prayer

Let us take up our cross and walk into the light of Jesus.

Jesus said to his disciples, all who could hear him, and his words have rippled out to his disciples in each successive generation up today: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23). We can best take up our cross daily by putting into practice the three pillars of Lent offered yesterday, which are almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. These disciplines aid us in resisting the temptations from those substitutes that we can place before God, seeking our fulfillment, stability, and security in power, pleasure, honor, and wealth apart from or instead of God. We can also allow ourselves to be tempted to stray from the guidance of the 10 Commandments as well as succumb to the root causes of all our sins found in the six capital or deadly sins: Avarice or greed, and some would include sorrow as another capital sin, envy, pride, wrath or anger, lust, gluttony, and sloth.

Giving ourselves some time to be still and to breathe deeply is a good, intentional action to begin Lent. It is important to make such a simple practice of recollection a daily routine. From this place of letting go and just stopping from everything else, of choosing to make time to spend with God alone, we can then pray about how we can put these pillars of Lent into practice for these next forty days. If forty days are too much, think about the next week, or even just how we can put one, two, or all three into practice today.

As we make steps to slow down and be still, we will also need to be aware of our own resistance. To be more aware of our sinful inclination to be indifferent or fearful of being present to those in need in our realm of influence is also helpful. Praying and seeking the help of God to give us the discernment and the eyes to see who among us are in need, the courage to act and to give of ourselves to others can also be a good start. This is how we will be moved to acts of almsgiving with our time, talent, and treasure.

Returning to prayer throughout the day will help to establish a habit of prayer. This often is accomplished best when we schedule set times to read, meditate, pray, and contemplate on the readings of Lent, to be still and rest in the Lord before the Eucharist in adoration or present in the tabernacle, pray the rosary, walk or sit among the beauty of God’s creation, and/or spend some quiet time reading a spiritual book, or the life of a saint. It is also good to just be silent and still. While at work, it can be as simple as stopping for a few moments at set times, say each hour, to stretch, take a breath, and repeat a verse or short prayer, such as, “God come to my assistance, Lord make haste to help me.” When we are feeling tired, instead of constantly saying, “Im so tired.”, ask God for strength to continue and the guidance to be sure to get the proper rest.

Each day it is helpful to evaluate what we consume, what time and energy we expend, and discern what we can fast from. We can identify what foods aren’t healthy for us, what activities that we can let go of so we can devote more time to practices that empower, encourage, and lift up others as well as ourselves. We can fast from thinking, speaking, or acting in any way that is judgmental, unkind, belittling, or demeaning.

When we put something in place that will help build a foundation for a closer walk with Jesus like reading the Bible, spending time in prayer, walking outside, taking a course online or in person, spending time in silence, we have to take something out of our lives. May we take something away that would lead us astray. Jesus guides us to take up his cross and follow him. Doing so helps us to discipline ourselves so that we will be transformed and freed from that which seeks to enslaves us.

We take up our cross when we make time to pray, to be still, and follow God’s lead. We take up our cross when we fast from any negative, demeaning, or derogatory thoughts, words, and actions and replace them with thinking, speaking, and acting in ways that bring hope, encouragement, and life. We take up our cross when we embrace opportunities to give of our time, talent, and treasure to build up and serve others in our realm of influence. Let us take up our cross today and each day during this season of Lent and repent, to turn away from sin and turn back to God, so to know better the One who died on the cross for us, the One who gave his life for us that we might restore our relationship with our God and Father and experience the love of the Holy Spirit!

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Photo: One way to take up our cross is to turn away from our phone, getting lost in anxious thoughts, or looking down at the ground, and instead look up to the glory happening above! Doing so yesterday morning on the way to 8:00 Mass! “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, February 19, 2026

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the way to become less so God can be more in our lives.

In our Gospel reading from Matthew today, Jesus presents us with the three pillars of Lent: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. With each pillar, he cautions his disciples to resist the temptation of engaging in these spiritual practices so that the focus is on them. Also, each spiritual practice is to not lead to accolades for their efforts.

We, like Jesus’ disciples then, are to embrace the purpose of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting which is to grow in our relationship with God. That means we are to become less and the Trinity is to become more real and realized in our lives. Humility is the virtue that is the antidote to the capital sin of all capital sins – pride.

“Pride is undue self-esteem or self-love, which seeks attention and honor and sets oneself in competition with God” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Glossary/p. 895). We grow in a healthy sense of self when we rest in the truth that we are God’s children and experience his love. Pride is disordered when we seek to put ourself first before God and stand opposed to God, saying we know better than he does. We can do life on our own, thank you very much. When we set ourselves apart from God and seek to determine our own course we remove ourself from the protection and guidance of God and open ourselves up to the other capital sins such as anger/wrath, sloth, gluttony, lust, greed, and envy.

