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Posts Tagged ‘god’

Encouragement to Keep Going, Even When the Way Forward Is Unclear

Posted in Easter, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Readings for May 4, 2025:

All in one place:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050425.cfm

In the context of each Bible book:

  1. Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41
  2. Psalm 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13
  3. Revelation 5:11-14
  4. John 21:1-19 

What stands out to me from this week’s readings:

In the gospel for May 4, Jesus calls the apostles, including Peter, “children” (John 21:5) as if they are elementary school students, and he’s the teacher. In the previous chapter, he called them “brothers” (John 20:17). What’s the reason for the difference? Well, maybe this video reflection with Jeff Cavins and Jonathan Roumie provides an answer. In going fishing, the apostles try to go back to where they started, as if they haven’t seen the empty tomb, as if they haven’t seen Jesus alive at least twice.

What I’m saying about the readings:

So if you still struggle to have faith and hope, if you’re tempted to give up, if it’s ever taken you a lot of study and a lot of mistakes before you learned or accepted something, you’re in the company of the apostles in the Gospel passage for May 4. And you haven’t seen Jesus the way they do in the passages that come before this one.

What someone else is saying about this week’s readings:

Jenny Jackson poses to us the question Jesus poses to Peter in the Gospel for May 4. I need time to reflect on the answer to this question. I trust that taking this time will allow the Holy Spirit to give to me what Jenny Jackson wanted during the time she describes in her reflection. Okay, so I don’t entirely trust, but I trust enough to declare my intention of trusting, of being open.

What I’m saying that doesn’t have to do with the readings:

As I’ve written so often here, I may not post next week. In fact, unless something surprising happens, I won’t. I feel like I’m just going through the motions on this blog lately. I do want to acknowledge that going through the motions when one doesn’t feel like it often has value. It builds perseverance. And I believe in a God who works behind the scenes and under the surfaces of life.

But I also read on another blog recently about prioritizing quality over quantity. That’s what I want to do. I’m seeing that the post on this blog that gets the most views is one that when I wrote it, I felt I had an insight to share that I wasn’t seeing in a lot of other places. Most weeks, I don’t feel that way. Most of my posts get one or two views.

Writing this blog has helped me appreciate in a new way the work that preachers and spiritual writers do. It’s quite a challenge to keep stories and messages that are so familiar feeling fresh and resonant. The challenge feels like an even greater one to face every week, as so many spiritual leaders do.

Now I’ve never published this blog to get followers or to go viral. I’ve always said that if what I write here resonates with one other person, it’s worth doing. And sometimes it has helped me feel like I’m getting my perspective out there in a world where it feels like homilies mainly have non-disabled married people with kids and without mental health struggles as their target audience. Other times, I’ve felt sure that despite my original vision for this blog, I’m not reaching spiritual seekers who may feel invisible in many spiritual communities. I’ve felt like I’m not really engaging with the texts, not bringing myself as I am to them.

So what now? I’ll tell you what I’m not doing. I’m not deleting this blog. Therefore, if there are posts that resonate with you, I want to let you know they aren’t going anywhere. I’m just going to come back to this blog when I have something I really need to share. As I was bothered by something yesterday and praying this morning, I got a couple ideas for spiritual essays. I may develop these ideas at my own pace and share them here if and when I’m ready.

I plan to journal whenever I feel prompted to and not put any pressure on myself to share what I write in my journal. Maybe this low-pressure practice will also generate writing I want to share here.

This week’s prayer:

Come, Holy Spirit! Bring my heart to life with Your love. Help me recognize it everywhere. Show me how to use the gifts You gave me to share it. Amen.

Works cited:

Cavins, Jeff, and Johnathan Roumie. “Holy Land: Easter Sunday.” Hallow, 20 Apr. 2025, hallow.com/prayers/1077275/.

Jackson, Jenny. “Third Sunday of Easter: May 04, 2025.” Catholic Women Preach, FutureChurch, 2025, www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/05042025.

“Third Sunday of Easter — Lectionary: 48.” Daily Readings, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2nd typical ed, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050425.cfm.

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Who Are These People and What Are They Doing?

Posted in Lent, Palm Sunday, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Readings for April 13, 2025 — Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion:

All in one place:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041325.cfm

In the context of each Bible book:

  1. Luke 19:28-40
  2. Isaiah 50:4-7
  3. Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
  4. Philippians 2:6-11
  5. Luke 22:14—23:56

What I’m saying (about the readings and beyond) this week:

It’s daunting even considering writing a post about this week’s readings. They’re so well-known, and I’ve referred to events described this week in a general way in so many other posts. It’s hard to process the events described in them. It’s hard to take the events in on more than an intellectual level. I pray to be able to take some small part of them to heart.

What stands out to me from this week’s readings:

This week’s gospel recalls the past but signals the start of something new. To say that Christ’s Passion, the ultimate passage from the old to the new, will be painful is the epitome of an understatement. And yet it’s a passage that Christ and his disciples cannot avoid. It’s a passage filled with contrasts and contradictions, and it leads us to who Christ and his disciples are.

