Daily Reflection
October 17, 2026

Today’s Gospel made me think of a scene from a movie called “The Paper.” It’s a comedy about a newspaper, dear to the heart of this journalist. While often silly and exaggerated, there’s a moment in the movie that echoed the gospel message. In this scene, the Sun editor’s long-suffering and very pregnant wife confronts the editor outside of the restaurant where the editor, once again, was late and was leaving early for a journalistic emergency. She asks him: “What if a guy broke into our apartment and held a gun to my head? You have to choose: me or the Sun Building. Which do you choose?” He protests.” What do you think I choose?” She counters that it will never be just one big choice. “It’s little vague situations every day and you’re either there or you’re not.”

I was struck by that when I saw the movie several years ago. We make small choices and decisions every day that define who we are, define our identity and how we live our faith. Jesus asks us to choose him, every day. We are asked to acknowledge him in our words, our prayers, our actions. It’s not me deciding whether I’m going to commit some big moment. It’s the every day choices: me deciding to be more patient with my sister, to be more generous with my time and energy, to be forgiving, to make the best use of my time in a way that glorifies God.

Jesus wants us to make these good choices, but he also sends along a reinforcement: the Holy Spirit. We are never alone – God is there. I have recently rediscovered the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I say rediscovered because I likely learned about them around confirmation time many years ago. The gift I ask the Holy Spirit to replenish in me is fortitude, defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as “firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good.” That’s making those small choices every day, pursuing the good.

My prayer today is to ask the Holy Spirit for fortitude in making those choices every day, to keep me pursuing the good.