Paul tells the Philippians today to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for God is the one who is at work in you both to desire and to accomplish it. In the Gospel, Jesus tells the crowd following him that none of them has sat down to calculate what it will actually cost to finish what they are starting: "Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost?" Today the Church remembers Charles Borromeo, a bishop who spent his life making sure the Church's own ministers were formed and ready before they were sent out, because willingness alone was never enough. The country did some costly counting of its own this week, and three stories from the last two days are worth bringing to the table tonight.

The deeper reflection on today's readings - and a daily prayer for your household - is waiting in the & Altar app and at andaltar.com. More after the news.

📰 Quick Hits

1. Democrats Win Control of the U.S. House and Senate

In Tuesday's midterm elections, Democrats regained control of Congress, winning back the U.S. House and Senate as Republican midterm losses mount. In the 435-seat House, the GOP held 218 seats compared with 214 held by Democrats, and Democrats needed a net gain of three seats to retake the chamber - a mark the AP said early Wednesday the party had exceeded. In the Senate, the Associated Press had called 51 seats for Democrats and 39 for Republicans as of Tuesday evening, after Democrats flipped at least seven seats from Republican control. Among the newly elected senators, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed beat Mike Rogers in Michigan to become the first Muslim U.S. Senator, and Democrat Chris Pappas defeated former Republican Sen. John Sununu in New Hampshire to become the first openly gay man elected to the Senate. President Trump told Fox News anchors he was "a little bit surprised" by the results and that he "thought we'd do better" nationwide.

Faith Lens for the Home: Scripture tells us to pray for those in authority, not just cheer or mourn them (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Ask at dinner who in Washington your family can commit to praying for by name this week, regardless of who voted which way.

2. Voters Split on Abortion in Three State Ballot Measures

On the same ballot, voters in three states decided the future of abortion law in their states. Virginia voters approved an amendment to the state constitution protecting abortion and other reproductive healthcare rights, with the Associated Press calling the race with "Yes" leading by a 60.9%-39.1% margin; the protections cover abortion, birth control, pregnancy, miscarriage and fertility care, and still allow the state to restrict abortion in the third trimester except when a doctor determines the patient's life or health is at risk. In Missouri, voters rejected a ban on most abortions, turning down a Republican-backed measure that would have repealed 2024 voter-approved protections, so the vote keeps abortion legal in the state. In Idaho, the opposite happened: with Proposition 1 defeated, the state's near-total ban remains unchanged, and those seeking an abortion there may still need to go out of state.

Faith Lens for the Home: The Church's teaching that every human life is sacred from conception to natural death doesn't change with a single night of ballots in any direction. Pray a decade of the rosary tonight for mothers in crisis pregnancies and the children they're carrying, and let your children hear you ask God for the courage to help, not just the right answer in an argument.

3. Google Will Cut Off School Search Access If They Fully Block Its AI

Google announced this week that schools which choose to restrict student AI use entirely will also lose access to Google Search. Google will disable AI tools by default for K-12 students early next year unless school administrators explicitly enable them, but schools that choose to block AI entirely will also lose student access to Google Search. A Google vice president for education told the New York Times that "search and A.I. are deeply integrated," explaining that students at schools which ban AI entirely would see a message indicating search isn't available to them. The move follows a new New York state chatbot-safety law for minors and comes after New York City and Los Angeles, the two largest school districts in the country, broadly restricted student access to generative AI this fall. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani criticized the move on social media, accusing Google of using its market power to push AI into schools and saying "no corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children."

Faith Lens for the Home: Parents, not any company, are the first teachers of their children, and that includes deciding how much of a screen stands between a child and the truth. Ask your child's school this week which tools are AI-driven by default, and pray together for the wisdom to use new technology as a servant, not a substitute for thinking.

⛪ Family Saint Spotlight

St. Charles Borromeo - November 4

Charles Borromeo was born on October 2, 1538, at the castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore near Milan, and was made Archbishop of Milan at the age of 22 by his uncle, Pope Pius IV. The pope leaned on him heavily in directing the third convocation of the Council of Trent, and when the council closed, Borromeo was largely instrumental in bringing out the Roman Catechism. Rather than assume priests were ready simply because they were willing, he fostered clerical education to combat the threat facing the Church and established seminaries and colleges in Milan and other Italian cities. When plague struck Milan in 1576, many of the wealthy and powerful fled the city, but Archbishop Borromeo remained, and he gave away much of his own wealth to feed the hungry and care for the sick. His life is a plain answer to the Gospel's question about counting the cost: he counted it, in seminaries and in a plague ward, and stayed anyway.

Ask at dinner: "When has someone in our family stayed and helped even though it would have been easier to leave?"

✋ One Simple Action

Borromeo counted the cost of forming priests before sending them out; tonight, count the cost of one commitment your family has already made - a friendship, a promise to a grandparent - and say one thing out loud that you're still willing to pay for it. Since it's Wednesday, pray a decade of the Glorious Mysteries together as a family. Ask for perseverance for two groups in today's news: the nation's newly elected leaders, and the mothers and children caught in tonight's ballot results, wherever they live.

📚 Read More

• Congress flips control: The Associated Press via WHTM/ABC27 (https://www.abc27.com/national/map-who-will-control-congress-after-2026-midterms/) and NBC News, full House results (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-elections/house-results)
• Abortion ballot measures: The Associated Press via WHRO on Virginia (https://www.whro.org/elections/2026-11-03/virginia-voters-enshrine-abortion-access-in-state-constitution), NPR on Missouri (https://www.npr.org/2026/11/03/g-s1-151063/missouri-abortion-ban-transgender), and Idaho Capital Sun on Idaho's Proposition 1 (https://idahocapitalsun.com/2026/11/03/live-updates-heres-the-latest-on-idahos-2026-general-election/)
• Google and school AI: The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2026/11/03/google-turn-off-search-schools-that-dont-want-students-using-ai/) and CNN (https://edition.cnn.com/2026/11/03/tech/google-ai-search-policy)
• St. Charles Borromeo: Encyclopaedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Charles-Borromeo) and Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=212)

Jesus never pretended that following him was free, and this week neither Washington, nor the families waiting on a court's decision out of Colorado, nor the millions who voted on life issues Tuesday got to skip that math. Borromeo didn't settle for enthusiasm either - he built seminaries because he'd counted what forming a priest actually takes, and he stayed in a plague-stricken city because he'd counted what loving his people would cost him personally. Whatever your household makes of last night's results, the Gospel's question is the same one at your own table: have you sat down and counted what following Christ in your marriage, your parenting, your ordinary Wednesday will actually require? Ask that honestly tonight, and trust - as Paul does - that God is doing the harder work alongside you.