Each of these sins are considered capital in the tradition of the Church because they are at the root of all sins, all disordered affections that can lead us away from the true, the good, and the beautiful that God wants to share with us in our lives. The three pillars of Lent that Jesus shares with us helps us to identify and uncover these sins from our lives because all three help us to repent, to turn back to God by taking the focus off of ourselves and returning it back to God where it belongs.

When we make the time to pray, to slow down and allow ourselves to be loved by God, we will experience his peace and rest. We may also then get in touch with any unresolved issues, places in need of healing, that when left unidentified and denied, can lead to reactions and unintended outbursts. Prayer helps us to grow in the virtue of patience which counters the sin of anger.

Putting into action each of these pillars will help us to counter sloth which is more than physical laziness although our spiritual apathy can grow from physical laziness. Making a firm resolve to put into practice prayer, fasting, and almsgiving this Lent will help us to shake off the wet blanket of sloth. Fasting is the surest way to counter the sins of gluttony and lust which are both a disordering of our appetites for sensual pleasures. As we fast we will grow in the virtues of temperance and chastity. The practice of giving alms and willing the good of our neighbors counters the selfish grasping of greed and envy. When we practice being generous and kind and trust that God will truly provide for our every need, we will find less temptation to grasp and hold on and seek the downfall of others.

Jesus’ words help us to check in as we begin this Lent. Even if each Lent we have put into practice prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we need to take a deeper look at our motives. We give to others not “to win the praise of others”, not even to receive thanks, but specifically because another is in need. We pray, not “that others may see” us, to puff ourselves up, but to empty ourselves into the arms of our Father, recognizing how dependent on him we really are. We fast not “to look gloomy like the hypocrites”, so to draw attention to ourselves, but we fast to discipline ourselves from any unbridled passions and pleasures. We recognize that our discipline comes from acknowledging that apart from God we can do nothing and only with God that all things are possible.

Today as we receive our ashes, and even if there are those reading who do not (even if you are not Catholic, you may!), we are reminded that from dust we have come and to dust, we will return. We are created, finite beings, that are given a limited time to live our life on this earth. This is important to acknowledge so that we resist the temptation of taking our life, the gift of our time on this earth, for granted. We will enjoy our lives more if we are grateful for each moment, and don’t take ourselves too seriously.

We are also reminded to repent and believe in the Gospel. Jesus, can help us to recognize and be contrite for our sinful thoughts, words, and actions and reveal to us the empty promises of our distractions, diversions, and temptations. Through our participation in almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, we turn back to the source of our lives. We will experience and better identify our restlessness, and seek not satisfaction in the finite, material things that will not last, but come to recognize that our fulfillment comes only when we find our true rest in the One who has made us for himself, our loving God and Father who awaits us with arms wide open.

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Photo: “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” Me we all do so this Lent and come out holier than we enter!

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, February 18, 2026

May we guard ourselves against the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod.

Jesus convicted the Pharisees for demanding a sign and for their continued hardness of heart, their unwillingness to see and hear the work and presence of God right before them. He also saw the unsettling yeast of the Pharisees present in his own disciples. In today’s reading, Jesus seized on the opportunity of being together in the boat, Jesus seized on this teachable moment. He wanted to help the disciples of his inner circle to resist the same path of corruption when he enjoined them: “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” (Mk 8:15).

As has been their pattern, the disciples missed the point as they focused on the literal reality that they only had one loaf of bread among them. Jesus was not, as they thought, taking them to task for not thinking ahead to bring enough bread. He had twice now multiplied minimal amounts of bread to feed thousands. One loaf with them would not have been an issue. He was more concerned about them falling into the danger of pride, seeking honor, power, and fame which had lead many of the Pharisees and Herod astray. To be his followers, striving to place themselves first would be not only the undoing of each of them but also undermine the authenticity of the Gospel message they were to proclaim and affect those they would be charged to care for.

Unfortunately, too many have not heeded the lesson that Jesus offered in today’s Gospel to his disciples regarding being aware of the corrupting leaven of many of the Pharisees and Herod. Just as the effects of original sin has wounded humanity, so it has also affected those in the Church. Throughout the ages, clergy and laity alike have succumbed to the temptations of placing our needs before and focusing on ourselves instead of God and who he calls us to serve. The curving in upon ourselves and the hardening of our hearts, close us off to the love of God and the reality of the truth that we can be in relationship with him, this truth that Jesus came to bring.

