but to bear, at last, the fruit You long to see. Amen.
Question to Reflect Today
- What barren place in your life have you nearly given up on, and how will you let the Gardener tend it during the time His mercy has bought you?
Thank You
Tags: Daily Mass Reflection, Memorial, Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Gospel of Luke, Catholic Mass Readings, October 2026
