March 3, 2026 // Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent // Optional Memorial of Saint Katharine Drexel, Virgin [In the Dioceses of the United States]
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Isaiah 1:10, 16-20
Reflect on the Word //
“And then tell her, ‘I need to say this, so it doesn’t fester and come between us.’”
I sniffled and nodded softly as the priest’s tender counsel confronted the depths of the delicate, yet complex, family dynamic that had brought me to the Sacrament of Confession. Father had listened deeply and compassionately while I unpacked the hurtful actions of a loved one that often left me feeling ignored and unseen. In the past few weeks, a sharp pebble of hurt had encroached on my heart, and I knew that Satan’s ploy to twist it into a boulder of bitterness would prevail if I continued to hold onto it.
But here, before the font of mercy, I finally knew how to move forward in love as Father gave me the gentle language to use that would invite healing and repair. The conversation it required wasn’t going to be easy, but with the Lord’s help, we could tend to the wound and start anew.
“Come now, let us set things right,’ says the LORD” (Isaiah 1:18). In today’s First Reading, our loving God coaxes us to “put away” all that poisons our souls and keeps us estranged from Him (see Isaiah 1:16). The season of Lent is a sobering reminder that when left to ourselves in our frail humanity, we are prone to fall, which is why the Lord doesn’t admonish us to repentance only to abandon us to our own devices. No, through the prophet Isaiah, “the instruction of our God” shows us how to reorient our hearts: “Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good” (Isaiah 1:16). Thankfully, all the misdeeds that have widened the chasm between us and the Father’s gaze can be washed away in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We need only come to Him to experience this holy restoration.
Because here’s the truth, sister: Nothing is irreparable for God’s redeeming love. Even if our sins are “like scarlet” (Isaiah 1:18), we can be made clean. This is the invitation and the promise.
The instructions are just a bonus.
Relate to the Lord // What needs to be set right between you and the Lord? Talk to Him about it.
