January 21, 2025 // Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Hebrews 6:10-20 

Reflect on the Word// “Can I pick you up a coffee on my way back from the bank?” 

It was Friday, and my boss was being uncharacteristically amiable. After a week filled with angry emails and explosive outbursts, my heart stayed guarded to this kindness as I politely refused her offer. Even when she suggested tea instead (I’m not much of a coffee drinker), my no obstinately endured. 

But as she turned to leave, I remembered how I had been praying for this woman’s brokenness and I heard Jesus whisper to my heart, I want to love you through her today. Let Me. 

It was as if our Lord sought to offer me a small perk of grace and encouragement in the midst of what had become a rigorous and nerve-wracking sprint with no end in sight. Truth be told, I was losing momentum, or as the Letter to the Hebrews so aptly puts it, becoming “sluggish” (Hebrews 6:12). 

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews, exhorts them (and us) to “demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end,” and to be “imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises” (Hebrews 6:11-12).  

No doubt it can be grueling to live out the first part of this challenge, especially when we don’t have the strength or desire to stay eager through the trying circumstances in which we often find ourselves. But God always sees our work and “the love [we] have demonstrated for his name” (Hebrews 6:10).  When we are tempted to throw in the towel, He anchors us in the promises of His Son, Who bore the excruciating sufferings of the Cross in order to show us there is nothing we won’t face that He didn't face first. He paved the way for a Resurrection promise so that we might “hold fast to the hope that lies before us” (Hebrews 6:18).  

Sister, it is in this hope that we can find renewed strength to keep going. But it doesn’t hurt to have a bit of caffeine along the way.