The following passages stand out to me:

[Peter] said to [Jesus], “Lord, I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you.” But he replied, “I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day, you will deny three times that you know me.”

Luke 22:33-34

[Jesus] said to the [apostles],
“When I sent you forth without a money bag or a sack or sandals,
were you in need of anything?”
“No, nothing, ” they replied.
He said to them,
“But now one who has a money bag should take it,
and likewise a sack . . . .
For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me,
namely, He was counted among the wicked;
and indeed what is written about me is coming to fulfillment.”

Luke 22:35-37


Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

Luke 22:48

When a maid saw him seated in the light,
she looked intently at him and said,
“This man too was with him.”
But he denied it saying,
“Woman, I do not know him.”

Luke 22:56-57

This week’s gospel also presents again and again questions related to identity.

The last quotation I included above is an exploration of both contradiction and identity. Here are some other explorations of identity that stand out to me:

“Blessed is the king who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest.”

Luke 19: 38

Then an argument broke out among them
about which of them should be regarded as the greatest.
[Jesus] said to them,
“The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them
and those in authority over them are addressed as ‘Benefactors’;
but among you it shall not be so.
Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest,
and the leader as the servant.

Luke 22:25-26

[The Sanhedrin] said, “If you are the Christ, tell us, “
but he replied to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe,
and if I question, you will not respond.
But from this time on the Son of Man will be seated
at the right hand of the power of God.”
They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”
He replied to them, “You say that I am.”

Luke 22:66-70

The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said,
“This man was innocent beyond doubt.”

Luke 23:47

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Anne Abrome, SSS presents the events of Holy Week as experiences that we go through with Christ and that Christ goes through with us.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, help us to remember Your presence in our joys and struggles this week. Grant us also the grace to experience Your joys and sorrows in our hearts. Help us to remember that the joys and sorrows of those around us are also Yours. Amen

Works cited:

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion Lectionary: 37 and 38.” Daily Readings, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2nd typical ed, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033025-YearC.cfm.

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Pondering What’s Left Unsaid

Posted in Lent, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

April 6, 2025 Readings All in One Place:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040625-YearC.cfm

Readings in the context of each Bible book:

  1. Isaiah 43:16-21
  2. Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6.
  3. Philippians 3:8-14
  4. John 8:1-11

What I’m saying (about the readings and beyond) this week:

I’d be a hypocrite if I wrote here as if the words of the epistle – any of them — could be my own. If there’s one thing it seems like I can never do, it’s “[forget] what lies behind [and strain] forward to what lies ahead” (Phil. 3:13).

So the approach I decided to take for this week is to focus on one passage. Meanwhile, the journaling prompts I responded to this morning me to consider my relationships. Wilderness asked me to return to the roots of what distorts my ability to reflect God. It prompted me to consider how those roots affect my relationships.

I responded that when I’m paralyzed and silenced by fear, I don’t give others the opportunity to receive grace from what I might contribute — regardless of whether my contribution is flawless. God is present in all circumstances, though two things are often true. The first is that God’s presence can be hard to recognize in the most painful circumstances. The second is that even if we recognize God in such circumstances, what we recognize may not take the form we’d like it to. We may not experience it in the way we’d like to.

When I’m paralyzed and silenced by fear, I also feel ashamed hypocritical, and frustrated by my invisible bindings, frustrated at not making myself seen and heard. I regret. Then I take my feelings out on the people around me, and the crack in the mirror through which I am meant to reflect gets God’s wider and longer.

What stands out to me from this week’s readings:

What stands out to me from this week’s readings is the gospel passage. What stands out to me within that passage is how little Jesus says to the woman who faces being stoned for being caught in adultery. I also notice how little the woman says to Jesus.

We also aren’t told whether Jesus knows that what the accusers say is true. We aren’t told that Jesus tells the woman he doesn’t condemn her because he knows she’ll heed his exhortation: “Go, and from now on do not sin any more” [sic] (John 8:11).

And yet we’re told elsewhere in Scripture Jesus knows things about people without those people revealing those things. The encounter with the woman at the well comes to mind as described in John 4:1-42. She tells everyone about him because, as she says, he “told [her] everything [she] [has] done (John 4:29). As is the case with the woman facing stoning, the text doesn’t tell us whether she ever went back to her previous life. Similarly, in the encounter in which Jesus promises to stay with the tax collector Zacchaeus, we don’t learn whether the tax collector keeps the promises he makes in public after he encounters Jesus (Luke 19:5).

But as I’ve written on this blog before, I heard somewhere that when a name is handed down through Scripture, it’s because the person was well-known to early Christians.

Fewer women are named in Scripture than men. But maybe the fact that the stories of the woman at the well and the woman caught in adultery have been handed down means that these women were well known within the Christian community.

