September 23, 2025 // Memorial of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Psalm: Psalm 122:1-5
Reflect on the Word //
I uncomfortably fidgeted in my pew as the retreat speaker’s invitation pierced my heart: “Let Him look at You.” Locking eyes with the Eucharistic Jesus upon the altar never seemed intimidating until this moment. I feared what He would think if I really let Him into my heart, if I really allowed Him to look at me.
“Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122:1), is what’s echoed through today’s Psalm. Not only can we find Jesus at home in the tabernacle or monstrance within a physical building, like a church or chapel, but He also makes His home in our hearts. He chose to make His dwelling place within us at our Baptisms. Going back into that moment at the retreat, I was not rejoicing to go into the Lord’s home, my heart. There were many parts of my heart that I desired to protect and hide from Him, and only expose the “good parts” of me.
Friend, yes, He appreciates our riches, but He’s far more attracted to our weakness and poverty—which is completely the opposite of what we would assume. The Lord is a Lord of abundance. When we allow Him further into our hearts, His chosen dwelling place, He brings His abundance into the areas where we’re lacking, bringing His riches into our poverty.
The Psalm describes the house of the Lord “built as a city with compact unity” (Psalm 122:3). Unity is the desire of the Lord’s Heart; likewise, our hearts thirst for unity with Him. He doesn’t long to be invited into our hearts to criticize or shame us, but to be intimately and deeply united with us, and provide what we can’t provide for ourselves. His utmost desire is to be intimately united to your heart and He wants to rejoice with you there.
Relate to the Lord // What would it look like to rejoice with the Lord today?
Bella Rol is a college student from Monterey, CA. She is studying Early Childhood Education as she pursues her dream of working with children and one day having her own to care for. In the meantime, she is the big sister to three younger brothers. In her free time she is usually found with her sketchbook and art supplies as she doodles away.
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