Yet throughout the worst corruptions and abuses, the Church remains. God continues to work through many who are faithful, like Mary his mother, and say “yes” to his invitation and follow his will in simple ways, living lives of quiet prayer, worship, and giving of themselves in acts of service daily. It is unfortunate that there are those who leave because they see hypocrisy, injustice, abuse, and corruption. For it is those with eyes to see and ears to hear that need to stay and be faithful witnesses to the call of the one true Bread from Heaven.

We must remain persistent and lean on Jesus to give us the strength and clarity on how best to seek healing for ourselves and proceed to help to heal his wounded Body. We also need to be aware of the sinful leaven that would seek to undo each of us. It is easy to point fingers. We will be on stable footing when we seek forgiveness, healing, transformation, and guidance from Jesus and choose to place God primary before any self-serving pursuits. Doing so will help us to live simple and holy lives of loving God, our neighbors, and ourselves.

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Photo: Daily prayer and meditation, pondering the word of God, participating in the sacraments, and opening our hearts and minds to God’s guidance will help us to resist the spiritual leaven of hypocrisy, sin, and the hardening of our hearts.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Giving ourselves the time to pray, to breathe, and be still, helps us to be loved so to love.

There is a danger when we read a comment from Scripture such as when Jesus, “cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons” (Mk 1:34). The danger is that we may not believe we are capable of healing as Jesus did, so we don’t do anything active with our faith. We also might think that Jesus is divine, so of course, there is no way we can measure up to what he has done. An even less helpful line of thought would be to disbelieve that the healings of Jesus happened at all, they were all made up, and that they never really happened.

Another challenge can be pride. We may want to heal like Jesus, for the purpose of our own aggrandizement, so people look at us, not God. That was the sin of Simon the magician, who saw the Apostles healing, just as Jesus had, and offered payment for the power to accomplish the same (cf. Acts 8:9-25). Along the same line is wanting to do something grandiose, something beyond our own unique gift and charism, again so the focus is placed on us.

A more helpful perspective is ponder about the truth that Jesus had a specific mission to accomplish, and yes he is divine, but, as I have shared often and the Church maintains, Jesus is also fully human. He had a specific mission from his Father, he gave a specific mission to his Apostles, and his Father has a specific mission for each and every one of us as well. Jesus himself proclaimed: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father” (Jn 14:12). Not only works as Jesus did, but even greater ones! Jesus knows the plan God has for our life, the part we are to play, and he will share it with us and empower us with that which we need to accomplish it.

We all have the capacity to provide God’s healing presence to others. God works through us when we embrace the love of the Holy Spirit and are conformed by it such that we come to know how God wants us to love and be present. There is some way for all of us to contribute. Throughout the Bible there are accounts of how God invites others to service, each in very small and humble ways – Jesus himself began his days on this earth wrapped in swaddling clothes, in a feeding trough, as vulnerable and humble a beginning as there can be. He then lived the next thirty years in obscurity until his public ministry began.

We need to resist the temptation to limit and define Jesus, but instead embrace the gift of a “sitting theology” in which we allow ourselves to look at Jesus, take him in, for he is “infinite Love incarnate” (Barron). Then to place ourselves before Jesus and allow him to expand us so that we can receive his revelation and guidance and come to know the mission God has planned for us. We also need to be willing to allow his Spirit to work through us.

Then as we go about our lives each day, we become contemplatives in action. We take time away to pray as Jesus did, listen for his guidance, and be open to the experiences that arise. Facing opportunities and interruptions in which we can be present to another with a smile, an active listening ear, and a helping hand, leads to more joy. In each small act, we say yes to God’s invitation, are present and accompany others by our willingness to love as he has loved us. Small acts of presence and willing each other’s good, leads to healing.

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Photo: Jesus often went off to a deserted place to pray, who better to teach us how to do the same. Some quiet time with Jesus to end the day back at USML.

The thought of a sitting theology comes from Bishop Robert Barron Lesson 5 lecture that he gave on Hans Urs von Balthasar from his Word on Fire Institute. To learn more about the WOFI and what it offers, type the following link into your web browser: https://wordonfire.institute

Link to the Mass readings for Wednesday, January 14, 2025

In loving our brothers and sisters, we are loving Christ who gave his life for us.

He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21).

Jesus spoke these words to his hometown congregation in Nazareth who had just heard him read the passage from the writings of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus proclaimed that he was the one to whom Isaiah was talking about. Luke chose to highlight this event as the starting point of Jesus’ public ministry, of bringing glad tidings to the poor, proclaiming liberty to the captives, recovering sight to the blind, letting the oppressed go free, and proclaiming a year acceptable to the Lord (Lk 4:18-19).

