Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for November 10, 2025
Here is the video of today’s reflection.
The Youtube generated transcript for today’s reflection is:
I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies. It’s November 10th, the feast of St. Leo the Great, Pope from 440 to 461. And I’m coming to you from the grounds of the Shrine of the North American Martyrs, Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, New York. Today in the Gospel, the apostles cry out to Jesus, Lord, increase our faith. They knew that they needed more trust in the Lord so that they’d be able to trust more in what he said and did. And the immediate provocation for that was when Jesus first talked about scandal and then he talked about forgiveness. Scandal. He says, “Woe to those who cause little ones to stumble, who give bad example, who give bad teaching. It would be better if a millstone were tied around the neck and they were thrown into the depth of the sea.” That’s what Jesus describes as the penalty for those who set bad example for others who show people the wrong path rather than the right path. And the apostles were being sent out to show people how to follow Jesus the way. And that frightened them because they knew that their life wasn’t yet fully pointing to Jesus. And then Jesus said something about forgiveness. He says, “If your brother asks for forgiveness, you forgive him. And if he asks you even seven times, you forgive him seven times. It’s tough to give s some people a second chance, especially when they’ve hurt us badly, not to mention an eighth chance. And the word seven in sacred scripture is a number for infinity. It means that we forgive always, just like God forgives us. And we need faith to do this. We need faith to trust in the Lord so much that we follow him rather than copy the ways that we see others in the world live according to worldly standards. And we definitely need greater faith in the Lord to know that when we forgive those who have really hurt us, we’re becoming far more like God and pleasing him in this way because the whole world says, “Don’t trust, don’t forgive, punish.” Jesus in response to all of this says that if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed, we’d be able to say to a mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea and it would obey us.” We’re able to do much greater stuff than that. forgiveness is much greater and setting a good Christian example is much greater than that type of landscaping. St. Leo the Great had this type of trust in the Lord and he brought the entire church to have a similar trust. He was the deacon of Pope Sixtus III and he was the one who built essentially St. Mary Major Basilica. He rebuilt the Lateran Baptistry. He was one who re who sort of decorated the inside of St. Paul’s outside the walls in this Jubilee year. He’s associated with three of those great um patriarchal basilicas in Rome. He was the one who left us the tome on the incarnation that resolved the Christological disputes of the first centuries of legalized Christianity. It was used at the council of Calcedon definitively to say that Jesus was 100% man and 100% God. And he was one of the greatest most eloquent preachers about the mystery of God with us. the incarnation in Christmas such that the church continues to read his writings with great profit today. Missionaries are those who try to take the incarnation of Jesus to the ends of the world so that they’re able to announce God with us is still very very much with us. They’re the ones who help people to grow in faith, to live by good example for others, so that people are able to see the gospel before they hear it and show this extraordinary image on earth of divine mercy so that people might have confidence in approaching God for mercy. Today, through the intercession of St. Leo the Great, we pray for all missionaries. We pray for his successor Pope Leo. We pray for the whole church in this month in which we ponder the last things that we might choose the path that leads to heaven, to happiness, and to holiness.
Gospel
Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,
as well as the money-changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money-changers
and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
“What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews said,
“This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and you will raise it up in three days?”
But he was speaking about the temple of his Body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this,
and they came to believe the Scripture
and the word Jesus had spoken.