faith

Making time each day for a breath and a look up, we can reset with Jesus, experience his peace and rest.

Look at me, serve me, I want, are attitudes and dispositions that tempt us. Fame, honor, power, prestige may be another way of making the same point, which is that we often have a hyper-focus on self and self-promotion. Social media offers more of a platform to fuel this temptation. If we think this is something new with the advent of modern technology, we can look at today’s Gospel of Matthew to see that we have been operating from this posture for a very long time.

Jesus, for the third time, was attempting to prepare his disciples for his passion. He said: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day” (Mt 20:18-19).

The response of the mother of James and John (the two brothers make the request themselves in the Gospel of Mark) is actually not that surprising if we spend any time with people. She disregards what Jesus just mentioned about his imminent death and requests that when Jesus assumes his seat of power that her two sons will be number one and number two. The other disciples were quite indignant, and I can imagine what followed was not a pretty sight.

This is a good teachable moment. When we are preoccupied with what we want to say or are thinking about, we do not hear what someone right before us is sharing with us. The mother of James and John appeared not to hear what Jesus had just shared. She is believing that Jesus is the Messiah and that he is going to claim his throne, and wants to be sure that her boys, who have given their life to his cause will be taken cares of. She just missed the point that the throne of Jesus will be the cross. The apostles aren’t any better. They don’t correct her misperception of Jesus’ messiahship, they instead start jockeying for the position that she proposed James and John filled.

Jesus doesn’t condemn the mother’s request, he directs the brothers to the truth of the request and in so doing, brings the point back to where he had started. Jesus heard the mother, James and John, and the other apostles. His response answers the question, returns to the point he is making, and offers them a participation in his passion. To give them a place at his right and left “is for those for whom it has been prepared for by my Father” (Mt 20:23). This statement addresses them all by letting them know that the preeminent place in his kingdom, whoever is to be first, is the one who serves his brother and sister. This message is for all of us.

Jesus encourages us this Lent to take the focus off ourselves and get out of our heads. To let go of I, me, and mine. Even when we let go a little, we will feel more peace. Just a few intentional breaths help so much. We can also experience quieter moments when we get outside, look up, and see the expanse of the sky (Even in the cold of the north!). We’re no longer thinking about ourselves but touching the gift of our eternal nature and call to be one with God. Instead of feeling contraction, we can experience a restful release and sense of expansion.

When we allow ourselves to breathe, we can then let go of stress and the strain and the energy we expend following the distractions, diversions, and temptations that keep us on a treadmill pace. A few breaths can also help us to stop and choose to spend a few moments with Jesus. He will then, as he did today with the apostles, redirect any ways in which our mindset is not aligned with his Father’s will. We can then place God’s priorities for our life first, properly order our own, and/or let go of any that are not of his will.

When we are able to breathe, receive, and abide in God’s love, we experience real rest, discern and make decisions from his guidance, and begin to experience more change and transformation, healing and renewal. We will begin to bear the fruit of the spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). When we let go of the desire to be first or best, to sit at the right or left of Jesus, we will rest in being who we are, God’s beloved daughters and sons. Identifying as such, we will experience more of God’s love, let go of the need to be served, experience more balance, be moved to serve and share the love we have received.

——————————————————————————

Photo: Looking up and outward, and breathing deep, experiencing the love of God. May you also do and experience the same!

Link for the Mass readings for March 4, 2024

Let us put into practice Jesus’ teaching, and help one another with each step forward.

The challenge of Jesus’ convicting the hypocrisy of many of the Pharisees may be one for which most hearers and readers would agree with: “For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them” (Mt 23:3-4).

We have an innate sense that alerts us to hypocrisy and when hypocrisy raises its head with religious leadership it can be catastrophic because many, especially our youth, look to our leaders, as representatives of the God they are to be serving. Inexcusable behavior not only affects how we look at our leaders, it also affects the way we look at the institution, as well as God. The Catholic Church is still reeling from not only those clergy who have abused children, but those bishops who have covered up the abuse.

As horrific as these acts are, and even though there have been many improvements that have been made to put practices and protocols in place, the damage is still there and will take time to heal. There also are many other ways that people have been hurt or disillusioned by the hypocritical actions and statements of priests and leaders in the church. It is easy to give up, walk away and say this is not my problem, to point fingers and justify our own acts of hypocrisy by saying well at least I am not that bad. Yet even the human frailty and fallen nature of each of us does not change the truth that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the source of our being and fulfillment.

Even for those who have left the Church, many would say they are still spiritual. This is true because, we all have the inborn desire to be in relationship with the God who has created us. Those of us who are followers of Jesus, are to receive the message as he gave it then directed toward the religious leadership of his time, as well as it was given for his disciples, and each of us who follow him today. The standard that is set and for which we strive after is to live as Jesus lived his life.

