June 22, 2026 // Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time // Optional Memorial of Saint John Fisher, Bishop and Saint Thomas More, Martyrs // Optional Memorial of Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Matthew 7:1-5 Reflect on the Word //  Most days the beam in my own eye makes itself apparent before breakfast is cleared away. And somehow, today’s beam is always completely different from yesterday’s. There is no shortage of the ways in which I need to evaluate my own shortcomings, be they interior or in my outward actions—and this is all before I even look at the Internet! Jesus is clearly calling me to a higher degree of discipleship when He implores me to “remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5).  Jesus is calling all of us to Confession and acceptance of His grace and correction. It’s a call to action, to great holiness—not just a call to introspection. And it frees us to support those around us as they strive to root sin out of their own lives. We see this in the lives of the Saints like Saint Thomas More, whom we remember today. He let the Lord perfect him, and he was courageous in calling out the error and sin he saw in the life and actions of King Henry VIII. Saint Thomas More did not act as if the errors and sins of the king were not his problem, but bravely called the king to repentance, even when he knew it could cost him his life.  Helping others recognize truth and acknowledge their sin only works if we ourselves live a life of holy humility. How can we know whether or not we are on the road to that holy humility? We might begin by asking ourselves if we’re willing to sacrifice for the truth to the degree Saint Thomas More did—to the point of martyrdom.  Relate to the Lord // What speck have you been focusing on in your neighbor’s eye? Where do you need to remove the beam from your own? 

May 21, 2026 // Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter // Optional Memorial of Saint Christopher Magallanes, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: John 17:20-36 Reflect on the Word // When I think of the most memorable moments where I have heard God’s voice speaking directly to me, it was when I was alone in prayer, probably on a random weekday. No momentous occasion or harrowing event, no dramatic conversion experience, just simple words spoken specifically to me with the intimacy and love only Jesus can give. When I let the words of Jesus’ prayer from today’s Gospel wash over me, I am astounded by how beautifully He expresses His love for me. It truly is amazing that the God Who created a fully functioning and ordered universe from star nebulae to the intricacies of particles would become human and feel and express such love for me. My impulse is to wish that I could respond in a more fabulous fashion. What have I to give? How do I respond when my life is so ordinary? But through Jesus’ very words, “Father, they are a gift to me, I wish that where I am they also may be with me” (John 17:24), comes the answer I am looking for in how to respond to such immense love: to simply be with Jesus. To desire to be with the Lord and to love Him in return is all that I need to do. I can’t create with powerful gestures or perform miracles to show God that I love Him. But I can live in the truth that I was created as a gift, a gift by and for the Lord. I have been created by the Father, and given as a gift to the Son through love!  We can spend our whole lives discovering and understanding what it means to be one with the Lord through the gift of our existence. We may uncover it slowly day by day, through the very small and the very ordinary. Because it is not through grand gestures that we become one with the Lord, but through simply loving Him. Relate to the Lord // What would it look like to simply be with Jesus today? 

April 13, 2026 // Monday of the Second Week of Easter // Optional Memorial of Saint Martin I, Pope and Martyr Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: John 3:1-8 Reflect on the Word // There’s nothing quite like feeling a warm breeze after living through months of winter. Here in northern Canada the slightest winter wind makes an already cold day feel like the air is piercing your skin with tiny knives. But when the warm breeze finally appears in the spring, it feels like the welcome harbinger of the warm air almost mysteriously appearing and beginning to thaw the outside world.  In the Gospel, Nicodemus comes seeking more from Jesus whom he recognizes has been sent by God. I can imagine he is dying to ask Jesus what the exact things are that we can do so that we know we’re going to Heaven. But the answer Jesus gives of being born again of water and the Spirit shatters any easy answers. What Jesus shares about the life of Faith is mysterious. Being born again by water and the Spirit? This is not something that is within our power or capacity as human beings; only through the power of God through Baptism can this new birth occur. Jesus speaks of being completely transformed by the power of God, a transformation that also requires living by faith.  How else but through faith can we live in the freedom and trust of following the grace of the Spirit when it blows through our lives like the wind? The graces we receive sometimes come strongly and undeniably, but many times softly, gently, and sporadically. Just as we can see the effects of the wind, feel its breeze upon our skin, and hear it rustle through the leaves, we also know that we are not in control of it; it is completely outside our power. The life of the Spirit which Jesus speaks of today relies on having the faith to trust in a life we cannot control, the life of grace. Sometimes our faith becomes cold, like a long Canadian winter. But, the truth is that we have been born again through water and Spirit. We just have to tap into the warmth of grace offered to us the Sacraments and we will see the effects of grace.  Relate to the Lord // How do you perceive the warm wind of the Spirit moving in your life right now?

