June 9, 2026 // Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time // 

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Psalm: 4:2–3, 4–5, 7b–8

Reflect on the Word // 

During Lent, every Sunday before Mass I would begin prayer by looking at Jesus crucified. I wished I had blinders like the ones horses use during races so I could remove the swarm of distractions that provoked me. Even in this space of desiring silence, I couldn’t reach it. I had been here before spiritually. Wandering but anchored in the hope of the risen Lord. Putting one foot in front of the other even though I was anticipating the fall. Trusting but at the same time noticing that doubt was around the corner. I was running various scenarios of how things could have played out differently during the last seven months. I was trying so hard to make sense of God. 

I had been so used to reducing my own cross as I accompanied so many in prayer that I forgot to let Him look at me. “Lord, let your face shine on us” in today’s Responsorial Psalm is the cry I was experiencing silently but didn’t know how to verbalize (Psalm 4:7a). Relationships that I thought were safe and resilient had broken, and the fragmentation had left me with feelings of betrayal, bitterness, and hurt—and so many questions. While I was trying to rewind each scenario and figure out what went wrong, I hid from God even though I was looking directly at Him. I was so busy with my shame, humiliation, and woundedness that my gaze was one of solution-based prayer rather than allowing Him to “put gladness into my heart” (Psalm 4:8). 

What happens when we take our attention away from what we are doing and focus on what God wants to do in us? How does returning to the practices of Lent in Ordinary Time help us allow God  to let His face shine on us? We may experience rejection from people who were deeply rooted in our lives, but God doesn’t want us to live in that. His gaze of unlimited mercy pleads for us to know that He isn’t afraid of anything we have endured on this side of Heaven. 

Relate to the Lord // Pray with a crucifix today. Meditate on Jesus’ loving sacrifice for you.