Jesus always pointed the way to the Father. We as human beings are finite and we are going to make mistakes and sin. While Jesus is our model, even more, he is the source for our living faithfully to his teachings. Through his forgiveness and love working through us and directed out toward others, we are capable of standing up for the dignity of those entrusted to us within our realm of influence. For we are to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.

If we want to guide someone in the ways of our faith tradition it is not enough to say this is what you need to do and live accordingly. We need to put into practice and live what we are sharing, be willing to accompany, assist, and walk with those we accompany along the way. As a Christian, just giving someone the Bible, saying there you go, that’s all you need, and quoting a couple of scripture passages is not enough. If we are sharing a principle to put into practice and we are not willing to lift a finger to help them, or worse to not put it into practice ourselves, we do more damage than if we said nothing.

Jesus calls us this Lent, and everyday, to resist judging and condemning, to love our enemies, to be forgiving, and merciful. Powerful actions to live up to and even a heavier lift than the laws of the Pharisees. To say that the bar Jesus sets is high is an understatement, and yet, the One who calls us to follow them, lived them out perfectly. We not only learn about the life and teachings of Jesus but even more importantly, when we pray with, meditate upon, contemplate, and then seek to put into action his teachings, Jesus empowers and assists us to live them out. Apart from him we will not be able to carry out one of his commands, with him all things are possible.

Even when our leaders fall, we need to remain in the Church. Nor can we use poor leadership as an excuse not to be willing to see where we sin and seek to improve. When we miss the mark, let us be humble, ask Jesus for forgiveness, and his help to continue forward step by step. From our own experiences of falling down and getting back up, we are better able to help others. The most important guidance we can give anyone is to help them to encounter and experience Jesus for themselves. Even when we fall, they will still have Jesus as their ultimate guide. We can hold each other accountable and help each other as we continue our journey through this life side by side.

————————————–

Photo: Mosaic of Jesus the Pantocrator offering his blessing in the cathedral in Cefalu, Sicily, Italy.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, March 3, 2026

The antidote to division and polarization? Jesus commands us to be merciful, forgiving, and giving.

Polarization, division, and finger-pointing appear to continue to be the order of the day on the national level. Unfortunately, it is taking a firmer hold at the community and familial level and has crept into the Church as well. Instead of entering into and embracing the blame game, may we instead look in the mirror and honestly assess how we may contribute to division and isolation. The good news is that we have founding motto that we can aspire to; In the United States of America – E Pluribus Unum – Out of Many One and put into practice the words of Jesus’ prayer request to his Father – “That they may all be one” (John 17:21).

It is important to take a step back, take a breath or two or three, and examine our conscience and honestly acknowledge how we are contributing to the divisiveness and polarization through our own thoughts, words, and actions. Then we will be in a better position to act instead of react. We can disagree and offer different points of view and seek different approaches to solve problems respectfully when we are willing to engage in dialogue and collaboration instead of forcing or seeking to prove our own point.

Let leads us back to the basics of Jesus’ teachings and we are given another good one today:

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36)

Mercy, from the Hebrew word chesed, meaning to show tender compassion, can help us to turn the momentum away from disunity and polarization and toward respecting the gift of our diversity while at the same time embracing our unity.  Fr. James Keenan, S.J. defines mercy as the willingness to enter into the chaos of another. Instead of imposing our point of view, mercy is the willingness to draw close with a posture of seeking to understand someone. Instead of keeping someone at a distance, reducing them to a caricature, seeking to prove someone wrong, and/or prejudging or labeling, we can instead make a concerted effort to understand, to listen, to seek common ground, and to seek the best in each other.

When we aspire to be merciful we lead with listening, asking questions to seek clarification and better understanding. A merciful perspective even seeks to assess thoughtfully the underlying point of what has been said, even when the message conveyed is emotionally charged, derogatory, and/or inflammatory. There may be some truth in the maelstrom of what has been spewed.

This is why Jesus also encourages us to stop judging and condemning. We are limited by our own finite natures as it is. We are limited also by our own wounds, defensive mechanisms, and knee-jerk responses. We are not God and are not capable of fully reading the heart of another person.

In most cases, we do not know another’s struggles, anxieties, fears, traumas, and experiences. When encountering each another and we notice the anxiety, stress, or fear beginning to rise, it is important to resist slipping into a fight or flight response. We do so when we intentionally breathe, invite Jesus to filter our thoughts, breathe more, and listen more. When allowing someone to vent without taking offense, the person has a chance of feeling heard. Instead of escalating the situation, by not reacting, we can help to bring calm and peace. It is also helpful to let go the need to want to fix the problem at hand.