Or maybe we have their stories, though not their names or more about what happened before or after these encounters because the primary lessons we’re meant to take from them aren’t meant to be based on what they do.

The story of the would-be stoning is as much about the men who threaten to inflict the punishment as it is about the woman who would have received it. After all, the passage tells us the authorities bring the women to Jesus because they want to “test him” (John 8:6). He takes this test as an opportunity to teach them about mercy.

The encounter takes me think of Luke 6: 41-42:

“Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.”

It also calls to mind a line from the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The key to not being condemned is not to condemn others. Even as I repeat this familiar message, it makes me ask questions:

  • How many cries for justice reveal not only the injustice that’s being called out but also the injustices committed by the person or people whose sense of justice has been violated?
  • How can I ask God for justice without condemning the person or people who participate in injustice?
  • How can I treat myself and others with compassion and humility without making excuses for the harm my choices and the choices of others may cause?

The limited instruction and the few words this passage contains are both an answer to this question and not very much of one. Maybe passages like this invite us to wrestle with the questions, to answer them as best we can and apply the answers as best we can to the situations we encounter. When, whether in the midst of reaching those answers or later on, we decide they’re unsatisfying, maybe recognizing our limitations and our dependence on God’s grace is all we can do.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

This week’s prayer:

Lord, help me to offer to others what I’d like to receive from you — forgiveness, understanding, and empathy. Amen

Works cited:

Garrett, Sr. Josephine. Wilderness Within. Kindle version, e-book ed., Ave Maria Press, 2024, A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.

“Fifth Sunday of Lent Year C— Lectionary: 36.” Daily Readings, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2nd typical ed, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025, https://bible.https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040625-YearC.cfm.

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Lost and Found in Scripture

Posted in Lent, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Readings for March 30:

All in one place:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033025-YearC.cfm

In the context of each Bible book:

  1. Joshua 5:9a, 10-12
  2. Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
  3. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
  4. Luke 15:18

What stands out to me from this week’s readings:

At the end of the Old Testament reading, when manna is lost, “the yield of the land of Canaan” is gained (Josh. 5-12).

In the epistle, I read that:

“[W]hoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

In the gospel passage, the younger son begins by finding what he thinks he wants and losing the satisfaction he gets from it. He responds by recognizing what he has lost — the experience of belonging to a family and being provided for by his father — and seeking to find these experiences again.

The father begins the passage by losing the portion of his possessions that he gives to his younger son as well as losing the presence of the younger son himself. But he never stops longing for that presence or loving his son. He rejoices in the son’s presence again when the son heads back to the father’s house.

Ironically, once the younger son comes back to the father, the return reveals distance between the father and the older son. By reasoning with the older son, the father does his part to find what has been lost between him and his first son.

What I’m saying (about the readings and beyond) this week:

I was away from the blog and from my journaling practice last week. My first impulse was to try to catch up this week so that I would finish all the journaling books by Easter. But I quickly realized I was getting further and further behind and that catching up catching this week was not a realistic goal. I also realized that if I managed to catch up this week, I might not reap the benefits of the prompts. I’d be focused on checking them off my list rather than on reflecting on what they invite me to reflect on.

So now my goal is to journal in the morning before anyone else gets up, for however long that amount of time is each day. Using this approach, I’m setting the intention of writing through my journaling books to their end, no matter how long it takes me to get there. I hate even to write “get there” because I don’t want to think of journaling as something I need to get done. I want it to help me grow in my relationship with myself, with God, and in my relationships with others. This isn’t a desire for one season. It’s the quest of a lifetime. I’ve let go of one idea and taken hold of another — lost one idea and found another.

This week, Wilderness Within invited readers to consider what sins they find themselves confessing over and over. What are the roots of these sins? Sister Josephine Garrett encourages readers not to respond with what they think is the correct theological answer. Describe the roots in your own words (91).

Here’s how I’d describe the primary root of choices I regret making: fear of discomfort, fear of rejection, fear of being alone. Fear.

Garrett also asks readers to consider how they feel before and after they sin. My answers are helpless and trapped and hypocritical. These are the opposite of liberated, open, and honest.

As I write these words, I’ve been tempted to end this section with my paraphrase of the prompt, but that feels like letting the roots grow deeper so that you don’t worry about me, attack me, or reject me. And letting the roots grow deeper isn’t what I sense is best for any of my relationships.

Also as I write these words, I feel nudged to allow a more relaxed publication scheduled for posts on this blog. Taking into consideration other writing-related activities I feel called to, I will publish this post and future posts whenever I finish them. This will probably make the posts less timely. Maybe I can figure out ways to make them less time-sensitive. Now I’ve written similar things in these posts before, so we’ll see what approach I ease into as I let go of another one.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Sr. Lynn Marie Ralph, SBS, reimagines the “Parable of the Prodigal Son” as the “Parable of the Prodigal Daughter.”