This message of universal healing, restoration, and reconciliation for all people would be an aspect of the mission of Jesus. He presented the message that he would be the vehicle to bring the love and redemptive work of his Father to all the nations, to invite all people to be aware of the reality present to them: that God his Father is inviting all into communion and relationship with him. The poor mentioned were not just in reference to those experiencing material poverty, but also to those finding themselves on the margins of society, the outcasts, those on the peripheries. The captives were not only those imprisoned for debts or crimes but those bound in the chains of their own sin and addiction. The blind were not only those who could not physically see but those who experienced the spiritual blindness of pride and arrogance. The oppressed were not just those under the iron fist of totalitarian and dictatorial regimes, but those pressed down through their own anxieties and fears.

In what ways are we in need of Jesus’ teaching, healing, and restorative power? What is keeping us on the peripheries, apart from communion and fellowship? What sins, disordered affections, and/or addictions, fears, anxieties, distractions, and/or diversions keep us bound? What is keeping us blind to the reality that God is in our midst and seeking a deeper relationship with us? Today we hear or read again Jesus’ words proclaimed in the Gospel. Jesus invites us to be healed and to align ourselves with his will and ministry of loving service.

It is a good practice to ponder the same words that Jesus spoke to the people of his own hometown. Are we willing to listen? Will we hold on to our biases and prejudices, to our tribe, nation, political party at the cost of losing our integrity, reason, and dignity? Or can the words of Jesus be a light for us to see our fallen nature? Resisting the temptation to turn away from but instead allowing the light of Jesus to shine into our darkness opens us to the gift of our uniqueness, the richness of our humanity, and that we are all interconnected.

The Psalmist stated that, “From fraud and violence he will redeem them” (Psalm 72:14) and John wrote, “whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). Pondering these words from today’s readings gives us an opportunity to begin again. Allowing ourselves to be loved by God who loves us more than we can imagine and has a plan for us beyond our wildest imagination offers so much hope. We receive this gift, when we give ourselves time to experience what we thankful for, admit our sins and turn to God with a contrite, sorrowful heart for what we have done and what we have failed to do.

As we do so, we are more able to experience the healing hands of Jesus on our bowed heads and receive the warmth of his forgiveness and love pouring through us as we are purged from our sin and pride. Then, in recognition of how much suffering and pain is present in our country and world, we can open our hearts and minds to the guidance of the Holy Spirit to participate with him in choosing love over hate, bringing the invitation of healing and reconciliation to others, and committing to bringing about “a year acceptable to the Lord” in this new year of 2026 (Lk 4:19).

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Photo: Prayerful walk after lunch on the grounds of USML.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, January 9, 2025

God is inviting us to experience some silent moments to pray.

And when he had taken leave of them, he went off to the mountain to pray (Mk 6:46). We often read in the Gospels that Jesus went off by himself to pray. I am sure this was not a practice that he just began during his public ministry, but one that he learned and developed from Mary and Joseph. The Apostles themselves witnessed Jesus praying, and how God was primary in his life.

Pope Leo during a Sunday homily on July 20, 2025 shared, “Our relationship with God comes first… we should set aside moments of silence, moments of prayer, times in which, quieting noise and distractions, we recollect ourselves before God in simplicity of heart. This is a dimension of the Christian life that we particularly need to recover today, both as a value for individuals and communities, and as a prophetic sign for our times. We must make room for silence, for listening to the Father who speaks and ‘sees in secret’” (Mt 6:6).

Jesus prayed, he taught his Apostles to pray, and we are at our best when we are people of prayer. We become people who pray when we are willing to make friends with silence. When we show up intentionally to spend time with God, our lives begin to change. That we even desire to pray, that we even want to be closer to God, is already a prayer because we are experiencing an invitation from God to draw close to him, to develop a relationship with him, to come to know the one who knows us better than we know our self.

Fr. William Barry in his book, God and You, describes how prayer is becoming consciously aware of our relationship with God. “God is in relationship with each and every created thing in the universe and in relationship to the whole of it… whether that being is aware of the relationship or not.” The amazing thing about God is that “he will not force himself on us. He continually tries to arouse our awareness and interest in him” (Barry 1987, 12-13).