March 17, 2026 // Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent // Optional Memorial of Saint Patrick, Bishop Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: John 5:1-16 Reflect on the Word //  Last fall I went on an Irish pilgrimage in the footsteps of Saint Patrick. With my fellow travelers, I climbed Croagh Patrick, the seaside mountain where Saint Patrick spent forty days and forty nights fasting and praying and which has since been a place of spiritual pilgrimage dear to the Irish. The day we happened to climb this fabled mountain, hurricane-strength winds met us near the top, and we were not able to reach the small chapel where Mass is celebrated on his feast day, as it will be today, in Saint Patrick’s honor.   We also visited a holy well in which Saint Patrick baptized people while on his journey to the mountain. It was a small pool of  fresh water hidden in a small ordinary town, but a visible and revered reminder of the significance of the holy being made known in small, ordinary places.  The man who is healed by Jesus in today’s Gospel was waiting for a friend to help him reach the healing waters of another pool. It is staggering to imagine living with pain and awaiting healing for thirty-eight years, but there are many instances in our own lives where we see the need for healing in an area of pain that we may have lived with for many years. We might also have experience with another person coming into our lives and showing us a new path of grace and healing—a newfound friend, a spouse, or a priest who gives us the Sacraments. Saint Patrick, standing in Christ’s place, was that friend to those in need of healing through exercising his priestly ministry in baptizing the Irish in those natural springs of water throughout the countryside.  We can see in the lives of Saints how they stepped in to be the friends of those in need of healing, to bring them closer to Christ. We can be that friend who prays for another, who lives an example of faith for someone else, and who brings a friend closer to the healing that God wants to give. Relate to the Lord // Reach out to a friend today and ask how you can pray with or for them.

January 9, 2026 // Friday After Epiphany Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Luke 5:12-16 Reflect on the Word //  I don’t like to ask for help. There’s a long list of reasons for this, including being the oldest daughter, adhering strongly to the personal motto of “I am a strong, capable, adult woman!” and, most commonly, wanting things done my way. I run my life most of the time by these beliefs, but what they fundamentally boil down to is plain old pride.  When I hear the words of the man with leprosy, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean” (Luke 5:12), what rings loudest in my ears is this man placing the desires and wishes of Christ ahead of his own, even ahead of his own suffering! This man who was suffering so profoundly was willing to let go of his desire to be healed because he knew the desires of Christ for him to be more important.  Unfortunately, in my own prayer life I so often fall into only praying for what I want, or what I have anxiety about, begging the Lord for my will and my way to be done. As I pour out my problems to Jesus in prayer I easily give Him my laundry list of problems, but also I tell Him the exact way I would like these problems solved. I am not asking Jesus if He desires the solutions I’m offering, or to ponder and ask Him what it is He wishes for the problems I face daily.  Perhaps you, friend, do the same. Today’s Gospel prompts us to consider: How can we hear the voice of God if we spend all our time in prayer telling Him what to do? But even more importantly, how can we grow closer to God if we view our desires as more important than His? We are reminded by the suffering man in the Gospel to seek what Christ wishes for us today. The first step is to ask for our will to be transformed by His will for us. It may seem like a simple thing, but switching our perspective from asking Jesus for what we want to asking what He wants is an essential step toward being fully united to Him. Relate to the Lord // Where do you need help? Who can you ask for help today?

