Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for November 26, 2025
The Youtube generated transcript for today’s reflection is:
I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States. Coming to you from the ravine on the property of the shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, New York, where St. Renee Goupil was buried somewhere behind us by St. Isaac Jogues. Today, November 26th, the memorial of blessed James Alberione, the founder of the Daughters of St. Paul and a great great missionary and founder of nine different ecclesial institutes for the spread of our faith in our own lifetime. We encounter Jesus’ words in the gospel that are very challenging for us to hear. It’s about the betrayal. He suffered and that his disciples are going to suffer in every age. He told us it ahead of time so that we wouldn’t be surprised when it happened and so that we could use those occasions to spread the faith too. St. Renee Goupil is has been able to spread the faith through his blood, through his martyrdom centuries after he died. And how grateful we are. And so Jesus tells us that we’re going to be betrayed. We’re going to be betrayed sometimes even by our friends, by our family members. We’re going to be dragged before civil courts and even religious authorities. And he said, “Don’t be afraid when that happens because the Holy Spirit will tell you what you need to say under trial.” that the greatest pullpit sometimes Christians ever have is the opportunity to give witness to the fact that Jesus is worth suffering for, that he’s worth dying for, that he’s worth living for, because he himself gave his life in order to give us life to the full. And so when we show as Christians that we’re not just Christians on the sunny days, but we’re the we’re Christians on the days of rain, days of hurricanes, days of earthquakes, you name it, that we begin to show a compelling example of how much of a treasure our faith really is. St. Renee Goupil when he was betrayed by the Mohawks that he had come to evangelize himself didn’t curse. He just continued to unite himself to the Lord. We heard earlier in these meditations, he just said Yeshua, yes, yes, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, God saved. He was not just praying for the Lord to have mercy on himself and bring him fully into his kingdom, but for the Lord to have mercy even on those who are tomahawking him. Today, we can think about all the betrayals we’ve suffered in life, all our sufferings, and seek to unite them to the Lord. The same Holy Spirit who was sent to the North American martyrs, the same Holy Spirit that Jesus promised in the gospel will be given to us so that we’re be able first to unite those circumstances to him, but then we can use them as an opportunity to spread love of him in those very moments. That’s what missionaries are doing all over the world today. We pray for them through the saints we venerate here. God bless you.
The Gospel reading on which the reflection was based on:
Gospel
Jesus said to the crowd:
“They will seize and persecute you,
they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons,
and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents,
brothers, relatives, and friends,
and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”