This week’s prayer:

Lord, help me to discern what’s life-giving and lasting and to let go of what isn’t. Help me to seek and to find strength in you. Give me patience and perseverance amid the challenges of the moment. Help me to trust and to experience that You are the ultimate source of fulfillment. Help me to lay down fear and pick up faith. Amen.

Works cited:

Garrett, Sr. Josephine. Wilderness Within. Kindle version, e-book ed., Ave Maria Press, 2024, A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.

“Fourth Sunday of Lent Year C— Lectionary: 33.” Daily Readings, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2nd typical ed, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033025-YearC.cfm.

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God’s Trust and Care Helps Us Reflect It

Posted in Lent, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Readings for March 16 and 23, 2025

All in one place — well, two, for this post:

March 16:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031625.cfm

March 23:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032325-YearC.cfm

In the context of each Bible book:

March 16:

  1. Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
  2. Psalm 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14
  3. Philippians 3:17—4:1
  4. Luke 9:28b-36

March 23:

  1. Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
  2. Psalm 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14
  3. Philippians 3:17—4:1
  4. Luke 9:28b-36

What stands out to me from the readings for the next two weeks:

March 16th:

The Scripture passages for March 16th remind me that each of is born in a particular place and time. This was true for Abraham and Jesus as much as it’s true for each of us. Both Abraham and Jesus understood God had given them the earth’s resources to use wisely while they lived here. They also knew they belonged to God — not to God’s creation. Nothing created would offer lasting satisfaction. Only trusting in God would.

We, Abraham, Paul, and Jesus were given gifts to appreciate and work to do in the times and places we inhabit. In the course of our appreciation and our work, will get glimpses what lies beyond any time and place. As much as we might want to stay in these glimpses, we can’t hold onto them here, while we’re subject to the biological needs and psychological and spiritual pressures that tempt us.

Nevertheless, God invites us not to let these pressures dominate our lives. The March 16th readings promise that if we don’t give up on persevering in spite of these pressures, when we’re finished with life on earth, the challenges of that life won’t be able to keep us down. As the passage from Philippians says:

“[O]ur citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body  
by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself

Philippians 3:20-21

March 23rd

Our understandings of God are works in progress. So is our ability to reflect God’s image without distortion. No one can be sure how or how long God will work to refine each of our reflections. Therefore, this week’s readings urge us to open our hearts to God so that God can clean and repair the mirrors of our souls now. Bringing ourselves to God for this cleansing and repair is what will allow us to become, like God, eternal presence. Each of us needs to undergo God’s cleansing and repair again and again. No one else can undergo this process for us, and the process looks somewhat different for each person. Each of us can only encourage each other to place ourselves in the hands of the One who makes and remakes our mirrors, and we can consider how to avoid what scratches, cracks, and shatters them.

What I’m saying (about the readings and beyond) this week:

My journaling this week keeps bringing me back to the idea of trust. Going back to this idea suggests to me that a fruit of trust is being grounded in the present, not needing to escape it. Trust means recognizing what I have the power to change and having the courage to work on changing it. Trust means recognizing that making change happen is a process. It requires being intentional, falling short of the intention, and then being intentional again and again. Trust means not losing hope, not losing faith that change that God wills will happen. It also means recognizing what isn’t mine to change and handing all that over to God, trusting that in the end, justice and mercy triumph.

In writing all this, I don’t mean to suggest that I’ve taken all of it to heart and have found an unshakable peace. I wish. I’m merely in a place of reminding myself of my intention to trust.

What someone else is sharing about the readings for the next two weeks:

Mayella Vasquez’s reflection on the readings for March 16th reminds me that part of trusting is listening. Her reflection also makes me consider that the Transfiguration isn’t just something that Peter, James, John and Jesus experienced. It’s something each of us can experience again and again if we look and listen for it

As I prepare to publish this post on Sitting with the Sacred, there’s no reflection for March 23rd posted on the Catholic Women Preach website.

This week’s prayer:

The Serenity Prayer, and Mark 9:24

Scripture Translations Used:

“Second Sunday of Lent — Lectionary: 27.” Daily Readings, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2nd typical ed, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031625.cfm.

“Second Sunday of Lent Year C— Lectionary: 30.” Daily Readings, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2nd typical ed, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032325-YearC.cfm.

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Lenten Journaling Insights: Turning Toward God

Posted in Lent, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Readings for March 9, 2025:

All in one place:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030925.cfm

In the context of each Bible book:

  1. Deuteronomy 26:4-10
  2. Psalm 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15
  3. Romans 10:8-13
  4. Luke 4:1-13

What stands out to me from this week’s readings:

  • Most of the first reading is a reminder of how God led the people of Israel into the wilderness to deliver them from enslavement in Egypt. Moses reminds the people that because God freed them, everything they have comes from God. Therefore, a portion of whetver they have should be given back to God.
  • The verses from Psalm 91 provide further poetic reminders of God’s providence.
  • The epistle continues and expands theme from last week. Faith and the life that comes from it take root and grow in the heart.
  • In the Gospel passage, Jesus’ example teaches that life comes not from Him serving himself. Demonstrating power or sacrifice just for the sake of sacrifice or power isn’t holy. An offering made out of love is. It has much more potential to heal wounds.