Jesus commands us to forgive. As God forgives us we are also to forgive others, to let go of grudges. Not to do so means allowing the poison injected to spread. The one who has wounded us has walked away and when we are not willing to forgive, we choose to continue to allow the harm that was inflicted to continue to fester. The antidote is forgiveness. When we forgive, we don’t condone the harm done, nor keep ourselves in harm’s way. When we forgive, we heal.

It is much easier to stay in our shell or bubble. We feel protected and safe so no one can hurt us, but that is not the posture Jesus would have us assume. In doing so, we remain focused on our self. Staying in our bubble suffocates us, stunts our growth, and limits our potential as human beings created in the image and likeness of God. Jesus calls us, not to constrict, to cave in upon ourselves, but to expand, to go out from ourselves, to be agents of love and mercy.

Each moment we have a choice. We can withdraw, remain indifferent, judge, and condemn. Each of these choices contributes to isolation, division, and polarization. We can also follow Jesus’ invitation to seek to be merciful, forgiving, and giving. These choices contribute to building relationships, communion, and unity. In our willingness to forgive, we will promote healing and invite others to forgive and heal. Let us choose in this moment to invite the Holy Spirit to expand our hearts and minds that we may become more understanding, forgiving, and merciful just as our heavenly continues to be with us.

——————————————————————————

Image: Pope St. John Paul II living Jesus’ teaching of forgiveness in his meeting with the man who shot him, Mehmet Ali Agca – ARTURO MARI/AFP/Getty Images

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, March 2, 2026

“Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” Really? Yeap.

“You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father” (Mt 5:43-45). With these words, Jesus continues to raise the bar of discipleship and outlines what the pursuit of love truly is.

The command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us is challenging today, but we may be a bit removed from the original power of those words. The inference that Jesus was making to his listener’s was that their enemies and those who were persecuting them, were the soldiers of the Roman imperial that were occupying Israel. Though we can still relate, and also be shocked by it and think that this command is impossible. And that is just the point. Apart from Jesus and our relationship and the transformation of our hearts and minds through our discipleship with Jesus, there is no way we are going to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

One reason is that for us our definition of love is limited to the romantic, emotional, sensual, or mere sentimental. It can also be reduced to the mere sublime of loving ketchup or mustard on a hot dog, loving our cat or dog, or even at best getting closer to what Jesus is talking about when we love the members of our families or close friends. But all of these perspectives of love would not make sense in the context of Jesus’ command.

The bond of friendship and family goes beyond mere attraction and is built through shared interests and experiences. Through sharing our lives with others, working through conflicts, trust is built, and relationships will hopefully grow and deepen. Jesus, though, is calling us to mature in our growth of loving even beyond friendship or familial ties. If we love those who willingly love us in return, greet only our brothers and sisters (if we actually get along with them, blessed that I get along with my sister ;)), only those in our clique, group, tribe, or political party, what is the recompense or satisfaction in that? Agape, in Greek, loving without conditions, with little or no chance of mutual exchange, is what Jesus is calling us to strive for.

Many of us could not conceive of loving our enemy or someone who is persecuting us, because we have, minimally only experienced doing no overt harm to others and at best, loved our friends and family. But do we risk going outside of our group, our like-minded safety net? Life is hard enough and it is often safer, we believe, not to take the risk. We continue to operate from a concept of love as an emotion or feeling, because it feels good. We want to be happy and feel good. We avoid suffering at all costs.

Jesus challenged “his disciples to love and pray for the very people who occupy their land, tax them heavily, and treat them with violence and injustice” (Mitch and Sri, 100). How could they love the Roman occupiers? How can we love, those that we feel in some form or fashion in a similar way? St. Thomas Aquinas can be of help. He defined the love that Jesus describes as willing the good of the other as other. We make an act of the will, a free choice to accept the person as they are, to see them, not from our limited finite perspective but as God sees them, as a person with dignity. Can we pray for, seek kinder thoughts and to be more understanding, be more patient, and resist reacting in kind? Can we resist judging and labeling others?

On our own, we may not even conceive of the possibility, loving our enemies, but we can be assured that if Jesus has asked us to strive for this height and depth of love, he will provide the means. We love others unconditionally by allowing Jesus to love us. To breathe, receive, receive, and abide in his love, we experience his love. As we do so daily, we experience more of and are transformed by his love, and begin to allow God to love others through us.

We strive to reach the summit of loving our enemy only with the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus called his disciples and he calls us to “imitate God by being perfect in love… to reflect the Father’s perfect, committed, selfless, merciful love in their own lives… to go beyond external conformity to the requirements of the law and imitate the perfect love of the heavenly Father, who is love himself” (Mitch and Sri, 101).