December 10, 2025 // Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Loreto Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Isaiah 40:25-31 Reflect on the Word // I read the text message quickly at first, glancing over it as I grabbed a child’s backpack on the way out the door. Why was my friend sounding so heated about a proposed morning coffee date? I grew more and more perturbed as I drove kids to school. When I had a minute to read the text again it still sounded somewhat rude and off-putting. Not surprisingly, when I called my friend and asked her what she meant by the confusing tone in the text, the explanation was completely opposite of what I first interpreted.  The value of hearing the spoken word in action! The reminder today from the prophet Isaiah—“Do you not know or have you not heard?” (Isaiah 40:28)—reminds me of the importance of physically hearing the Word of God spoken out loud. Our brains, and in turn, our hearts, just accept and absorb words differently when we hear them. I think this is why the Church in her wisdom makes the Liturgy of the Word such an important part of the celebration of the Eucharist. Hearing the words of Scripture in the Mass is not simply a motion we go through but an essential way to hear God speak to us. Because we are composed of both body and soul, we understand better when we experience things with all our senses. I think all of us have an experience of reading the Bible ourselves and assuming one thing, then having a piece of Scripture explained or simply proclaimed out loud and coming to greater understanding.  God wants to give us His strength as Isaiah proclaims today. One way we can accept and receive that strength is by hearing the words of Scripture proclaimed and letting them speak to our hearts. The next time you go to Mass try for yourself first reading the readings of the day in advance, then focusing on hearing the words spoken aloud. The Lord wants to communicate to you through all of your senses. Relate to the Lord // Read the daily Readings (even just one!) out loud today. Listen with the ears of your heart.

October 23, 2025 // Optional Memorial of Saint John of Capistrano, Priest Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Romans 6:19-23  Reflect on the Word // Just this morning I read an article about the celebrated author, chef, and TV presenter Anthony Bourdain. He tragically ended his own life at what appeared to be the height of his fame, fortune, and creative power. The article included this quote from Bourdain: “You’ll never know the consequences of getting what you want until you get what you want” (source). It’s a quote that speaks to what happens when human desires are ordered toward the wrong goals. I know in my life continuing to try to order my desires to the will of God is difficult because so often I don’t see immediate consequences. There are no dramatic miracles or spiritual ecstasies, let alone fame and fortune. As a mom, many of my days seem and feel quite ordinary, and while I know that what I do every day is important at deep, life-changing levels, there are few accolades or grand feelings of accomplishment. My desire to follow God’s will for my life brings a joy that looks and feels differently from worldly accomplishment or career success. That’s why Saint Paul’s words today are an important reminder that my desires have consequences, and the consequences couldn’t be higher. We can submit to a slavery to sin that ends in death or choose instead a slavery to righteousness and the greatest reward of eternal life. The gift of Baptism, of becoming a Christian and sharing in the sanctifying life of Christ, is our path out of that slavery to sin: “But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life” (Romans 6:22). As Christians we have to continue to seek to align our desires with the desires of Christ. We are choosing and desiring the greatest consequence of human life if we do so. And while we will only see the consequences of this desire in part in this world, when we give ourselves over to the movements of grace we will anticipate eternal life spent with God. Relate to the Lord // Meditate on Heaven. Ask God for a greater desire for Heaven today.  

September 10, 2025 // Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Colossians 3:1-3 Reflect on the Word //  While I have been a Christian my entire life, I have at many times questioned God as to why it is so difficult to keep choosing His way. Why does it feel that every area of modern life has complicating factors that push and demean the Commandants of God? Why do such simple-seeming things, like what is being taught in my sixth grade child’s science class and where and how I invest my money, require moral judgment and action from a Christian perspective?  It can be exhausting to live under these “earthly” pressures and tempting to ignore that the entirety of my life is changed because I have, in fact, died with Christ through my Baptism. But the reality is that faith is not a burden, and the call to seek what is above is the crux of the challenge of Christianity. The Christian faith does not call us to ignore or wish away or deny our own inherent failures and sin, but calls us to the clear-eyed recognition that our own choices can lead us away from life with Christ or lead us to live more fully within it. When I think about Saint Paul writing these words to the Colossians, I wonder if they received his words the way I do, as a bold challenge that allows no wiggle room for excuses within my own conscience. Not only was it a personal challenge to the Colossians, it was calling them to a completely new way of life, a life lived contrary to that of the society around them. Living in societies that embrace what Saint Paul calls the “earthly” has always been part of the Christian life and was especially drastic in his ancient pagan culture. This same universal call to holiness has never changed.  Saint Paul understands that the life of holiness may at times feel hidden, but Christ’s presence with us is constant. We can rely on the grace Jesus gives us through the Sacraments to sustain us as we try to offer our lives to Him every single day. Relate to the Lord // How will you “seek what is above” today?

