Monday | June 10, 2024
Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
10th Week of Ordinary Time
God's Goodness
I have struggled to understand this beatitude. Perhaps we can become “poor in spirit” over time. Experiencing difficulties in our lives and in lives of others in our human family, we learn that we are not in control of everything that happens. We begin to notice goodness and realize it is given to us; it did not belong to us. We feel real gratitude for what we may have taken for granted—health, nutritious food, loved ones, a home.
We may have seen these as “just normal” until we have some loss or see others who experience their lack. Then we learn they are real gifts, blessings from God.
Dear God, all goodness comes from you. The Kingdom of Heaven is both right here and not yet. When we experience your Presence in the goodness of the present moment, ours is the Kingdom right here.
- Patricia Livingston
1 Kings 17:1-6 • Psalm 121:1-8 • Matthew 5:1-12
Sunday | June 09, 2024
Psalm 130:1
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
10th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mercy Within Mercy
Today’s psalm has to be one of the most consoling ones in the entire Psalter. It begins with a declaration of deep trouble: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.” We have all experienced such depths: a serious illness, an addiction, the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, a natural disaster, a major disappointment, fear of the future, shame for our wrong doings. But then the psalmist says to God: “…with you is forgiveness…is kindness…is plenteous redemption” (vv. 4, 7-8).
These words remind me of the description of God given by the Trappist monk Thomas Merton: “God is mercy within mercy within mercy.” If this is true, how could we ever be afraid to call out to this God—no matter what depths we find ourselves in?
God of Mercy, give me a deeper sense of your kindness and forgiveness. And help me to live these qualities in my own life.
- Sr. Melannie Svoboda, S.N.D.
Genesis 3:9-15 • Psalm 130:1-8 • 2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1 • Mark 3:20-35
Saturday | June 08, 2024
Luke 2:49
Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?
The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Taking Care of Business
In some translations, the question that 12-year-old Jesus asks his parents is, “Did you not know that I would be about my Father’s business?” For it’s not just where he was that mattered, it was what he was doing. He was at work, immersing himself in Scripture and going head-to-head with the astonished teachers. He was clearly meant for bigger things. As are we.
Our Baptism and life of faith calls us beyond the ordinary. Should the Lord come looking for us today, what will he find us doing? Will we be so immersed in the work of our human lives that we have forgotten to bring the Word of God and the person of Jesus with us? Or will the Lord smile and say: “Aha! I thought I would find you here taking care of my business!”
Lord, find me at work in your house, doing your will.
- Steve Givens
2 Timothy 4:1-8 • Psalm 71:8-9, 14-17, 22 • Luke 2:41-51
Friday | June 07, 2024
Ephesians 3:19
…to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Meeting at the Dugout
These are among my favorite verses in Scripture. At 16, during free time at a teen retreat, I wandered to the ballfields behind church where I used to play softball. I sat on the dugout bench with my new pocket-sized New Testament and turned to a random page—today’s reading from Ephesians.
Suddenly, God was there on that bench—a divine encounter as the Holy Spirit opened my heart to the “love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.” Filled with the “fullness” of God, I knew the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ’s love for me. It was a moment. And a transformational shift from head-knowledge to heart-knowledge of God.
Jesus is in search of our hearts. His loving heart works in mysterious ways, but his Presence is manifest in Scripture and the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. May we know him, trust him and live for him.
- Pat Gohn
Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9 • Isaiah 12:2-6 • Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19 • John 19:31-37/em>
Thursday | June 06, 2024
2 Timothy 2:12
If we persevere…
St. Norbert
God Never Walks Away
There is so much we bear daily in our human condition: illness, grief, loss, pain, loneliness and disappointments. However, if we trust that God is faithful, we will persevere.
If we persevere, we will understand that God’s love is unchained and eternal. If we persevere, we will understand and know that if we die in any way, we will surely rise into new life, so why be afraid?
If we persevere, we will find that our grief and disappointments do not stay with us, but God’s friendship and companionship remain long after. If we persevere, we will see that there has never been a moment when God walked away from us or left us in despair.
If we persevere, we will understand how eager God has been to heal our every wound.
Loving God, help me persevere.
- Vivian Amu
2 Timothy 2:8-15 • Psalm 25:4-5, 8-10, 14 • Mark 12:28-34
Wednesday | June 05, 2024
Mark 12:24
Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
St. Boniface
Scriptural Instructions
I was on the deck assembling our new gas grill. It was a bright yet sweltering August day. I took the instruction manual and tossed it to the side. “How hard could it be?” I asked myself. “Just get it started.” I’m sure that it took me at least twice as long as it should have to piece together the new stainless-steel marvel. Additionally, I ended up in the hospital emergency department the next day, suffering from dehydration because I didn’t even stop for water breaks as I fumbled through the project.