God reaches out to us in so many ways such as a majestic sunrise or sunset, the ebb and flow of the waves on a beach, and the brilliant radiance of a starlit sky. He also does so through our trials of sickness, pain, others who are being hurt, or encountering injustice. He is also present through our every day relationships and experiences. The key is to be aware of what is being stirred up within us when we experience something and allow ourselves to “wonder about the experience and its meaning” (Barry, 13).

What is most important regarding becoming people of prayer is our awareness, our becoming conscious that we have a relationship with God who is not an idea but a person. “This relationship is based on God’s actions to establish it and his desire that we become conscious of who he is and wants to be for us. Our consciousness depends on our willingness to pay attention to God’s actions, or at least to experiences that might be actions of God, and to let our desires for God be aroused” (Barry, 14).

Another question that Fr. Barry answers regarding prayer is that if God knows everything about us, why bother to pray at all? God is not just wanting information. Again, he is inviting us to enter into a relationship. He wants to know whether we believe he cares how we feel and whether we are willing to let him in, to let him know what we feel and desire. It is important to be honest in our dialogue and be willing to reveal ourselves to God, while at the same time, be open and willing to allow him to reveal himself to us. This is how we build authentic relationships with God and each other (cf. Barry, 15).

Jesus, thank you for inviting us in so many small ways each day to spend time with you. Though we can allow our harried pace, distractions, diversions, temptations, and/or pain to lead us away from the gift of your presence, please help us to slow down, to breathe, rest, and abide in the wonder of how our God and Father is present, and how the love of the Holy Spirit is working in our lives daily. Help us to realize that we don’t need to be perfect to come to you, to say the right words to be heard by you, nor that we have to say any word at all, and help us to be free to show up, rest in your loving gaze, and be with you and go from there.

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Photo: Moments when we are touched by beauty and stop, are accepted invitations to pray.

Barry, William A. S.J. God and You: Prayer as a Personal Relationship by William Barry SJ. New York: Paulist Press, 1987.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, January 7, 2025

Theotokos! – We are invited to ponder.

Mary offers us a wonderful gift through the words of Luke as we begin the new year together. “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). Gabriel shares with Mary that she will conceive a child through the power of the Holy Spirit. Her relative Elizabeth, past childbearing years, is six months pregnant when Mary and Elizabeth meet. In their encounter, John leaps in the womb of Elizabeth. The shepherds convey the message they received from the angels that Mary’s baby is the long-awaited Messiah. Simeon and Anna offer prophetic confirmation that Jesus is the Messiah.

These are the events we have been hearing or reading about again during Advent and this Christmas Octave. May we, like Mary, also ponder them, not to just read or listen and move on. The Church at her best has followed the model of Mary’s reflection, pondering, and meditating upon what these words mean and has come to call this day the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. This title says more about Jesus than it does about Mary. This is the teaching that the Church Fathers confirmed during the council of Ephesus in 431 AD:

Mary is the Mother of God, in Greek – Theotokos – the God-bearer.

From the pondering of Paul we receive his words, “God sent forth his Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). Paul did not say, born of man and woman but of a woman. The second Person of the Trinity was sent by his Father through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and was conceived in the womb of Mary. Jesus is the Son of God in his divinity and the son of Mary in his humanity. He remained fully divine as the second Person of the Trinity and the Holy Trinity was not diminished in any way as he developed as a human being in the womb and was born of Mary. This truth and reality is the Mystery of the hypostatic union: Jesus is one divine person subsisting in two natures the human and divine.

Theological insights such as Mary being the Mother of God and the hypostatic union of Jesus, are easily missed or worse dismissed if we conform ourselves to the present age of instant gratification, instant access, surfing, swiping, absorbing sound bites from social media platforms and amassing information overload. These technological avenues along with the growing influence of AI can be one more distraction, diversion, and temptation that can lead to horrific outcomes or if we slow down, discern well and allow ourselves to think critically and prudently, we can experience some benefits.

If we still read books, do we do so with pencil and highlighter in hand, take notes and go back to those points underlined, highlighted, and/or annotated and ponder the insights we have received, and then put them into practice? Or do we just have a moment of pause and say hmm, interesting, and then move on to the next page, paragraph, and book, seeking more?

Let us begin the first day of the new year by taking a few deep breaths, allow ourselves to stop before getting back on the roller coaster of chaos and chronic stress, and allow ourselves to follow Mary’s guidance, and ponder. We can reflect on a word, a phrase, or a short statement that we write down and return to it often. The phrase could be as simple as a paraphrase from today’s reading: Mary pondered these things in her heart.

We can ponder a mystery of Scripture that touched us at some point in our lives and see what the deeper relevance to our lives God has invited us to experience when he moved our hearts and minds to carry this memory. We can go to today’s reading, read it again a few times and allow the Holy Spirit to overshadow us so that Jesus made be revealed present and comfortable awaiting our waking to his presence.

