Saturday, February 15, 2025
Happy Saturday, friend! We are so excited to share with you what's coming up this week as we all prepare our hearts by praying with readings for Sunday, the day of rest with our Lord.
Live Liturgically // This Week’s Feast Days
Sunday, February 16 // Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday, February 17 // Optional Memorial of the Seven Founders of the Order of Servites, religious
Friday, February 21 // Optional Memorial of Saint Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Letter from the Editor //
Dear Sister,
The Readings for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time are all about the virtue of hope. With this being the Jubilee Year of Hope, let us pay special attention to God’s Words about hope. Christian hope is based in the truth that Christ is the Son of God and that after He died, He rose from the dead. Saint Paul writes that “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). Our hope is meant to be in the next life, that we will rise with Christ. And some days, this whole idea does seem a little bizarre. In the eyes of the world, our hope and faith seem ridiculous. This is why we need hope to give us the oomph to push through the doubts of the world. The First Reading shows us that hope gives us trust in the Lord, so that we are not “a barren bush” (Jeremiah 17:6) with no faith. With hope we are “planted beside waters” and “in the year of drought [. . .] still bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:8).
“Blessed are they who hope in the Lord,” (Psalm 40:5a) from the Psalm Response this week sums up the Beatitudes, which Jesus proclaims in the Gospel. The Beatitudes only make sense when we have the virtue of hope, for only with hope can we be happy when we are poor, hungry, weeping, and hated. The Lord wants to fill us with His deep joy, that no matter what trials and temptations we face, He is with us. He has been raised, and we can “rejoice and leap for joy” (Luke 6:23) because of it.
In Christ’s Love,
Susanna
Read the readings for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time:
First Reading // Jeremiah 17:5-8
Psalm // Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 & 6
Second Reading // 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Gospel // Luke 6:17, 20-26
Prayer Practice // How is your hope? Ask the Holy Spirit for an infusion of this heavenly virtue today.
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 the Gospel Studies including Seek His Kingdom: A Meditation on Matthew , Listen to Him: A Meditation on Mark, and Abide in His Love: A Meditation on John. 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 was the Theological Editor of the Blessed Conversations Studies. Find out more about her here.
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