August 13, 2025 // Optional Memorial of Saint Pontian, Pope and Martyr, and Saint Hippolytus, Priest and Martyr Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Matthew 18:15-17 Reflect on the Word // Directly going and speaking with someone who has hurt us is difficult. There have been many times when I have thought it would be much easier to go to an arbitrary judge and demand a person be exiled from the community rather than talk to someone about a problem. There is also a perennial temptation to gossip, slander, and malign publicly people who have harmed and sinned against us. It requires no small amount of self-control to rein in our tongues in difficult circumstances, especially when we know we are in the right.  The words of Jesus in today’s Gospel give us fundamental directions in how Christians are to deal with problems with other people.  He tells us, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone” (Matthew 18:15). In telling us to go directly to the person who has sinned against us, Jesus calls us to live with integrity.  The idea is that we treat each other with respect and give each other a chance to explain what is going on personally—we don’t need to air all of our problems with others to the whole world if we can resolve them with Christian charity and mercy. And when we do this in a place of prayer, Jesus promises that He is with us as we work to resolve conflicts: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).  Failing to live with integrity can have lasting consequences to us as individuals and our own failure can ripple out into the wider Church. We do not have to look far to see how complex relationships can be, and how difficult it can be to resolve issues in healthy and constructive ways. Our difficult relationships can be a source of discouragement in our lives, but today’s simple and clear word from Christ can reorient our hearts and keep our focus on this simple call to integrity.  Relate to the Lord // Ask for the grace to live a life of integrity, starting with today.

July 7, 2025 // Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Matthew 9:18-26 Reflect on the Word //  This past Lent I gave up rushing. I usually prize efficiency so highly that I attack my daily errands as if there’s a world record for fastest grocery shop to be won. So for Lent I decided that I would give up speeding through traffic, trying to snag the shortest checkout line, and racing to pick up my kids at the exact minute their activities ended. What I noticed the most was that I had an attitude of wanting to control time to run according to my schedule and, in turn, expecting everyone else to treat time the way I do with an exacting eye toward efficiency. I even realized that these expectations of timely efficiency cropped up in my prayer life.  In today’s Gospel, the official begs Jesus to come and bring back to life his daughter who has died. Jesus decides to follow the official back to his home so that he may lay His hands on her. When I imagine myself in the position of the official, I would have been so impatient and desperate for Jesus to raise my daughter that I can’t imagine standing silently by while Jesus had the encounter with the hemorrhaging woman.  But the quiet, patient faith of the official is something that inspires me today. The official does not become part of the crowd ridiculing Jesus. He does not become frustrated or disbelieving. He maintains a silent faith that Jesus can raise his daughter from the dead. And Jesus does not rush. Jesus does not come speeding in to save the day like a superhero, or arrive with a sideshow of special effects to proclaim His power in performing such a miracle. Instead, “When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose” (Matthew 9:25). Earthly impatience and our attempts to control time do not bring miracles more quickly. Waiting for answers to our prayers is so hard, but there is a beauty in the gentleness in God’s perfect timing.  Relate to the Lord // Give up rushing today. Practice slowing down as you walk, speak, eat, and breathe.  

May 21, 2025 // Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter // Optional Memorial of Saint Christopher Magallanes, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: John 15:1-8 Reflect on the Word //  Do you remember being a teenager and running up to your bedroom, slamming the door, and loudly declaring that you wanted to be alone? Was I the only one who felt misunderstood at this age? I see now how misunderstanding often comes from not wanting to resolve a conflict, not wanting to relent in our way of thinking, and possibly from being unwilling to meet each other halfway. We want to be alone to protect ourselves, but oftentimes we choose to be alone because we don’t want to check our own pride and our belief that we’re right and everyone else is wrong. When Jesus says “unless it remains on the vine” (John 15:4),  I think of my stubborn refusal to remain in the presence of others. This happens with my relationship with Jesus as well. There are definitely times when I choose not to remain with Christ. It isn’t a benign “falling away” or “growing apart,” but truly a choice I make. A choice to sin, to pick my way through what I know Jesus has revealed to the Church to be true, to prefer my own personal isolation and disguise it as freedom. And with that there is a severing and loss of good fruit in my life.  When we separate ourselves from Jesus we experience loneliness and being cut off from others in its most acute form. Why do we choose to not remain with Him, attached to Him like a branch on the vine?  Jesus speaks truly when He tells us, “Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me” (John 15:4).  Separation between Christ and ourselves is not simply physical, but is a spiritual separation that impacts every aspect of our lives. To remain in Christ is our choice not simply to avoid loneliness, but to experience the promise of Heaven even here in our lives now, to be one with Him, and bear the fruit He calls us to bear.  Relate to the Lord // How have you been isolating from the Lord or others? How can you make a move back into relationship today?   

