The Daily Pilgrimage

Good Morning, Pilgrim

Receive this day as a child of Holy Mother Church.

Our Lord's answer concerning tribute does not divide life into a small sacred corner and a world independent of Him. Caesar may receive what belongs to lawful civil authority, but the soul, conscience, worship, and final end belong to God. Examine whether fear of men has claimed anything that obedience owes first to Christ.

Profess the Catholic Faith, honor the Mother of God, and resolve to reject every error and sin that separates souls from her Son.

Formation in True Devotion - Day 330: Review and Deepening: Mary's Maternal Formation of Christ's Members

“The most infallible and indubitable sign by which we may distinguish a heretic, a man of bad doctrine, a reprobate, from one of the predestinate, is that the heretic and the reprobate have nothing but contempt and indifference for our Blessed Lady, endeavouring by their words and examples to diminish the worship and love of her openly or hiddenly, and sometimes under specious pretexts.”
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 30

Ora — Begin with Prayer

Offer the day before spending it

Prayer gives the day its right beginning and its right end. Before work, conversation, news, or distraction claims the mind, adore the Blessed Trinity and offer every prayer, work, joy, suffering, and temptation to Jesus through Mary. Ask your Guardian Angel for help, and place the souls and needs entrusted to you beneath God's will.

Begin simply. Make the Morning Offering through the hands of Our Lady. Pray the Three Hail Marys for purity and final perseverance, ask your Guardian Angel to govern the senses and imagination, and name the soul or intention for which today's prayers and sacrifices will be offered. Do not rush these acts merely because they are familiar; let them place the whole day beneath God before the world begins to claim it.

O Lord, let the saints of this day teach me how doctrine becomes life, how virtue endures trial, and how fidelity resists the errors of its age.

Quote of the Day

“That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to converse in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth.”
Holy Scripture, 1 Timothy 3:15, Original Douay-Rheims

Keep this word in the Wisdom Treasury

Today's Full Breviary Sermon or Proper Lesson

Render to God body, soul, and will.

Matins - Third Nocturn - 22nd Sunday after Pentecost

The verified Breviary witness for this observance is identified below. A complete English transcription has not yet been admitted, so no excerpt or summary is presented as though it were the full appointed text.

St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, Commentary on St. Matthew

“Unto God all of us are bound always to render the things that are God's.”

• Christ exposes the Pharisees' snare and keeps temporal duty beneath divine lordship.
• St. Hilary teaches that earthly obligations do not excuse withholding oneself from God.
• The soul belongs to God by creation and must render itself wholly back to Him.

Give civil duty its limited due, but never let Caesar receive what belongs to God: conscience, worship, doctrine, and the soul itself.

Walk with Holy Mother Church

Holy Mother Church has already begun praying. Enter her prayer.

Today the Roman year keeps 22nd Sunday after Pentecost. Receive the observance from the Church's hands: first understand what is commemorated, then let its doctrine and worship shape the day.

Roman Martyrology

October 25

At Rome, the holy martyrs Chrysanthus, and his wife Daria. After many sufferings endured for Christ, under the prefect Celerinus, they were ordered by the emperor Numerian to be thrown into a sandpit on the Salarian road, where, being overwhelmed with earth and stones, they were buried alive. — Also, at Rome, the birthday of fortysix holy soldiers, who were baptized together by pope Denis, and soon after beheaded by order of the emperor Claudius. They were buried on the Salarian way, with one hundred and twenty-one other martyrs. Among them are named four soldiers of Christ — Theodosius, Lucius, Mark and Peter. — At Soissons, in France, in the persecution of Diocletian, the holy martyrs Crispin and Crispinian, noble Komans. Under the governor Rictiovarus, after horrible torments, they were put to the sword, and thus obtained the crown of martyrdom. Their bodies were afterwards conveyed to Rome, and entombed with due honors in the church of St. Lawrence, in Panisperna. — At Florence, St. Minias, a soldier, who fought valorously for the faith of Christ and was gloriously crowned with martyrdom during the reign of Decius. — At Torres, in Sardinia, the holy martyrs Protus, priest, and Januarius, deacon, who, being sent to that island by pope St. Caius, were put to death, under the governor Barbarus, in the reign of Diocletian. — At Constantinople, the martyrdom of the Saints Martyrius, sub-deacon, and Marcian, chanter, who were murdered by the heretics, under the emperor Qonstantius. — At Rome, St. Boniface, pope and confessor. — At Perigueux, in France, St. Fronto, who, being made bishop by the blessed apostle Peter, converted to Christ, with a priest named George, a large number of the people of that place, and, renowned for miracles, rested in peace. — At Brescia, the birthday of St. Gaudentius, bishop, distinguished by his learning and holiness. — At Javols, St. Hilary, bishop.

Gospel of the Day

Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.

22nd Sunday after Pentecost - Matthew 22:15-21

“Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God, the things that are God's.”

Keep your duties ordered. Earthly authority has limits; God's claim on the soul does not.

Learn from Today's Saint or Feast

Ss. Chrysanthus and Daria

Husband and wife buried alive for Christ.

The Martyrology honors Chrysanthus and his wife Daria at Rome, who after many sufferings under the prefect Celerinus were cast into a sandpit on the Salarian road and buried alive by order of Numerian.

Their feast teaches married fidelity under persecution. Christian spouses are not only companions in earthly duty, but fellow pilgrims called to confess Christ together.

Let Chrysanthus and Daria teach households to face eternity together. Marriage becomes strongest when both souls belong first to Christ.

Breviary Witness for the Day

Render to God the things that are God's.

Matins - 22nd Sunday after Pentecost

• The Sunday office keeps the Church attentive to the Gospel in which Our Lord answers the Pharisees and Herodians concerning tribute to Caesar.
• The lesson teaches true order: earthly duties are not denied, but God must receive the soul, worship, obedience, and final allegiance that belong to Him.

Give lawful duties their place without surrendering the soul. The image of Caesar may be on the coin, but the image of God is on man.