Friday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time

Our readings today are about wisdom that listens and acts—about using our gifts, our insight, and our courage for the good of others and the glory of God.

Dear sisters in Christ, in our first reading from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans, we meet a man at the end of a long road of preaching. Paul looks back and sees not his own effort but the work of grace. He says, “It is through Christ Jesus that I can boast of my service to God.” His mission is not conquest but communion. He has learned that the Gospel spreads best not through power, but through patient listening, humble service, and the steady witness of love.

Paul’s words carry the spirit of synodality—that path of walking together which the whole church is journeying on. He writes to a community, not as a commander, but as a companion. He honours their goodness, their wisdom, their capacity to teach one another. His ministry is not to dominate but to draw others into the shared work of the Gospel. That same spirit lives in your Dominican vocation. You walk with one another, and with those you teach and serve, discovering together where the Spirit is already at work. Paul’s joy was to see Christ alive in the people he served. That is also the joy of community: to find the face of Christ in the sisters beside you, in the children you teach, in the people who seek comfort at your door.

The Psalm invites us to “sing a new song to the Lord, for he has done marvellous deeds.” It is a song of renewal, not repetition. God’s mercy is always doing something new, even when the world feels weary. In Zimbabwe today, this new song might not be loud, but it can be heard—in the gentle rhythm of the classroom, in the quiet fidelity of prayer, in the laughter of children who have known too much loss. To sing this song is to refuse despair. It is to say, even in hardship, that God’s love still finds a way.

Then in the Gospel Jesus tells the story of a steward accused of misusing his master’s goods. Facing dismissal, he acts swiftly and shrewdly, reducing the debts of others so that they will welcome him later. The master commends him, not for dishonesty, but for his insight and initiative. Jesus’ point is simple but searching: the children of light must learn to be as wise and resourceful in doing good as others are in serving themselves.

This parable speaks to our times. The Lord does not ask us to be cautious guardians of grace but creative servants of love. In community life, this means facing our challenges—within and beyond our walls—with imagination and trust. When resources are few, when spirits grow tired, or when we differ in vision, the Gospel invites us to think together, listen deeply, and find new ways to serve. This is the work of discernment—the heart of synodality.

The steward in the Gospel changes direction when he finally sees the truth about himself: “I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.” It is a moment of humility, the beginning of conversion. In the Dominican tradition, that honesty is part of the search for truth. In the Ignatian tradition, it is the examen—the daily invitation to see ourselves as we are before God. Both ways lead to greater freedom. When we know our limits, we become more open to grace; when we recognise what we cannot do alone, we begin to act together.

This is what the Church seeks in the synodal path—not new structures for their own sake, but a new attentiveness to one another. To listen as Paul did, to speak as Dominic did, to discern as Ignatius taught: all are ways of becoming wise stewards of God’s mercy.

The Lord asks us, as He asked the steward, to be faithful in small things. To use what we have—our intelligence, our prayer, our compassion—with care and courage. Each sister here carries a part of that stewardship. When you pray with the poor, teach the young, or accompany someone in pain, you are helping to reduce the debts that weigh down hearts.

So today, perhaps we can pray for a wisdom that is not cleverness, but clarity: a way of seeing what truly matters, and acting together to serve it.

And we might this morning hold these questions in our prayer:

• How is God inviting your community to listen more deeply—to one another and to the people you serve?
• What gifts among you might you use with greater creativity for the good of the Gospel?
• How can your shared life become a sign of God’s new song—a harmony of truth, mercy, and joy in a weary world?

May the Lord give you the grace to walk wisely together, to act with courage, and to sing that new song of hope and truth that the world so longs to hear. Amen.