April 11, 2025 // Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent // Memorial of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop, Martyr Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: John 10:31-42 Reflect on the Word //  I can think back and recall all too quickly the many times I’ve doubted God. Not His existence, but whether or not I should trust in His plan, if He had a plan, or if He would be present with me through what I could tell were going to be tough times ahead. Frankly, I feel like this comes up on a weekly basis in my personal prayer life. I talk to Jesus about my problems, my worries and anxieties, and most of the time all I hear back is: Trust in Me. But why is my immediate reaction to Jesus’ invitation to trust met with instant defensiveness? Why after so many years of blessings, in seeing God’s marvelous work in my life in so many ways and manifestations, do I want to reject resting in His love and plan?  It’s as if I am picking up rocks to throw at Jesus like the Jews in today’s Gospel (see John 10:31). I’ve seen the good works Jesus has done in my own life; yet, I still want to meet Jesus with hostility when He asks me to trust. Why do I come up with excuses not to believe God wants what’s best for me?  Jesus is offering us the choice to see and believe the works He has done in our lives. They may be big moments of dramatic conversion or quiet moments of grace where we felt His presence, but they are His good, wonderful works. We can stand in the crowd with the Jews in the Gospel and decide if we want to “believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father" (John 10:38). Jesus wants to lead us to union with Him and His Father, to help us know that we are in His loving care and enfolded in His plan for us. Our choice to believe is a risky one, but it is a risk worth taking.   Relate to the Lord // Today, recall the Lord in your life and let His faithfulness increase your trust now.  

March 14, 2025 // Friday of the First Week of Lent Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Matthew 5:20-26 Reflect on the Word //  I don’t know about you, but for most of my life I have belonged to parishes of the humble variety. There are no towering ceilings, flying buttresses, or walls of colored glass. There are, however, plenty of cinder block walls, commercial carpeting, and felt banners in these churches. That is why I’m always struck by references to the temple in Jerusalem—especially in the Gospels, when Jesus refers to it. An awe-inspiring place meant for the worship of God, where the people would bring actual physical sacrifices and gifts in the forms of first fruits and animals.  To then hear Christ say, “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24), brings such a real importance to how we treat others we are in relationship with. To go through the planning and preparation of bringing our gifts to the temple, entering the holy of holies, offering what we have grown or created that we feel to be the best to God, only to have to leave it on the steps all because we’re mad at someone??  But the reality is, that whether our parish is a baroque cathedral or a newer suburban structure, there is a real sacrifice being represented at every Mass and we are meant to make our offering of ourselves along with Christ’s. So often we want our plans, our offerings to God, and our good works to be what God sees when we go to Church. But we can’t hide what is happening in our relationships from Him. How we treat everyone in our lives, from our spouse to strangers on the street, affects our hearts. God desires worship of our entire hearts given over to Him in love, and that means even the corners where we hold anger and resentment towards others. Relate to the Lord // What will you offer to the Lord today?  

January 3, 2025 // Optional Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: 1 John 2:29-3:6 Reflect on the Word //  I hope you’ve experienced watching a small child at play. Maybe captivated in their own imaginary world, or running at top speed, or dismantling the contents of an entire kitchen cabinet in the span of four minutes, a child at play seems to have an intensity and focus we adults can only dream of mustering. Whatever activity they may be occupied with, children also have the ability to stop whatever they are doing and ask you a question out of the blue that you can’t believe they would ever think of,  let alone how they ever thought of such a thing while playing with such gusto.  “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God” (1 John 3:1). I wonder if God sees us like we see small children at play; focused and intent on our daily lives, unaware of anything outside of our immediate purview.  “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). We are like little children unaware of the larger, more complex, yet rich world when it comes to understanding what a life with God in Heaven will be. Just as so much of the wider world has not been shown to or understood by little children, so eternal life has not yet been revealed to us. We need to ponder what that life will look like, and we need to ask God to show us what an eternity of being in His presence truly means. With His grace, we can approach God the Father with the same innocent boldness of little children. We can ask Him to help us understand how glorious life will be with Him in Heaven. Because just as we teach and guide our children in their wonder and desire to understand the world, so the Lord desires to lead us into His love, to remain with Him in the ways of faith, and to hope for and understand Heavenly life as His children.  Relate to the Lord // Let yourself dream about union with God and the Communion of Saints in Heaven today. Recall experiences of God’s love in your prayer and in your friendships. 