Even when we fall short, how much better would our families, communities, countries and world be if we sought this goal? To counter divisiveness, fear, and hatred, we need to refuse to react and instead choose to engage in an act of the will to love one another as Jesus loves us. “Jesus summons us to a heavenly way of life; the saints show that it is possible to live this way on earth.” If the saints can love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them, then by following their example, and allowing ourselves to abide in God’s love as they did, then so can we.

Photo: Jesus lived his command of loving his enemies and praying for those who persecuted them most radically when while dying on the cross he asked his Father to “forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, February 28, 2026

Our words matter, and often they begin with our thoughts.

Jesus calls us to be holy, each and every one of us. Our life is to be lived with the end goal being heaven, to be in union with our loving God and Father for all eternity, and to assist others to do the same. Jesus provides for us a concrete example of the heights to which we are called to reach: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna” (5:21-22). Jesus is building on the Torah, the Law or the Teachings, by helping us to realize that we cannot only kill with weapons but also inflict dehumanizing and debilitating damage with our words.

To resist this temptation of inflicting mortal wounds, we need to start participating in a deeper examination of interior life which gets to the roots of our own thoughts, words, and actions. If we are not able to discipline our thoughts, what will follow is undisciplined words, and then undisciplined actions. This slippery slope can lead to entertaining and embracing the deadly sin of wrath. Wrath is unbridled anger that leads someone away from the capacity to think or behave in a rational manner, such that this individual would no longer acknowledge the dignity of the person they would inflict their wrath upon.

Jesus never settled for a minimalist approach to our faith. He consistently provides teaching, examples, and most importably the grace for us to see that we can be free of the temptation of wrath if we recognize the danger and destruction of unleashing words as weapons. Jesus the examples of calling someone, Raqa, meaning something along the lines of an air-head or an idiot, and calling someone a fool. These words directed at another have no other cause than to demean, degrade, belittle, and harm. This language, and worse, has no business coming out of the mouths of a disciple of Christ. If we are serious about being one of his followers, we need to make a decision regarding how we think, speak, and act.

I remember a moment in sixth or seventh grade letting loose a derogatory word or two toward a classmate. Even though they were tossed out in jest, I felt a sinking feeling in my gut. God convicted my heart in that graced moment and I felt contrition, actual sorrow for the negativity and poison I had unleashed. I remember making a commitment to myself not to speak that way toward another person again.

Our words have the power to wound or to heal. If we are serious about following Jesus, fasting from gossip and from words that belittle, divide, diminish, or dehumanize is a good practice to engage in this Lent. Jesus wants us to remove any and all obstacles that would prevent us from growing in his unconditional love for him and one another. Instead of hurtful, we can share words that empower, uplift, and comfort or at least listen more and speak less. Even when we disagree with another’s point of view, we can do so by still respecting the person and fostering dialogue.

We are to love, to will the good of each other, and pray for each other in all circumstances. In this way, our words will be kinder as we resist entertaining negative or dehumanizing thoughts. Our faces are good barometers. Even when we have defensive musings resulting from another’s disparaging tone, words, or actions, we need to resist entertaining them. When we are aware of and feel our own facial gestures, we can identify our mental reactions, and begin to breathe, pray to the Holy Spirit for understanding, pray for the person, and if necessary hold each other accountable with boundaries and respect. Just this shift in attitude can make a big difference.

—————————————————————

Photo: May God bless you with a peaceful mind and heart this day that you can share with others. If you need to clear your head from some anxiety or frustration, a nice walk may help!

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, March 27, 2026

As the sun offers us warmth, God seeks to bless us.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Mt 7:7). If taken in a purely secular, non-religious, or non-biblical sense, and out of context, this teaching of Jesus from his Sermon on the Mount may not seem possible. Someone might think can I really ask for anything and God will give it to me? Too many people have thought just that had their faith has weakened or left behind because they asked something of God and from their perspective, they did not receive what they asked for.

To understand this verse we need to understand a few key points. One is that God is God and we are not. That means that we do not have the full scope and sequence of God’s infinite viewpoint. We can only see from our limited and often times wounded perspective. Our God, who is Good, will only give us that which is good for us. What we are asking for may appear to be good, but may not, in fact, be truly good, and/or in our best interest beyond the moment. If someone wants to say, well, I ought to be able to decide that!

That means they have missed the first point, God is God and we are not. God not only seeks to give us what is good, he knows what will truly make us happy and fulfilled even when we don’t. God sees the very depths of the truth of our deepest desires, we often do not and often times are seeking things in the attempt to receive what we think we want, when in fact, the very seeking of the apparent good(s) we are seeking are keeping us from he very thing that will fulfill us.