This reality can be deepened by meditating on one word such as: Theotokos, expressing the truth that Mary is the God-bearer, the Mother of God, and what that means to us. How can we be Theotokos? We can meditate on a picture like the one I posted with this reflection, one you may have on the wall or a precious moment on your phone or a dusty untouched photo album.

If we seek to live a life of joy, fulfillment, and meaning in 2026, we would do well to follow Mary. Following her lead would entail pondering more, slowing down, and reflecting on life, on what is important, what has value, where we are putting our time, energy, and effort, and recognizing where we do not follow God and where we do welcome God into our lives. We can reflect upon where we resist and where we follow his will.

Reflecting upon our lives helps us to move away from the automatic pilot of survival mode and experience more intention and agency. Otherwise, we may allow ourselves to float along through another year indecisively or stagnantly with indifference or cynicism, merely reacting to situations that arise, or just plodding along in survival mode or merely bored and listless. Being still can be scary because as we do so, our fears, our past hurts, and our loneliness can come to the surface.

If so, that is a gift. We are human and in experiencing our emotions, we can heal. When we experience them with Jesus whose celebration of his incarnation we have been experiencing, then there is a path lit by the light of his love that reveals a way where in the past we thought there was no way, no hope. In an intentional act of slowing down and even coming to a complete stop, the Holy Spirit can overshadow us in these very real emotions with his love, so we can begin to heal and transform beyond merely existing and set a healthier course of being more alive and grateful for the gift of our lives.

Hand in hand with Jesus and Mary, we can face and embrace our fears, and heal from our wounds. Surrendering and conforming our lives more to the life and love of Jesus, we will realize that we are not alone, and so can build more authentic and intimate relationships. We can act more decisively and with greater clarity, and experience more fully what we are here for, to bring a little more tenderness, mercy, understanding, forgiveness, and love to the many others around us who are also wounded.

May 2026 be a wonderful new year of healing, joy, and fulfillment, as we, like Mary, come to experience God’s presence in the silence of our hearts, his love that he seeks to embrace us with, so that we may become a people of faith, hope, and love in contemplation and action. Mary Mother of God, pray for us.

Here is a blessing to receive and ponder for us all for today and each day of this year. May “the LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!” (See Numbers 6:24-26)

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Photo: My favorite icon of Jesus and Mary, St. Mary’s Chapel, St Vincent DePaul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, where I was blessed to spend many hours reading, pondering, mediating, praying, and healing.

Link for the Mass readings for January 1, 2026

Let us ponder Mary’s, “Yes.”

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her (Lk 1:38).

Whether this is the first or thousandth time we have read or heard this verse, the more important question for us is how many times have we said to God, “May it be done to me according to your word”? How would it be for us to begin each day with this prayer and then at the end of the day reflect on how well we have heard and answered yes to God’s will?

Mary’s “yes” changed the course of human history. Her willingness to bear the Son of God allowed him to come close. He entered our wounded, human condition to offer us healing, forgiveness, and to lead us home to communion with his Father and each other. Jesus is the gift that keeps giving – and we receive his gift each time we, as did Mary, say, “Yes.” When we do so, we become less, as he becomes more, and the kingdom of God continues to expand.

Along with Mary, the “yes” that we make is not a one-time, “yes,” but we are to affirm a daily, moment by moment “yes”. As St Paul wrote to the Church of Thessalonica, we are to: “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 16-17). We are able to rejoice always and pray without ceasing when we say, “yes,” to God by developing and sustaining our relationship with him such that even when we experience pain, suffering, and struggles, we are not overcome or overwhelmed. When we allow Jesus to be close, we can even feel joy in the midst of whatever arises. He does not abandon us to random fate. He is our source, our refuge, and our strength, present to us in all that we experience.

Our prayers of petition for ourselves and intercession for others are another “yes” to God’s will because they are an “admission of one’s own helplessness” (Lohfink 2014, 240). Prayer is a, “no,” to pride. We cannot get through this life on our own, nor are we meant to, for apart from God we can do nothing. We are all interconnected and interdependent and God is the foundation and source of our very being, and with God all things are possible.

Our willingness to ask for help and to help others are also practical ways of saying “yes” to God. There is no such thing as a “Lone Ranger Christian”. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. Two by two, just as Jesus sent his disciples. Prayer is a “yes” to our acknowledgment that we need Jesus to guide and help us, also to save us from ourselves! Service is a “yes” to the love we have received from him and a willingness to share this love with and receive it from others.