What I’m saying (about the readings and beyond) this week:

It surprised me that God as provider and liberator stood out to me this week. As I got ready to draft this section, thinking about what had surprised me, I went back to the Gospel passage looking for the reference to angels ministering to Jesus. I thought that reference would be another lesson in God’s providence, and it is. But it’s not in this week’s gospel passage. It’s in Matthew 4:11, and it comes after the temptations. That chapter in Matthew begins telling us that “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil” (1). But the Luke passage begins with “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:1). This is Luke’s way of telling readers and hearers that the Son of God is not entering alone into an unfamiliar, harsh environment. He won’t face temptation without providence from God.

Thoughts on my Tuesday journaling experience:

Outside of this week’s readings, I’ve begun the journaling I wrote about in this section last week. A couple of the books, rightly, I think, invite their readers to start the process of using the book before Lent begins. Doing this has given me a deeper appreciation of what the upcoming season is really about. Prompts have gotten me thinking about what actually stands in the way of my relationship with God and with others. Hint: it isn’t chocolate, and it is in the game or a TV show. Prompts have made me want to get begin practices that I’ll (hopefully) continue through Easter and beyond.

Thoughts on my Wednesday journaling experience:

While the journaling prompts in each book is different, each one has tended to draw a similar answer out of me. That’s helpful. It clarifies what I see the need to surrender. It also highlights the areas of my life where I’m seeking renewal. Answering similar questions that are asked in different ways is also beneficial. It lets me see my answers in a different light each time I record them. Maybe recording the same ideas multiple times in different ways will help habits that are spiritually healthier stick.

I’m setting an intention this Lent to see the season or as a continual process of turning toward God rather than away from what is not God. Yes, turning toward one thing often requires turning away from another. However, my desire is to make the acts of turning toward awareness my emphasis.

Thoughts on my Thursday journaling experience:

Try to keep an open mind and heart. Leave room for adjusting your plans. Be careful about not letting your plans take over your life so that they work against their intended purpose. Be careful that your plans don’t take away from the good you are already doing before you began them.

Mindfulness is a lot harder to maintain than the avoidance of chocolate. Distractions are everywhere, all the time, and they aren’t just external. Recommitting to mindfulness is something that happens over and over again throughout the day. It’s not something a person “gets right.” Returning to mindfulness again and again makes sense for Lent. Practicing mindfulness is just that — practicing. Practicing it is like falling and getting up again and again.

Thoughts on my Friday journaling experience:

Silence isn’t always empty or quiet. It can be filled with presence and sounds I rarely notice — like a variety of bird songs.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Ana Gonzalez, OP relates this week’s readings to the suffering that goes on in the world around us. Her reflection reminds us of the spiritual purpose behind Lenten practices. They are meant to deepen our relationships with God. By doing so, they deepen our relationships with others.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, you did not make us to die in spiritual deserts. Help us not to wither this Lent but to grow instead. Help us to grow in relationship with you and in solidarity with others. Instill in us gratitude for the ways the natural world and spiritual realms provide for us.

Scripture translation used:

“First Sunday of Lent — Lectionary: 24.” Daily Readings, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2nd typical ed, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030925.cfm.

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Nourishing the Soul: Tending the Spiritual Orchard

Posted in Ordinary Time, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Readings for March 2, 2025:

All in one place:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030225.cfm

In the context of each Bible book:

  1. Sirach 27:4-7
  2. Psalm 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16
  3. 1 Corinthians 15:54-58
  4. Luke 6:39-45

What stands out to me from this week’s readings:

The Old Testament passage says to me that what a person says and does reveals what’s important to him or her. What a person does is even more revelatory than what she says. So is how a person responds to temptations and hardships.

The psalm passage says to me that to be just is to do more than praise God or say kind words to another person. It means rooting one’s perspective and actions in God. The first reading points to the potential for distance between appearance or words and what’s in a person’s heart. The psalm points to what results if there is no distance between what’s in the heart and the good a person speaks or shows to the world.

The epistle points to Christ and the Spirit that comes from Him as the relationship that closes the distance. God transforms hearts prone to frailty and wounded by sin through Christ. Christ transforms through the Spirit through day-to-day experiences, through sacraments, and by again and again, offering forgiveness for sins. His offering and act of solidarity on the cross makes it possible for us to receive all these other gifts. To paraphrase the last sentence of this week’s epistle, His giving of Himself in suffering, to the point of death, and beyond has the potential to make everything we do part of His healing mission. What we do becomes part of this mission when what we do is grounded in the Spirit He has given us to share with Him and with others.