Another point that I have learned from Bishop Robert Barron is that “Your life is not about you.” We are created by God for a reason and a specific purpose. Our life is about fulfilling our role in God’s theodrama. The context of this verse is best understood by reading in conjunction with when Jesus stated, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). As we seek first his kingdom and our place and part to play our collaborative role with him, we can be assured he will answer us, we will find our place, and the door of the kingdom will be opened for us.

We are not the director in the great play of life, God is, but we do have a unique and significant part to play. That is good news! Meaning, joy, and fulfillment are experienced when we understand that God does not need us but desires us to share in his work of salvation history. This a wonderful truth we would do well to ponder. The other side of the coin for those of us who may not be seeking finite pursuits, but God’s will… this may seem a bit intimidating. We can be confident though that what God requires of us, he will give us the means and support necessary to fulfill the work he invites us to partake in. The last line of today’s gospel, expressing the Golden Rule, is no throw away line. The words express why God calls us and it echoes Jesus’ greatest commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

C.S. Lewis can also help us to understand our posture of prayer: “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.” When we pray with the intent to bend God’s will toward ours we will find frustration each time. We pray because we are answering God’s invitation to spend time with him. We pray not because God is dependent on us to do so, but because we are dependent on him for everything.

We are transformed by God’s love and his grace builds upon our nature when we begin our prayer with the truth that God is God and we are not and that our life is not about us. We will know God better, not as a philosophical idea, but instead as a person. In knowing God better, we grow in our love for him and want to follow his will and serve him. When we know, love, and serve God, we will change. Such change may sometimes not appear to be in our best interest. We like stability and safety, which is good. Where we want to place our safety and security though is not in the things of this world, but in God and the things of heaven.

When we approach prayer seeking not our’s but our Father’s will, we can be confident that we will grow in our relationship with him and that what we ask of God will be given to us, what we seek we will find, and when we knock, the door will be open. “The Father wants to give all who will ask, seek, and knock the blessings that will enable his will to be realized on earth as it is in heaven” (Mitch and Sri, 117). We are invited to be agents to share in the promise of this wonderful gift of participating in the emergence of a new heaven and a new earth.

—————————————————————–

Photo: Receiving the light of Jesus during prayer before morning Mass.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, February 26, 2026

Greater than Solomon and Jonah.

There is something greater here! Something greater than the wisdom of Solomon and something greater than the preaching of Jonah. Someone greater than the kings and the prophets who went before. Jesus.

We are called to live our faith out in Jesus daily. This is not a part-time vocation. We all have a unique gift in the dignity we have been conceived and born with. We have a unique way to express and live out our dignity as well. We have been created in the image of God, but through sin, we have lost our likeness to him. We are tempted, misdirected, distracted, and diverted from experiencing God’s love for us and plan for our lives and this can lead us away from God. The further away from God we are the more our likeness to him diminishes. Jesus calls us back to spend time with his and our Father so that we can be forgiven, healed. As we do so and grow in our relationship with him, our likeness is restored more and more.

As Jesus taught, often in his parables, the kingdom of Heaven on earth starts small, like a mustard seed, like yeast, and develops slowly when nurtured. Lent is a good time to slow down, step back, take a retreat even while in the midst of our everyday activities. We just need to insert some intentional and dedicated time to spend with God alone each day. In doing so, we will better come to know him, his word, and guidance.

One of the reasons we may feel a bit restless is that we are engaged in activities in our lives that miss the mark of who we were created for. We are missing the relationship with God that he is inviting us to participate in because we are allowing ourselves to be distracted and too busy to see where we have been led astray. The sign of Jonah that Jesus offers us is repentance. The whole of Nineveh repented even though Jonah was hoping that they would not. He hoped they would be punished by God! Jesus seeks our repentance, our willingness to turn back to see the open arms of our God and Father wide open ready to receive us, to lead us back to the truth of who we are as his beloved daughter or son.

If you are feeling a bit restless, on edge, or out of sync, I invite you to make some time to be still and breathe, this can be while in the shower, when you have some breakfast, a morning walk, or taking a sip of coffee or tea. During this time ask God for some guidance. We can ask him to help us see those areas that we need to repent from and let go of, those thoughts, words, and actions that keep us distracted, redirected, and off-kilter as to who God is calling us to be. We can then confess to him and receive his forgiveness and reconciliation.

God invites us to create times of silence to sit with our wounds and traumas. Many times we do not want to be still or quiet because there may be unresolved issues, hurts, and/or pain that we would rather not face. We may believe the lie that if we allow ourselves to feel what is deep down there, that we will be completely undone. God is present and waiting, inviting us to come to experience acceptance and love as we are, to feel safe, and honest. From this place of vulnerability, we begin with simple steps of trusting in Jesus and his healing.

