July 17, 2026 // Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Responsorial Psalm: Isaiah 38: 10, 11, 12abcd, 16

Reflect on the Word // 

I slumped into a pew in the back of the chapel, arms crossed belligerently in front of my chest, and expelled a loud huff. Grumpy from lack of sleep, overwhelmed by a mountain of assignments to grade, stewing over an email I’d just received, and hangry to boot, I felt like a mutinous toddler as I narrowed my eyes at the tabernacle. Melodramatic as it seems now, in that moment, I felt like the writer of today’s Responsorial Psalm as my spirit groaned, “To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years!” (Isaiah 38:10)

Somewhere between the Gospel and the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer, I felt my irritation dissipate. The transformation was striking in its subtlety. It was as though the Lord had pressed a finger tenderly to my chest and set my cold heart awash in the gentle warmth of His love and presence, which radiated to fill my entire being. I still felt like the writer of today’s Responsorial Psalm, but now I was singing a different tune: “Those live whom the LORD protects; yours is the life of my spirit. You have given me health and life” (Isaiah 38:16).

Have you ever had a “life-saving” moment like that? Maybe yours, too, was a soul-stirring moment in the Mass, a miraculous change of perspective you’d be hard-pressed to articulate. Or maybe it was a smile from a stranger when you were being particularly hard on yourself, or a text from a friend that made you laugh when you needed it most, or the happily wagging tail of a dog who greeted you after a crummy day at work. 

Sister, take heart: no matter how bleak life may seem, the Lord is always there, extending His hand to pull us out of the pit and give us new life, over and over again. 

Relate to the Lord // Reflect on your own life-saving moments of grace—and thank God for them!