Let us rejoice as we are readying to begin this fourth week of Advent because we are drawing ever closer to celebrating the birth of Jesus who is Emmanuel, God with us. Let not the busyness of the preparations and plans impede the invitation to experience God’s love in our time of meditation, prayer and serving one another. This reality is made possible because of the handmaid of the Lord.

Painting: “The Annunciation” by Ossawa Tanner

Lohfink, Gerhard. No Irrelevant Jesus: On Jesus and the Church Today. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, December 20, 2025

“Jesus who is called Messiah” will light our way through the homestretch of Advent.

Today in the liturgical calendar of the church we begin the nine days before Christmas as we do each year with Matthew’s account of the genealogy of Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, is fully divine, while at the same time he is also fully human. Matthew gets us started in the home stretch with the lineage of Jesus’ human line from Abraham to his father Joseph (foster father, in that Joseph was not Jesus’ biological dad, but no one would not have made that distinction in Jesus’ time.) and his mother Mary.

Jesus was part of a people and a family, he was born at a particular time and in a particular place. If you go through this genealogy with a fine-tooth comb, there are gaps, but Matthew was more concerned with the line of faith than a strict historical account. Matthew also included women in this listing, which was not common in ancient patriarchal societies. This was also not common in ancient Jewish genealogies, “which traced lineage from father to son” (Mitch and Sri, 38). Looking at their stories in Scripture will also show that most listed were not the most morally upright, but more importantly, God was still able to work through this imperfect line of humanity and so the genealogy ends with, “Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called Messiah” (Mt 1:16).

Though Jesus was conceived in Mary who was a virgin and immaculately conceived, he came from a line that was far from perfect. As Catholics and Christians, this is our heritage as well. We are spiritual Semites. Genealogies have become more popular in recent years as can be seen by the different advertisements for DNA test kits. There is a natural instinct to reach out for these because we want to belong and to be a part of.

To understand who we are and where we have come from, and to continue forward, it is helpful to reach behind. Jesus belonged to the people of Judah. He is a part of the succession from Abraham and his clan, to the twelve tribes of Jacob, to the unified nation of Israel under David. That did not change even as the fall from grace beginning with David, continued with his son Solomon, and most of the other kings.

Joseph was the heir to the thrown that in this imperfect line of succession went underground when Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians. This promise of the return of the messiah, the king in the line of David remained even while under occupation for the next five hundred years under Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and at the time of Jesus’ birth, the Romans. When Joseph died, Jesus was next in line. Jesus’ leadership would become and continues like no other before him or that will ever come again. Jesus brought God’s movement of grace, the seeds of which were planted by some of the prophets like Isaiah, beyond the nation of Israel to fulfill the promise that they be a light to the nations, a universal invitation for all.

Another piece that a careful reading of the genealogy uncovers is that Jesus does not come from a purely Jewish lineage. As mentioned above, women were included in this list of ancestors. The common denominator of each of these four women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and most likely Bathsheba was that each of them were Gentiles. “Gentile blood flowed into the royal line of David. This underscores God’s concern for Gentiles, demonstrating that he brought them into the story of Israel even in the Old Testament” (Mitch and Sri, 39).

God’s invitation of relationship with him was intended from the beginning, and step by step through salvation history God continued to thirst for his children and sought to woo them back, drawing them with his tender chord of love. This would come to fruition in the incarnation. The Son of God became one with us in our imperfect and sinful human condition to set right a world that had gone wrong.

Through our Baptism, we become part of the royal lineage and line of Jesus. No blood test needed. We are not alone, no longer estranged, no longer separate, or on the peripheries. We belong to the Body of Christ. Yet many, even those who profess their belief in Christ, are missing his greatest gift of faith, which is developing a relationship with him now. Let us not be complacent and settle for Christian in name only or walk away from our birthright.

In these final days of Advent, may we set aside a little more time to spend with Jesus. As our schedule revs up, may we bring Jesus into our busy. The Son was willing to draw close to us in the incarnation that we are about to celebrate, let us draw close to him. We all have the same amount of time in our days. Deciding to set aside some time of quiet, to take some deep and slow breaths, and accept the invitation to draw close to Jesus who is at hand will help us to engage better with the time we have and those walking with us.

Those brief moments are a powerful reset. In those moments of turning our hearts and minds to Jesus, we can receive the rest and renewal we desperately need. We can receive his love and invite him to walk with us in all that we think, say, and do. We can yoke ourselves to Jesus so that we do not travel these days alone. Jesus is more than willing to share our burdens, and he will give us the strength to carry on.