If it’s important to know how to put a gas grill together or an entertainment center or even a tricycle on Christmas Eve, how much more important is it to be familiar with the ways of the Lord? Let us not be foolish enough to toss Scripture to the side. Being unfamiliar with the Scriptures can lead to spiritual dehydration. And, subsequently, to being easily misled.
- Terence Hegarty
2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12 • Psalm 123:1-2 • Mark 12:18-27
Tuesday | June 04, 2024
Mark 12:14
Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion.
My Audience of One
Opinions once mattered greatly to me. I was a people pleaser, anticipating other’s needs from an early age. But, as most people pleasers find, you can’t appease everyone—especially if, like the Pharisees in today’s Gospel, their desires are ill-intended. Jesus saw straight through it all. He spoke truth to hardened hearts, telling them to give to Caesar what was Caesar’s but, more importantly, to give to God what was God’s. Yes, some walked away. And that was okay. With Jesus’ focus on the Father, he would never please everyone. And neither should I.
In emulating Jesus, I learned to see beyond others’ motives and make the Father’s opinion my true focus. There was such freedom in discovering that I needn’t play before all the others when God was my audience.
Thank you, Lord, for showing me that you are my audience of one—and the one opinion that truly matters.
- Kathleen Swartz McQuaig
2 Peter 3:12-15a, 17-18 • Psalm 90:2-4, 10, 14, 16 • Mark 12:13-17
Monday | June 03, 2024
Mark 12:10-11
Have you not read this Scripture passage: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?
St. Charles Lwanga and Companions
EThe Cornerstone
After being challenged by the elders concerning the source of his authority, Jesus tells a parable about tenants in a vineyard. The vineyard owner dispatches various servants to the tenants to bring back some of the fruits of the vineyard as payment. Every messenger was beaten or killed until finally, the vineyard owner “had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all” (v. 6). This son, this heir, they also killed.
A cornerstone is, as its name implies, a stone at the corner of a building. It’s a core around which everything else takes shape. Jesus points to himself as the rejected stone who paradoxically becomes foundational, essential and of primary importance.
Jesus, beloved son, be the core around which every part of my life takes shape and finds meaning.
- Sr. Chris Koellhoffer, I.H.M.
2 Peter 1:2-7 • Psalm 91:1-2, 14-16 • Mark 12:1-12
Sunday | June 02, 2024
Mark 10:38
Take it; this is my body.
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Eucharistic Hunger
Every great saint whose history I have read had an intense devotion to the Eucharistic presence of Christ. I believe it is a sign of sanctity. There is even a charism that some of the mystics had called “hierognosis.” When the Eucharistic species was present, although not visible, these mystics knew that Jesus was present.
We do not have such a special gift. Despite the fact that we do not “see,” yet we believe. We express this belief when we genuflect in front of the tabernacle. When the minister of the Eucharist says, “The Body of Christ,” we respond, “Amen.” We, like the mystics, have a Eucharistic hunger that draws us to celebrate the Mass and to receive.
Jesus, we reverence your Eucharistic presence. As we feed on your Body and Blood, draw us into a more intimate union with you.
- Msgr. Stephen Rossetti
Exodus 24:3-8 • Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18 • Hebrews 9:11-15 • Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
Saturday | June 01, 2024
Jude 20
Build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit.
St. Justin
A ‘Least-Likely’ Saint
When the future St. Justin the Martyr was in his youth, he was far from an aspiring saint. If there had been school yearbooks in the Roman world of the 2nd-century A.D., Justin probably would have been voted “Least Likely to Become a Saint.” Justin was busily exploring every errant belief and wayward thought system of his era, searching frantically for what would bring him peace. His heart was nudging his intellect.
Fortunately, Justin eventually found his way home to the Gospel, and it was there that he remained. Justin’s steadily warming love for Jesus amidst his conversion led him toward the courage to ultimately offer his life for the sake of the Gospel as a martyr. Even if we will not necessarily encounter martyrdom, may St. Justin inspire us to align the mind with the heart and thus rest in Christ’s love.
Lord God, spurred by the example of St. Justin, draw us to seek and find you and your holy will.
- Mr. Justin McClain, O.P.
Jude 17, 20-25 • Psalm 63:2-6 • Mark 11:27-33
