March 9, 2026 // Monday of the Third Week of Lent // Optional Memorial of Saint Frances of Rome, religious
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Luke 4:24-30
Reflect on the Word //
With my heart open and a bit tender, I bring before the Lord the places where rejection has left its subtle sting. Not the dramatic moments but the quieter ones. The hesitations. The misunderstandings. The times I felt unseen or dismissed, even when I believed I was standing exactly where He asked me to stand.
It is the post on social media and the realization that I was not invited.
It is the sharing of a great joy, and feeling unheard and unseen.
It is the experience of deep sorrow that has no safe place to land.
It is the advice given but not well received.
It is the offering of myself and still not feeling like enough.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus returns to His hometown of Nazareth, the place where He learned to walk, where He grew up, where neighbors knew His family, His trade, His story. And instead of celebrating Him, instead of receiving Him, they reject Him. They question His authority. They narrow Him to what they think they know.
Jesus, steady and unshaken, responds to their dismissal of Him, “No prophet is accepted in his own native place” (Luke 4:24). His words aren’t bitter. They’re not defensive. They’re simply His lived experience.
His identity is not rooted in human approval, but in His Father's love for and knowledge of Him.
He knows exactly Who He is. He knows Who His Father is. And because of that, even when He is rejected, misunderstood, and overlooked, He does not collapse inward. He does not panic or plead. He simply moves on—humble, anchored, unmovable, held.
How often do we brace ourselves against rejection? How often do we shrink back from acting boldly because we are afraid of being misunderstood, afraid of being “too much," and afraid of being unwanted in the very places we expect to belong?
Jesus' return to Nazareth stands as an invitation for us all: Rejection is not the end of the story. It is often the opportunity we need to become more deeply rooted in our Father's heart for us.
Relate to the Lord // How have you experienced rejection? Open that tender place to the Lord and share your heart with Him.
Shalini Blubaugh is a Minnesota transplant living in Coppell, Texas. She served with NET Ministries and went on to graduate with her J.D., though happily left all things law behind. Along with her roles as wife and mom, she now runs her own company, Pray. Train. Grow., as a Certified Fitness Trainer and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. Her mission is to help Catholic women grow STRONG in mind, body, and heart through the integration of Faith, fitness and food.
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