But, the Gospel passage reminds us, we can share that Spirit only if we invite it to work in and through us again and again. We can help others see only if we allow the Spirit to help us see. The passage reinforces the message of the selection from the Old Testament. The effects of a person’s words and actions reveal a person’s true nature.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Sr. Quincy Howard shares with us a reflection on this week’s readings. Her words offer an eye-opening look at the ways we grow our food. I never realized how the taste of fruit has changed over time until I read her reflection. After describing farming methods, she uses them to examine how we tend our souls and the souls of others.

What I’m saying (about the readings and beyond) this week:

Well-known Scripture passages can become overly familiar. Passages Christians turn to during Lent and Easter are no exception to this tendency. So this Lent, I thought exploring different reading materials might be helpful. These could provide journaling prompts, meditations, and reflections. This approach might help me see familiar words in new ways.

I’ve looked at some options and haven’t settled on just one or even two. Besides, I’m hesitant to follow one collection of reflections too closely on this blog because I want to encourage you to look into the books yourself. I invite you to see which one, if any, deepens your perspective and your relationships with God and others. I’m thinking of pulling a bit of inspiration for my Lenten posts from this book, and a bit from that one. Here are the titles I’m considering journaling or meditating with, in case you’d like to follow along with me:

I’ve listed the books in no particular order, but so far, the last one on the list intrigues me the most because the author, Sr. Josephine Garrett, in addition to having a religious vocation, is a trained mental health professional. A sample I read indicates that she brings all facets of her vocation into the book’s meditations, reflections, and prompts. I plan to start Lent by looking into each book in the list above, but I have a feeling I’ll end up following along with just one or two.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, enlighten my heart so that what comes from it participates in building Your kingdom of love. Amen.

Scripture Passage Source:

“Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time — Lectionary: 84.” Daily Readings, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2nd typical ed, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030225.cfm.

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Lessons in Love and Mercy: Embracing Divine Kindness

Posted in Ordinary Time, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Readings for February 23, 2025:

All in one place:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022325.cfm

In Context:

  1. 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23
  2. Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13
  3. 1 Corinthians 15:45-49
  4. Luke 6:27-38

What’s the message I’m getting from this week’s readings:

. . . love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:35

What I’m saying (about the readings and beyond) this week:

To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.

Luke 6:29

This verse stands out to me because, as I read it, I can’t help but think how it can be misused. It can be interpreted as telling someone got to protect him or herself from abuse. But I don’t think this is the intended message. The verse I chose to highlight in the first section is the intended message.

In the New Testament, Jesus sometimes uses figurative language and even hyperbole to make a point. Remember the instruction in Matthew 18:9. It tells us to pluck an eye out if it causes us to sin. Do we really think Jesus wants us to do this? I don’t think so. The point of those verses is to tell us to avoid what we know isn’t good for ourselves, others, and for our relationship with God.

Other ways to express this week’s message might be: Don’t retaliate. Don’t take revenge. Don’t take advantage of others. Don’t be selfish. Taking any of this advice is different from accepting abuse. David had the opportunity to retaliate in this week’s first reading. He didn’t because he wasn’t being attacked. If he been under attack, he’d have been within his rights to protect himself. He could defend himself and/or remove himself from the situation. People have a right to defend themselves and other vulnerable people in their care who are in danger. They also have the right to remove themselves and others from such situations.

This week’s readings remind us again of the difference between wants and needs. They advise us not to withhold from someone something he or she needs because we want it.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Diana Macalintal’s reflection on the readings for February 23 is just what I need right now. I don’t think I’m alone in this assessment. She begins and ends her reflection with a personal story that involves her and her godson. I could picture the events unfolding as I read about them, and I found the little boy’s as well as Ms. Macalintal’s response so relatable. Click here to experience for yourself what I mean.

In Ms. Macalintal’s reflection, she also mentions details from the gospel accounts of Christ’s passion. These references remind me that I meant to wrestle with the events of the passion in the last section. I’ll just do that here instead of pretending I haven’t yet read her words.

So what do the events of Christ’s passion have to say about an individual who is having violence inflicted upon him? It’s an uncomfortable question because in the accounts of Jesus’ suffering and death, He doesn’t flee, and He doesn’t defend himself — not physically and not even verbally — at least not directly. I’m tempted to respond to these depictions with, “That’s because it was his mission and ministry to bear the consequences of our sins and weaknesses to the point of death so that these consequences might not have the final say in our lives and deaths. There’s only one Savior. To suffer and to die isn’t the mission of the rest of us.”

But isn’t it? At some point, in some way, just not in the same way Jesus did? No matter how much we try to avoid and resist it, life brings pain to us (along with pleasure) in many ways. Does this reality mean that to seek holiness is to seek pain? No, I think one understanding of what it means to be holy is to define it as being aware. To be holy means not pretending that what brings pain and what brings pleasure, what brings sorrow and what brings joy doesn’t exist. To be holy is to be awake, and to be awake is to be honest.