“They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” // Luke 17:27 I’ve got to admit there are often times that I procrastinate in my spiritual life.  I’ll start going to monthly Confession next month. When I have some extra time in my schedule I’ll start going to Holy Hour.  I’ll do a daily Rosary when my kids don’t wake up so early. I’ll start reading Scripture every day after my new schedule starts.  These are all the thoughts I tell myself when I feel the gentle nudges of the Holy Spirit calling me to spend more time with God.  The opportunities for procrastinating and making excuses for why I choose not to devote more time to prayer are really limitless. There are so many ways to distract myself, or to keep believing other things are more important and pressing than making the time and concerted effort to actually pray.  Christ’s words in today’s Gospel (see Luke 17:26-37), however, should give me the reminder I need to make better choices. Christ is telling us that His second coming could happen at any moment—there will not be news bulletins telling us to get our lives in order. We will not be given a time or date. Things will look like they’ve always looked, in our own busy lives and in the chaos of the world around us. Of course, the second coming may be the end of time as we know it, but our own death may come at any time as well, with or without warning.  Christ does not give us a timeline of when we need to change our lives and live the commandments He has given us. He is telling us today that every single day should be lived as if the end is near, not because we should be afraid, but so that we can live a full and blessed life. The time to make a change is now. Is there one small way you feel the Holy Spirit calling you to deeper devotion and prayer? Can you make the choice to put that into action today?

Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” // Luke 13:20-21 Before the start of the pandemic (this is a very important fact I would like you to remember), I decided that I wanted to start baking sourdough bread. I didn’t simply want to bake it; I wanted to develop and grow my own sourdough starter because I had read about the miraculous way simple wild yeast and bacteria in the air can become your own unique form of rising agent. It felt all at once extremely scientific but also completely magical.  It was supposed to be a simple week-long process. Unfortunately, it took me the entire summer to develop a starter that actually rose and fell like all the cookbooks and websites said it should and would actually make bread dough rise!  The most frustrating part of the process was that even though I measured the flour and water precisely, there was no human way for me to force the yeast to multiply itself in the ingredients sitting on my kitchen counter. It was a completely invisible (to my eyes) process I couldn’t control. To this day I don’t know why it finally started working, since I did the exact same steps every day all summer long. When I hear Jesus compare the Kingdom of God to the yeast a woman uses to make bread, I think of my painstaking experience trying to outwit unseen wild yeast that summer. The Kingdom of God is even more miraculous than the process of creating sourdough—a process I remain in awe of, but it is most assuredly one completely outside of our human control. It takes our human efforts and natural existence and transforms them into a supernatural process that can change the entire world. We measure and mix the flour and water of our lives and God implants the faith that makes the Kingdom grow. It’s unseen and unheard. A molecular change that we don’t control, a miracle that the natural world gives us small glimpses into.  In the quiet of your heart today, pray for God to grow and transform your faith—all He needs is your offering of yourself and the belief that He can.

All speech is labored; there is nothing one can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear satisfied with hearing. // Ecclesiastes 1:8 Whenever I read today’s First Reading (see Ecclesiastes 1:2-11), I’m reminded of a time during my college years when I attended Mass in a different city and the lector had a penchant for drama. The proclamation of this reading from the Ecclesiates was so vividly given, with the melodic crescendos of Ian McCellan delivering a Shakespearean monologue, that my friends and I couldn’t help but giggle the whole way through.  But I can’t blame that lector for leaning into the fabulous poetry of these words. They contain the beauty of the written—and performed—word, but also the profundity of fundamental human experience. None of us have to be very old to understand that so much of the world around us, although repetitive and rhythmic, is also completely out of our control. We do not control the sun rising and setting, the direction and strength of the winds, nor the river’s flow. Nor does the created world, as marvelous and vast as it is, satisfy our hearts. And neither do the accomplishments of human history provide our souls with purpose and fulfillment.  We as human beings are not satisfied with our own achievement, our own beauty, the accomplishments and success of the civilization we live in, or the world around us. We are meant for more, and we all contain within that longing and questioning that is impossible to find an answer to in ourselves or the natural world. We can’t escape this existential pull, just as the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes could not.  We are unsatisfied by these things because we were created for a relationship with our Creator, Who wants us to know and communicate with Him intimately. We can keep distracting ourselves from that truth by looking elsewhere for happiness and answers, but it is really only God, Who made us for Himself, Who will give us the satisfaction our souls desire.  Ask the Lord to speak to your heart and strip away all desires that do not lead you to Him.