Jesus said in today’s Gospel that, “There is something greater here.” Christianity is not a secret sect. We are called to share the joy, the forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation we experience from God with others, even with, as Jonah found out, our enemies. We are to look for opportunities to offer a smile, an encouraging word, to reach out to someone we have been meaning to connect with for a while, in person or far away, and/or someone that we may sense just needs a listening ear. We can also can ask for God’s patience so that we may react less and become more understanding and present. There may be places we are hurting and this is true for so many others.

Lent can be a joyful time when we enter into the season with the intent to deepen our walk with the One who is wiser than Solomon and preached repentance and reconciliation. With our hearts and minds turned back and open to God, Lent will not so much be a drudgery to endure, but a joyful embrace of the opportunity for experiencing a change of mind more open to dialogue, forgiveness, healing, sharing joy, reconciliation, and contributing to building up the kingdom of God one healing at a time! Hurt people can hurt people, and hurt people can also experience the healing of Jesus and become people who are healing and willing to help heal people.

———————————————————-

Photo: Who is greater than the One who is willing to give his life for us and seeks our healing and redemption? Quiet time of prayer in the Cathedral of St. Ignatius of Loyola after Bishop Manuel DeJesus Rodriguez’s ordination.

link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Jesus taught John, the Our Father. John taught it, and it has been learned and prayed in every generation since.

Jesus begins his teaching on prayer by stating that prayer is not babbling. We are to resist just saying empty words that have no meaning or worse just praying in words that we think God wants us to hear. Prayer is to come from our hearts. We are to share honestly what we truly think and feel in the moment that we turn our hearts and minds up to God.

Prayer, first and foremost, is a response to the Holy Spirit moving within us, urging us to pray, “for we do not know how to pray as we ought” (cf. Romans 8:26). It is helpful to trust that invitation and allow ourselves to be in his presence in the chaos as well as in the joys in our lives. If we are upset with God, it is important to get in touch with that feeling and share that emotion with him. As we do so and get it out, it is just as important to be still and remain for a time, and listen for God’s response. To vent and walk away or tune God out is not helpful or giving him the opportunity to provide healing.

Even if we do walk away from him, our Father will not walk away from us. He will be there ready and willing to accompany us when we are ready to return, share again, and are willing to be still and listen. A good example of this type of open and honest prayer from the heart will be found in reading the psalms. They cover the full range of our human emotions as well as expressions of prayers of blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise. We will even come across one like Psalm 88, which may not appeal to us at the moment, as it is such a psalm of despair, yet someone, somewhere, might be feeling that prayer. If we read it and find as we do so that we don’t relate to it, we can pray it for others who may be experiencing those emotions.

In our Gospel today, we read Matthew’s familiar version of the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father. It presents two ways to pray. First, it is a rote prayer that we memorize word for word. The blessing of a rote prayer is that we can pray it in communion with others, as we all know the same words. Another important gift of rote prayers is that we can pray them when we are physically in pain or emotionally distraught when we feel we can’t pray.

Jesus taught his disciples this prayer and it has been prayed daily since then up to and including this moment. That is an amazing reality, that we can pray today the same prayer that Jesus taught his disciples (Different language, yes, but the same prayer.). It is a prayer we can lean on to give us strength through the storms of our lives. Praying the Our Father gives us the words to speak when we have none to begin with, and by loosening our tongues, we can come to a place where we can speak more freely with God, who as Jesus shares is our Father, and experience the peace of his presence.

The Lord’s Prayer is also a model of prayer such that each word or phrase can be a starting point to enter into a deeper and loving dialogue. There are seven petitions throughout and as with the ten commandments have a similar pattern in that the first three petitions are directed toward our relationship with God. The next four have to do with our relationship with others. As an example, we begin with the words, “Our Father.” This is a reminder that God is the Father of us all and the beginning of all prayer. His sun shines on the good and the bad alike. Our prayer begins by putting our self in his presence and recognizing that we are all interconnected.

God, our Father, is with us even when we experience fear, sorrow, feel forgotten, misunderstood, or alone. We just need to remember to turn to him. Our every desire to pray is already a prayer because we are responding to his invitation to spend time exclusively with him. In turning to him, we experience that he is always present and he hasn’t forsaken us. He provides our daily bread and forgives us as we forgive others. God also rejoices with us, for the joy of God is the human being fully alive!

Carve out some time today to pray the Our Father s-l-o-w-l-y. Take some slow and deliberate breaths, five seconds in and five out. Allow whatever is going on in your life to enter into the recitation and remember that the best dialogue allows each party involved to spend some time listening to the other. As St Mother Teresa taught, “God speaks in the silence of our hearts.”