While I don’t have direct personal experience with the topic, it seems to me that forms of abuse are built on distorting who the people involved are. It seems to me that abusers operate under the illusion that they are entitled to more power than they actually are. It’s this sense of power that they crave. What gives them this sense power is making their victims believe their abusers have this power and making victims believe they deserve to be abused or that the abuse is somehow related to love.

In the passion accounts, Jesus never loses sight of who He is. He never agrees with what His abusers and attackers accuse Him of and say about Him. Rather, He asks His Father, to forgive them for what they do and for their blindness and ignorance as to what they are doing (Luke 23:34). He knows who really has the power during His crucifixion, even when he doesn’t feel that power accompanying him. Ultimately, He and the Father have that power.

When I think about the passion this way, I see it not as Him allowing himself to be robbed of his dignity and his life, but as Him giving us these two gifts freely. In His offering to us he shows the ultimate solidarity with every human frailty. He offers communion with Him to every human and to all of creation. I suppose having the freedom to do this is what gives Him the power to offer all the forms of surrender that Ms. Macalintal points to in her reflection.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, help us discern what we need and what we want we can better provide for others what they need. Also help us to pray for as we find it most difficult to pray for. Amen.

Scripture translation used:

“Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time — Lectionary: 81.” Daily Readings, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2nd typical ed, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022325.cfm.

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Four Perspectives on Encountering God

Posted in Ordinary Time, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Readings for February 9, 2025:

  1. Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
  2. Psalm 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8
  3. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 or 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 11
  4. Luke 5:1-11

What stands out to me from this week’s readings:

The following messages:

  • An encounter with God is more than reading about God or learning about God. An encounter with God is tangible. It’s personal and intimate.
  • An encounter with God changes how the person who has the encounter sees him or herself.
  • This new view of himself/herself and the tangible, personal encounter with God is uncomfortable, humbling and overwhelming. These feelings because the person to retreat and to cower.
  • God says, in different ways, “I don’t seek personal encounters with you just to make you uncomfortable. Take heart in My presence. Stand with me in this new perception of who you are. Let Me work through and in the midst of your anxieties and weaknesses. Let me heal your wounds and work through what you’ve learned from them. When you let Me, you can do for others what I do for you.”
  • God says, “If you’re having trouble encountering Me right now, look for those who have encountered Me. You’ll recognize the effects of those encounters. Companions changed by them will remind you of what you’re worth to me. I’ve died with you so you can live with Me.”

What I’m saying (to the readings and beyond) this week:

I had the most visceral reaction to the epistle for this week. It’s embarrassing to admit. Initially, I felt resistant to the passage. I didn’t know how to fit it into the theme I was discerning for this week’s post. The Old Testament passage and the Gospel passage describe profound, face-to-face encounters with God. We aren’t allowed as directly into such an encounter when we read the psalm excerpt. However, it seems to be the words of someone who has had a personal encounter with God. The narrator has experienced God’s providence.

Now St. Paul, the author of the letters to the Corinthians, has had this kind of encounter. But that blinding light through which Christ speaks is not what I read about in this week’s epistle. This passage isn’t where I can read about the details of that encounter. Instead, Paul mentions large number of people who encountered the risen Christ before he did. Then he points out that the risen Christ appeared to him last, “as to one born abnormally” (1 Cor. 15:8).

His assessment of himself bothered me. It’s one thing to feel humbled in the presence of God by becoming aware of the ways your choices fall short of self-giving love. But no one chooses when he or she is born. Why should characteristics a person doesn’t choose mean he or she is chosen last? I reminded myself that when the letter was written, perspectives on birth were very different. Views on disability and many other human experiences were also very different. Still, the phrase was jarring to read. What happened to “the last shall be first, and the first shall be last” (Matt. 20:16)? An answer to this question is that the verse from the Gospel of Matthew reflects a perspective gained later, from a memory recorded later. Matthew was written down after 1 Corinthians. But back to the passage from 1 Corinthians that we’re looking at this week.

The day after I first revisited the passage, I saw the note that accompanies 1 Corinthians 15:9. If I understand this note correctly, it says verses 8 and 9 reflect the attacks his opponents leveled at him. The note reminds me of an important question to ask when reading Scripture: how might the experiences of the human writer affect how the message is expressed? How might God work through the wounds revealed in the expression of the message?

Paul says he was chosen to be an apostle not thanks to his own merit but thanks to God’s grace. This message at the end of the passage means it actually does fit in with the theme I had discerned for the February 9 readings.

Nevertheless, in other ways it still doesn’t seem to fit as well as the other passages do. As I wrote above, the passage doesn’t include much of a recap of what Paul experienced on the road to Damascus. Instead, Paul says indirectly that happened. He says that because it happened, he came to believe and to preach what the other apostles had experienced with regard to Jesus’s resurrection. He seems to want the letter’s readers to persevere in faith based on his words and the words of the apostles. He seems to suggest that a personal encounter with God isn’t essential to a faith that perseveres in difficult times.