By our baptism we are part of the royal line of Jesus. More importantly, Jesus is present in each moment. We just need to remember to turn to him. Each intentional, deep breath will bring our shoulders out of our ears, help us to react less, and experience greater clarity in our choices and decisions. We will also see each other a little different than before, with more understanding, patience, and love.

As we celebrate the birth of “Jesus who is called Messiah”, even in the imperfections and messy moments, Jesus’ light will shine through. We are invited this season to be the calm in the storm of the chaos. “Peace be still.”

Photo: In times of silence we will experience how close Jesus really is.

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

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, December 17, 2025

“Religious confession is no substitute for personal relationship with Jesus”.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21).

I have written quite often, quoting and paraphrasing one of my favorite quotes from St. Irenaeus, that Jesus came to be one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity. In his becoming one with us in our humanity he invites everyone, no one is excluded, to participate in his divinity. Yet if everyone is invited, how can Jesus say that not everyone will enter the Kingdom of heaven?

The answer to that question is in the line that follows. The one who will enter heaven is, “the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” If this verse does not help, then it might be helpful to understand a little about heaven, as best as we can, as the mere mortal, finite beings that we are.

Heaven is not so much a place but a state of being in relation to God, in which we are privileged to share communion and a deeper intimacy with God for all eternity. We will still not know everything about God because God is infinite and we will still be finite even in heaven. God is without limit, we are limited. We will never exhaust our relationship, never get bored with God.

Maybe a more three dimensional, an earthly example may be of help. If we were invited to play a sport, an instrument, or to act in a play, with the end goal being that we would play in the upcoming game, concert, or performance, we might feel pretty excited about the offer. We tell the coach, conductor, or director “That’s great news!” Yet, in the days that follow, we do not attend any of the practices, we do not practice the skills required to play the position, instrument, or role and we do not return any of the follow-up invitations by phone, email, or text. The day of the big game, concert, or performance comes, we gather our self together and head on over to the arena or hall. We arrive to see the coach, conductor, or director but are denied entrance. We might say, “I don’t understand, you invited us to play!” The reply is, “Not everyone who says to me coach, coach (conductor, conductor, or director, director) is ready and prepared.”

Jesus invites us to play a part in God’s theodrama, everyone. Some say yes and some say no. Some say yes, and then don’t put into practice what is then asked, some say yes and do some things, some say yes and dive in. Most of us take a few steps forward and a step or two back. Just like preparing to play in a big game or perform in a big concert, or play, we need to be committed, disciplined, and persistent. Unlike a missed opportunity to participate in a game or performance, that we can correct and make another attempt down the road, we don’t want to miss the opportunity to spend eternity with God in heaven.

The above analogy does not imply in any way that we earn our way into heaven, or we can do so on our own effort and will power. The bottom line is that Jesus gave his life for all of us and through his grace, we have been saved. Our salvation is a gift freely given. Yet, we have to be willing to receive and open the gift. Our time here on earth is the time we are given to: open the gift we have received, work out our salvation, not just hear but to also put into practice Jesus’ teachings, and be about building our relationship with him. As we do so, we will be transformed by and conformed to Jesus, so that we can come to know his Father as he does, and then we can reflect the light and love we have received to others.

It is not enough to say that we believe in Jesus. “Religious confession is no substitute for personal relationship with Jesus and the obligation to obey his Father’s will. If our creed and our conduct are out of alignment, then our profession of Jesus as Lord is not a true submission to his lordship. The mere fact that believers can perform miracles in Jesus’ name, which is an exercise in charismatic grace, is no proof that sanctifying grace has penetrated their lives or brought them closer to Christ” (Mitch and Sri, 121).

If we want to know and put into practice God’s will, we need to know God. Advent is a time of preparation, a time of getting to know Jesus who is already with us and inviting us to let him have reign of every part of our lives. Jesus helps us to recognize and see what our lives are like without God and how they are with God. If we are willing to see, that clarity helps us to better choose our thoughts, words, and actions.

When we are humble enough to acknowledge ways that weaken our relationship with God, we can then repent and seek forgiveness. God never tires of forgiving us. Let us never tire of asking for forgiveness and committing more to knowing and putting into practice his will. Each time we seek and receive forgiveness, our minds and hearts are not only expanded but properly aligned to Jesus so that we may experience more of the love of the Holy Spirit, which helps our relationship to grow and to put into practice our Father’s will.

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Photo: “Prayer can truly change your life, for it turns your attention away from yourself and directs your mind and your heart towards the Lord.” – St. John Paul II

Spiritual Stepping Stones