March 7, 2026 // Saturday of the Second Week of Lent // Optional Memorial of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Reflect on the Word //
I do the same thing again and again—the sins I cannot get out of, the habits that I don’t want to keep, the embracing of the uncharitable attitudes and thoughts which flutter into my mind. I squander my “share of [the Father’s] estate” daily (see Luke 15:13). I do not usually do this in big, dramatic ways but in little acts of turning away that harden my heart to those I am called to love—God, my family, my co-workers, my students, my friends. I freely waste the grace God gives me, and then find that the grace is gone, that I am living in a famine. And then my whole being cries out for a change, for I know what it is to live in the Father’s house, to feast at His table. I then return to the Lord, Who is waiting for me—in the person of the priest in the Confessional, in the Real Presence of the Eucharist.
Like He did for the prodigal son in today’s Gospel (see Luke 15:1-3, 11-32), the Lord is watching and waiting for my return. He is ready to cover me in His “finest robe,” put His ring on my finger and sandals on my feet, to claim me as His daughter again. He wants to transform me into Himself, take me into His divine life, make me one with Him. And He does this when I accept His love, receive His Sacraments with devotion, turn back to Him with my whole heart, repent of squandering my inheritance in Him, and resolve to stay close to Him.
Sister, at our Baptisms we were made God’s adoptive daughters. Nothing can undo that. He is always waiting for us, always ready to cover us in His grace, whether we have wandered far or let our little sins accumulate over time. This Lent, He calls us back. This Lent, He wants to make us whole again. And at Easter, He will celebrate with us, that His daughter who “was dead [. . .] has come to life again” and who “was lost, has been found” (Luke 15:32).
Relate to the Lord // How is Jesus making you whole this Lent?
Susanna Spencer holds a master's in Theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville and is the Devotions Editor for Blessed is She. She is a freelance writer and editor and a teacher-in-training living with her philosopher husband and four kids in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She loves reading theology, attending beautiful liturgies, cooking delicious food, and casually following baseball. She is the author of all of the Blessed is She Gospel Meditation Studies. She was narrator for Found: Advent With the Good Shepherd and Rescued: Lent With the Lamb of God and a contributing author and editor for our children’s devotional prayer book, Rise Up. She is the Theological Editor of the Blessed Conversations Studies. Find out more about her here.
Be a Woman of the Word
