May 27, 2026 // Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time // Optional Memorial of Saint Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: 1 Peter 1:18-25
Reflect on the Word //
I can still smell VoVo’s Old Spice aftershave, see his face, and hear his distinctive Portuguese accent: “Hello, Beautiful!” To his dying day that is how my paternal grandfather greeted me whenever I saw him. Isn’t that what every girl wants to hear? “You are beautiful. You are lovely, worthy, precious, beloved.” I didn’t know it for the thirty-two years I had my grandfather in my life, but he formed my identity, reminding me of my beauty and my belovedness whenever he saw me.
I hear the echo of that truth when I encounter the Scriptures, even today. In every line there is a proclamation to us from our Savior reminding us that we are loved and even worth fighting for to the ultimate price—His Blood (see 1 Peter 1:19).
Some people talk about Scripture as a love letter from God. His every word pouring out upon us the truth of our identity, the reality that in Him alone we can firmly anchor our faith and our hope (see 1 Peter 1:21).
Beloved, you were ransomed with the Precious Blood of Christ (see 1 Peter 1:18). A precious ransom is not offered for something that is not precious. One is not ransomed with something precious if she is not precious. That we are bought and freed with His Blood reveals that we are worth the most perfect offering. We are worth the Blood of the spotless, unblemished lamb (see 1 Peter 1:19). You have been washed and born anew in that sweet tide flowing from the Heart of the Word, which neither withers nor fades.
You have been brought into an imperishable life, proclaimed to you by the mouth of the Lord, the Word Who remains forever (see 1 Peter 1:25).
How often we lose sight of the beauty given us by God, of our belovedness that flows from a rebirth in Christ.
The Lord’s Word covers us today, reminding us of our worth, our identity, our beauty, our belovedness. May you remember again that you are one who has been made pure through love and born anew: ransomed, redeemed, and restored.
Relate to the Lord // Read and pray with today’s First Reading: 1 Peter 1:18-25. Reflect on His personal love for you.
Sister Maria Fatima grew up in Rhode Island and entered the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in 2005. She holds a MA in Theology from the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. Sister is in her eleventh year of enlightening middle school minds and drawing hearts to Jesus while teaching religion and history. She currently resides at the motherhouse in Ann Arbor, MI, having previously taught in Texas, Florida, and Ohio. She is a contributing author to our Lent devotional All She Had.
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