March 30, 2026 // Monday of Holy Week

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Isaiah 42:1-7

Reflect on the Word // 

My younger brother and I have always been close. I’m sixth and he’s seventh of seven children. When he decided to enter seminary in his thirties, I moved back to Minnesota, in part, just to be close to him and witness this inspiring part of his life.

A few years after he was ordained, our state entered into a battle over an amendment that would make same-sex unions legal, a highly contentious proposition.

At his very first parish assignment, my brother preached bravely and thoughtfully on Church teaching on this issue. One day, as I sat in his congregation and listened to him outline brilliantly the importance of marriage between one man and one woman, I watched as one family he had spent many hours ministering to stormed out in protest over his homily. The vast majority stayed, but I could see my brother mournful, even from the ambo, for having “lost” this family, like that one lost sheep.

Later, we visited my parents and my brother went to sit with my father for a while. At one point, he fairly drooped before my dad, saying, “It’s so hard, it’s so hard.” My father reached out his hand, and, placing it on my brother’s head, he said, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” At that, my brother crumpled into agonized weeping.

Being “chosen” is costly. When Isaiah declares, “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased; upon whom I have put my Spirit” (Isaiah 42:1), that doesn’t mean this filiation is easy. But it does mean we are never alone as we speak the truth of Jesus.

Sister, we can pray for the grace to be courageous, to speak the truth of Christ with gentleness, clarity, and love, but with strength too. How I long for the Lord to place His hand on my head and yours one day and say, “You are my chosen one. I set my spirit upon you. You are pleasing in my sight.”

Relate to the Lord // As we enter Holy Week, sister, let’s pray for our shepherds.