Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for October 18, 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 in the US. It’s October 18th, the day before World Mission Sunday and the feast of the evangelist St. Luke. In today’s gospel, Jesus sends out the 72 disciples. This is in addition to the 12 apostles who are sent on out. And the church chooses it because St. Luke was a layman. He was a doctor who eventually met St. Paul. And from the 16th chapter, the acts of the apostles on St. Luke who wrote not only the third gospel, but the acts of the apostles and 25% of the entire New Testament, St. Luke starts to use the word we and everything thereafter in St. Paul’s journeys was with we. He was one of St. Paul’s great co-workers with him to the end to St. Paul’s death in Rome. And St. Luke used his skill as a medical doctor, used his intelligence in order in his own way to be able to share the faith. Again, not as a bishop, not as a priest, not as a preacher, but as a writer and his work, spreading the faith is an example for all of us to take up the missionary dimension of our baptism. He said he was writing his gospel so that we would have certainty about the things that we believe. He gave an orderly account just for it. And if it weren’t for St. Luke, so many important parts of the gospel, we just wouldn’t know. We wouldn’t know about the conception and the birth of John the Baptist, the conception and the birth of Jesus with all the details that St. Luke gives us about the shepherds and um and the star and Mary and Joseph looking for a place for there was no place in the inn. We wouldn’t have the resurrection of the only son of the widow of Naine. We wouldn’t have the parable of the good Samaritan. We wouldn’t have the parable of the lost sons, the lost sheep, the lost coin. We wouldn’t have Zakayas. We wouldn’t have the incredible Emmasene. All of this was because St. Luke took it upon himself to give us an orderly account of all the things that had to do with Jesus of Nazareth. As we prepare for World Mission Sunday tomorrow, it’s important for us to ask, okay, how can I carry out my mission of bringing Jesus to others? St. Luke used his pen. We can use social media. We can use videos like this morning. We can use our friendships. We can use our professional connections. We can use the place where we live. All of it is meant to be marshaled for the gospel. Missionaries are creative and they go far away from home to bring the greatest treasure of all to others who without their work might never hear the saving name of Jesus. As we get ready tomorrow for World Mission Sunday, we pray for all of them. And through the intercession of St. Luke, we ask for the grace to number ourselves among the 12 or the 72 sent out by Jesus in 2025 to bring his salvation. God bless you.
The Gospel reading on which the reflection was based on:
Gospel
The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit.
He said to them,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter,
first say, ‘Peace to this household.’
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves payment.
Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you,
eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them,
‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.'”