Photo: Smothered

 

Prayer: Six Recognitions of the Lord (Mary Oliver)

Of course I have always known you are present in the clouds, and the black oak I especially adore, and the wings of birds. But you are present too in the body, listening to the body, teaching it to live, instead of all that touching, with disembodied joy. We do not do this easily. We have lived so long in the heavens of touch, and we maintain our mutability, our physicality, even as we begin to apprehend the other world. Slowly we make our appreciative response. Slowly appreciation swells to astonishment. And we enter the dialogue of our lives that is beyond all under- standing or conclusion. It is mystery, It is love of God. It is obedience.

Photo: Snow Dusted

 

Spirituailty: Silence, Song, and Shadows by Tom Bender

The goal of singing a song is not to reach the end as quickly as possible. It is a state of creating harmony, beauty, growth and understanding. The goal of work, as a sacred art, is to use the need for a product or service to develop the greatest possible power on the object, and the users. Sacred work puts the mind on service to the heart as well. 

Spirituality: Rachel Naomi Remen in My Grandfather's Blessings

Days pass and the years vanish and we walk sightless among miracles. O Holy One, fill our eyes with seeing and our minds with knowing. Let there be moments when your presence, like lightning, illumines the darkness in which we walk… And we will exclaim in wonder, “How filled with awe is this place and we did not know it.”

Photo: All the Lonely People

 

Spirituality: from Letters to a Young Poet by Rainier Maria Rilke

At the bottom the only courage that is demanded of us is to have courage for the most strange, the most singular, and the most inexplicable that we may encounter. That humankind has in this sense been cowardly, has done life endless harm; the whole so-called "spirit-world," death, all those things that are so akin to us, have by daily parrying been so crowded out of life that the senses with which we could have grasped them are atrophied. To say nothing of God.

Photo: A Mural in Boston's North End

 

Poem: "Abide," Carrie Newcomer & Parker Palmer

 Oh, abide with me, where it's breathless and it's empty

yes, abide with me and we'll pass the evening gently
stay awake with me and we'll listen more intently
to something wordless and remaining sure and every changing
in the quietness of now.
There are things I cannot prove, and still somehow I know.
It's like a message in a bottle that some unseen hand has thrown
you don't have to be afraid, you don't have to walk alone
I don't know but I suspect, that it will feel like home.

Abiding in Faith: The First Sunday in Lent 2026

                                                      Abiding in Faith:

The First Sunday in Lent 2026 

February 22, 2026

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Sirach 15:15-20; Psalm 119; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37

 

Let us spend a moment in the Garden of Eden before we get to the Desert. We imagine Eden to be idyllic, a place of care and plenty, a time in our lives in which we easily allowed God to provide for us. It was beginning of God’s plan for humans on the Earth, a plan that was marked by beauty and communion. Humans came from inanimate dust that was created by God and divine life was breathed into it. We were made humbly and yet we were spiritually exalted. Every human being therefore carries the breath of God, which means we are to respect the dignity of each human person today. We were given boundaries to live by, and yet, we were designed for enlightenment. Could it be that, from the very beginning, we are supposed to expand our consciousness? Was this always part of the plan? After all, all of creation is still evolving. 

 

          Knowing that we are built to strive for greater knowledge, we experience temptation, just as Jesus did. For Jesus, this temptation came from God, and it was to clarify his experience of trust. In his first test, at his point of physical vulnerability, Jesus was tempted to take control of his own needs rather than to trust God’s plan for him. Jesus showed us that trust precedes gratification, and his real hunger was to realize that God abided by him. In the second test, Jesus teaches us that faith does not impel us to prove anything. He learns that spiritual strength lies in not testing God, it is having one’s life testify to God through daily actions. Jesus was called to obey God, not to presume to act on behalf of God. The third test is that hardest one of all. Jesus was tempted to worship success, status, political gains, or approval from others. He reminds us the making idols is easy and a daily practice and can immediately resolve some huge problems, but he remains committed to God as an act of worship. Jesus chose obedience to God rather than assume real power. He shows that he rightly worships God.

 

          In today’s world, we see the religion is falsely used as a means to gain or to exert power. This is not faith in God. It is the worship of human power and glory. Many people use religious words and piety and devotional practices to speak for God, and some gain many followers. Politicians, religious leaders, and lobbyists use a “fear-based” spirituality to win people over to their position, and many times, people use sin language to control behavior. Ideologies such as religious fundamentalism, nativism, neo-traditionalism, and religious nationalism, and prosperity theology shape faith and culture today, and there is a tendency to replace power for God. All this stands in contrast to the example of Jesus in the Gospel. All this stands in contrast to the “God is love” spirituality of Jesus and Scripture.