Or does he? He writes, “I am reminding you… of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand” [emphasis mine] (1 Cor. 15:1). I usually associate receiving with something concrete coming into my possession. I don’t usually associate it with merely hearing. “Receiving” suggests something sinking in, settling. To me, receiving implies more than intellectual acceptance. Furthermore, it’s hard to imagine “stand[ing] in” something merely heard from someone else, even if that something heard comes from people who say they actually saw it. Maybe he’s suggesting that the experiences he’s had and the ones that have been shared with him open the door for the Corinthians to have their own personal encounters with God’s grace.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Leah Sealey reflects on the readings for February 9, 2025. As she does so, she suggests ways to make encounters with Scripture personal encounters with God. Some of the approaches I’d heard of. Others I hadn’t, such as asking what a passage doesn’t say and imagining myself saying it to Jesus. Usually, I read the reflections from Catholic Women Preach after I’ve written the first section of that week’s post. But I wish I’d read Ms. Sealey’s reflection before I wrote my own this week.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, open the doors of my heart and soul to encounters with You. May I recognize encounters with others as encounters with You, and may others do the same when they meet me. Grant us the grace to experience encounters with You and with others as occasions to experience clarity and compassion. Amen.

Scripture Translation Used:

“Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time — Lectionary: 75.” Daily Readings, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2nd typical ed, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020925.cfm

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Finding Strength in Candlemas Scriptures

Posted in Feast of the Presentation, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Readings for February 2, 2024:

  1. Malachi 3:1–4
  2. Psalm 24:7, 8, 9, 10
  3. Hebrews 2:14–18 
  4. Luke 2:22–40

What stands out to me from this week’s readings:

For he is like the refiner’s fire,
or like the fuller’s lye. . . .
Refining them like gold or like silver
that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD

Malachi 3:2-3

Since the children share in blood and flesh, Jesus likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life.

Hebrews 2:14-15

. . . Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted  . . . .

Luke 2:33-34

She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

Luke 2:37-38

What I’m saying (to the readings and beyond) this week:

When I first revisited the Scripture passages for February 2, the first quotation brought to mind the Kelly Clarkson song “Stronger” (What Doesn’t Kill You).” I actually felt that since Jesus took away the fear of death, as the epistle says, what else did I really have to be afraid of? The things people say can’t kill me. Neither the mistakes I make nor their consequences can kill me either, if I trust in the Lord and learn from those mistakes.

I tend to respond in one of two ways when someone disagrees with me:

  • Someone’s criticizing me. I must be in the wrong. I need to do what the critic expects.
  • I’m doing what Simeon said the “sign that [would] be contradicted” wants me to do. That’s why I’m being criticized. The backlash is a good sign.

I think I tend to respond the first way more than the second. But option one might be more accurate in one situation, while option two might be more accurate in another. I find consolation in the message that it’s the [R]efiner’s fire that allows me to “make due sacrifice to the Lord,” to choose what’s right regardless of what others think of my choices (Mal. 3:3). My refinement isn’t finished yet, and that’s okay, as long as I stay open to being refined.

Then last night, anxiety caught up with me, as if to counteract the freedom I’d felt listening to “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).” Plenty of experiences don’t make me feel stronger or freer, even though they aren’t death.

I read in the Gospel passage for February 2 that the prophet Anna had lived a long time, especially for a first-century woman. She spent years not remarrying, as many women might have been expected to do or would have had to do to survive. She spent years fasting, and praying, and waiting. Then baby Jesus came into the temple, she told everyone she could about Him. Anna’s life couldn’t have been easy. But once she’d lived through her experiences, seen Jesus, and heard what Simeon said about Mary and her baby, she refused to be silenced.

We are all social creatures, but not all relationships we have the opportunity to take part in are healthy. The Kelly Clarkson song is about breaking free of a harmful relationship. Other relationships might be healthy but aren’t the right fit for us or aren’t right for right now. I wonder if the prophet Anna had experience with these realities. Were such experiences part of what made her open to those years of fasting, praying, waiting, and trusting in the temple?

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Anna Robertson explores insights we can gain from the prophet Anna’s appearance in the Gospel passage. She also points out that we may not hear about this prophet at Mass. Including her story in the Gospel passage for the Feast of the Presentation is optional.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, help us to persevere in even the most difficult times. Help us to maintain hope. Help us to discern what thoughts, words, and actions will do the most good in various situations. May we follow where discernment and wise advice leads. Help us to be a source of hope and truth for others. Thank you, Lord for giving us opportunities to be sources of hope, May we show love in concrete ways. Amen.

Scripture Translation Used:

“Feast of the Presentation of the Lord — Lectionary: 524.” Daily Readings, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2nd typical ed, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020225.cfm.

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