By pausing, being still, and not rushing these words, and then listening silently at the end of the verbal prayer, we can enter into that time of quiet to be still and listen. Doing so we will experience his love for us, better know our Father, his will, and begin to experience his peace and rest. Learning to listen to God who we can’t see might also help us to listen to each other who we can see.

—————————————————————

Photo: Jesus taught John the apostle the Our Father. It worked out pretty well for him, may we follow his lead!

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, February 24, 2026

5:1 + 5 Finger Gospel = Loving Jesus and our neighbors as ourselves.

Our readings today help us with one of the pillars of Lent. Almsgiving. We can give alms monetarily as well as through our thoughts, words, and actions. How we treat each other matters. How we speak to each other or about each other matters. Even how we think about each other matters. Not only do our actions come from our thoughts but we also project them out to others whether we are aware or not that we are doing so. When we are able to be more intentional regarding how we think, we can be more aware of our actions. We really do not have to immediately react in situations independently or with others. We can first take a few deep breaths, think, and seek some guidance from the Holy Spirit before we entertain a thought, speak what is moving from our mind to our lips or leading to an action. We can discern how what we are about to do will affect ourselves and others around us.

One way to go a little deeper and more discernment about what we think and say into practice is to follow the psychologist, Dr. John Gottman’s 5:1 principle. When you think a negative thought about someone and before you share that thought, think and write down five affirming thoughts about that person. Many times we will find that by the time that we get to the fifth affirmation we will have forgotten the negative quip that sought the light of day.

Jesus is very clear in today’s Gospel from Matthew, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:45). All of us are interconnected. What we do to one another affects everyone. Jesus is very clear that what we do or do not do to each other we do to Jesus. It would be very helpful for us then to get to know Jesus. One way is to continue to read the daily Gospel offered to us each day or read them at our own pace. The Gospels reveal to us Jesus’ words, teachings, life, ministry, and actions. A daily, prayerful and meditative reading helps us to not just know about him but to know Jesus.

In meditating on today’s gospel account, Jesus helps us also to know that we will come to know him better in serving one another. For as we do or do not do, we will come to know or not know Jesus better. When we throw a stone into the middle of a pond, the ripples of the water circle out to touch the bank and go even beyond what we see. When we think a thought, offer or withhold an action, speak or not speak, this same ripple effect happens.

When we give into cynicism, apathy, or disinterest regarding the needs of another, we are cutting ourselves off from Jesus. These ripples of inaction have a negative effect that ripples out. When we are moved by the Holy Spirit to reach out to help someone in need, to be more understanding, kind, and willing to move beyond our insecurities, prejudices, and biases; when we do listen, risk, and move out toward another in love by willing another’s good, and put Jesus’ teachings into practice, we begin the healing of our relationship with God, ourselves, and each other. We will then love our neighbor as ourselves as we received from Leviticus 19:18 in the first reading. We can certainly experience a few more of these ripples!

St. Mother Teresa loved her neighbors radically well by putting into practice what she called her Five Finger Gospel, which is a summary of Matthew today’s gospel. She taught each person in her order and anyone she had the opportunity to pass it on to that each finger on her hand represented the words: “You – did – it – to – me.” When we entertain a thought today, are about to form a word, and are about to follow through on an action, may we first take a breath, ask Jesus to guide us, and then look at the five fingers of our hand before following through. Would we continue to think the thought, say the word, or follow through on the action if Jesus was in front of us? Because he is. For what we do to each other, we do it to Jesus.

———————————————————————————–

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” We can too!(Photo credit: Getty images)

Dr. John Gottman’s 5:1 principle I learned from Dr. Arthur Brooks’s discussion with Bishop Robert Barron through the Word on Fire Institute. To watch Dr. Brooks talk on loving our enemies and to consider becoming a member of the Institute: wordonfire.institute/bishop-barron-presents-nov-2019/

Link for St Mother Teresa sharing her five finger gospel starts about 30 seconds in:

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, February 23, 2026

We can be tempted, and with Jesus we can resist and remain faithful to God.

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil (Mt 4:1). As Adam and Eve were tempted, so Jesus experienced the temptations of Satan, the serpent, the father of lies, the accuser, the slanderer. Satan and his demons seek division and we dismiss the reality of their presence at great risk. On the other hand, we often give them more power than they deserve. Jesus was tempted directly by Satan himself, but unlike Adam and Eve, he did not succumb. Jesus remained grounded in the will of his Father, in the knowledge of his Sonship, and this is why Satan had no power over or was able to sway him.

Jesus could have dismissed Satan, yet he endured his temptation to teach us “how to triumph over temptation” (St Augustine 1976, 87). By our baptism and calling on the name of Jesus, we to will overcome Satan. The weakest Christian is more powerful than Satan because he or she  can call on the name of Jesus. This is not some magic incantation, but when we call on the name of Jesus, he, in the fullness of his humanity and his divinity, is present with us. God has given Jesus the name above every other name so that as his word is spoken, every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth (cf. Philippians 2:9-10). Just as a floodlight shines in the darkness, the darkness gives way to the light. This is even truer with Jesus. Where Jesus is present there is love, such that no fear or evil can remain.