 

          What is the invitation for us today? We can begin by taking increased time for silence and prayer to get to know about this God that Jesus teaches us. We need to make dates with ourselves, spend time with ourselves. We want to experience that type of friendship that Adam and Eve would have had with God – harmonious, trusting, comfortable, thankful for the divine generosity. We want to experience the trust of Jesus in God – knowing that God saw him, knew him, and understood him. We can know that these temporary temptations come from God for our benefit so we can learn how to worship authentically. With out human freedom, we want to continue to evolve and to expand our consciousness so that we grow in wisdom and to know that this is part of obeying God. We want to test those boundaries, search for God’s vital voice, and to discover how to trust in this complex environment. To stay faithful is to keep choosing God when something else feels easier. And when can always be consoled as Jesus did when those temptations ended. Angels came to minister to him. In other words, God will find some way to console you, to remind you of your goodness, to tell you that you are loved, and to thank you for the person you are becoming. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

Monday: (Leviticus 19) The Lord gives Moses ten commandments that he inscribes on stone tablets. 

 

Tuesday: (Isaiah 55) God’s word will issue forth from his mouth and shall not return until it has fulfilled his will.

 

Wednesday: (Jonah 3) Jonah set out to Nineveh asking them to proclaim a fast and then repent. The king does repent and the Lord dropped his threat because they turned from evil.

 

Thursday: (Esther 3) Queen Esther appeals to God for help in converting the king’s heart for hatred of the enemy that threatens them.

Friday: (Ezekiel 18) If the wicked turns from sinfulness and keeps the Lord’s statutes, he will surely live. Likewise, if a virtuous man becomes wicked, he shall die. 

 

Saturday: (Deuteronomy 26) Moses tells the people to observe the Lord’s statutes and decrees with their whole heart and soul. The Lord will stand by you. 

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Matthew 25) Jesus tells his disciples about the last judgment when the goats and sheep will be separated. The measuring stick is the mercy shown to the most vulnerable.

 

Tuesday: (Matthew 6) The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. He tells them not to pray like the pagans, who seek honor and glory, and then gives them the Lord’s prayer. 

 

Wednesday: (Luke 11) Jesus chastises the crowd that seeks a sign, but none will be given to them. Because of Jonah’s preaching, the king and people repented.

 

Thursday: (Matthew 7) Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. The Father is generous, especially to those who love him.

 

Friday: (Matthew 5) Your righteousness must surpass the levels of the scribes and Pharisees in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Show righteousness by quickly settling disputes. 

 

Saturday: (Matthew 5) Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Heavenly Father. Be perfect as the Father is perfect.

 

Saints of the Week

 

February 22: The Chair of Peter is celebrated on this day. Previously, both Peter and Paul were remembered until their feast was transferred to June 29^th. As the custom was ingrained in practice, Christians continued to honor the contributions Peter made to the church as the first of the apostles in continuous succession.

 

February 23: Polycarp, bishop and martyr (69-155), was made bishop of Smyrna and was the leader of the second-generation Christians. He was a disciple of the apostle John and a friend of Ignatius of Antioch. He wrote catechesis and rites for initiation into the Christian community. He was martyred in 155 and is a Father of the early church. 

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• February 22, 1599. By order of Pope Clement VIII, the superiors general of the Jesuits and the Dominicans, assisted by others, met to settle, if possible, the controversies about grace. Nothing came of the meeting, since the Dominicans insisted on the condemnation of the writings of Fr. Molina. 
• February 23, 1551. The Roman College, the major school of the Society later to become the Gregorian University, began its first scholastic year with 15 teachers and 60 students. 
• February 24, 1637. The death of Francis Pavone. Inflamed by his words and holy example, sixty members of a class of philosophy that he taught and the entire class of poetry embraced the religious state. 
• February 25, 1558. St Aloysius Gonzaga received tonsure at the Lateran basilica. Within the next month he would receive the minor orders. 
• February 26, 1611. The death of Antonio Possevino, sent by Pope Gregory XIII on many important embassies to Sweden, Russia, Poland, and Germany. In addition to founding colleges and seminaries in Cracow, Olmutz, Prague, Braunsberg, and Vilna, he found time to write 24 books. 
• February 27, 1767. Charles III banished the Society from Spain and seized its property. 
• February 28, 1957. The Jesuit Volunteer Corps began.