I had a dream some time ago, some decades have passed since, but it is still just as vivid. I was sitting on a couch on the first floor of a house. The scene shifted as I witnessed myself from above sitting on the same couch and then my view was redirected to the attic. I spied a misshapen, dark figure rummaging through old boxes and newspapers. Typing this, I can still hear the rustling in my ears. This figure embodied pure evil. I was petrified as I felt the depth of evil present and then I was back in my body, sitting on the couch, and I knew this creature was now moving out of the attic and coming down the stairs to the room I was sitting in. My heart was pounding as I heard its steps drawing closer. I was frozen in fear. In a few more moments, he came into view. What I saw was not the misshapen figure in the attic, but a well groomed man. As he continued closer my fear increased, I knew he was the same creature, and I was afraid he was going to touch me. Then a hymn came to mind. He stopped the moment I began to sing, my fear began to dissipate, and I woke up.

Evil tends to present itself as an apparent good, as normal, and appears safe. Otherwise, we would reject the temptation outright. Satan and his demons are active through whispers and nudges, they look for our weaknesses and through the same tactics as peer pressure, seek to inject their poison and manipulate our actions. I am not talking about possession here, I am just talking about their divisive influence. The most dangerous evil is the one masked in faith. Someone who can speak the verses of a Bible and quote chapter and verse does not a Christian make. The devil can do the same thing as we saw in today’s Gospel from Matthew when he tempted Jesus to throw himself down from the parapet of the temple.

To call on Jesus through his name is one thing. To know Jesus is not just a historical figure of the past, to know and to build our relationship with him is a different matter. As I shared, calling on the name is no incantation to ward off evil. When we call his name, we invite him to be with us. The more we do so, the more we recognize that he is already here, just waiting for us to invite him to help, to guide, to expel Satan and his minions from our midst.

This Lent we are invited daily to examine our conscience and assess honestly who we are serving. As with the Parable of the Talents, we cannot sit on our hands and do nothing like the wicked servant. That is the most effective tool Satan has, that he can influence us to do nothing, to be indifferent in the face of the dehumanization of the person in all of its forms. Another horror is when we rationalize what we know is unacceptable in ourselves as well as others, such as giving in to the temptations of gossip, prejudicial, and/or divisive talk, that lead to actions, such as the centurions who placed a robe and crown of thorns on the bloody, scourged body of Jesus and mocked him.

May we see this icon of Jesus, scourged, bloody, wearing a crown of thorns, and mocked in our minds eye whenever we are tempted to or justify anyone who would, even in the smallest of ways, belittle, demean or degrade the dignity of another person, through thoughts, words, and/or actions. We need to remember St. Mother Teresa’s Five Finger Gospel – “You-Did-It-To-Me”: what we do to the least among us, we do it to Jesus (cf. Mt 25:35-45).

We need to resist the temptation of beating ourselves up when we have sinned, when we have forgotten the truth that we are God’s beloved daughters and sons. Beating ourselves up is a lie. May even appear good, but doing so keeps the focus on us not God. We are still caved in upon ourselves instead of opening up to the love and forgiveness of God and one another. God does not define us by our sin and our worst mistakes. As Pope Francis has said, God never tires of forgiving us, we tire of asking for forgiveness.

Jesus shows us the way to defend ourselves against Satan’s temptations. When we are tempted with disordered pleasures, let us fast, for: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” When we are tempted with pride, a disordered self-love, putting ourselves in the place of God, let us not put “the Lord, your God, to the test” but instead pray and trust in Jesus. When we are tempted with grasping for possessions, seeking happiness in them, remember we do not worship things: “The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.” Let us give alms to release our attachments to the material.

We need to assess our day, our thoughts, actions, and words with the Holy Spirit honestly and humbly. Thank God and be grateful when we have chosen to follow Jesus, and acknowledge and repent when we have placed ourselves or something or someone else before Jesus or given into temptations of the enemy. We leave less room for the enticements and temptations of Satan when we seek our security not in ourselves, but in our relationship with Jesus. This Lent let us fast to free ourselves from disordered pleasures, pray to turn away from pride and back to God, and give alms to trust in God alone so not to be possessed by the things of this world.

———————————————————————-

Photo: Quiet moments like these helps us to breathe, pray, and remember who we are and whose we are.

Quote from St. Augustine in The Liturgy of the Hours. New York: The Catholic Publishing Co., 1976.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, February 22, 2026