To 'inherit the earth' (Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

    What does it mean to ‘inherit the earth’? To be a superstar? To be rich and famous? To have power over others? To walk into a room and be instantly recognized and admired as being significant and important? Is that the way we ‘inherit the earth’? Or, do we ‘inherit the earth’ when a coldness is melted in our hearts and we are brought back to our primal goodness by the smile of a baby? What does it mean to you? 

 --Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI 

Image source: https://www.todaysparent.com/baby/baby-development/when-do-babies-smile-2/
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Blessed are (Henri Nouwen)

   "Blessed are the poor,” he said. Jesus is poor, not in control, but marginal in his society. What good can come from Nazareth? 

   “Blessed are the gentle,” he said. Jesus does not break the bruised reed. He always cares for the little ones. 

 

   “Blessed are those who mourn,” he said. Jesus does not hide his grief, but lets his tears flow when his friend dies and when he foresees the destruction of his beloved Jerusalem. 

   “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice,” he said. Jesus doesn't hesitate to criticize injustice and to defend the hungry, the dying, and the lepers. 

   “Blessed are the merciful,” he said. Jesus doesn't always call for revenge but heals always and everywhere. 

   “Blessed are the pure in heart,” he said. Jesus remains focused only on what is necessary and does not allow his attention to be divided by many distractions. 

   “Blessed are the peacemakers,” he said. Jesus does not stress differences, but reconciles people as brothers and sisters in one family. 

   “Blessed are those who are persecuted,” he said. Jesus does not expect success and popularity, but knows that rejections and abandonment will make him suffer. 

   The Beatitudes give us Jesus' self-portrait. It is the portrait of a powerless God. 

--Henri Nouwen

 

Image source: https://jacksoncommunitychurch.org/reflections-on-beatitudes-and-blessings-themes-from-matthew/
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Consider your calling (Beth Ford McNamee)

    In today’s readings we are given an invitation to become a part of God’s reigning of justice. An upside down, turn your world around, reigning of justice. Where the lowly are raised up, the blind see, the hungry are fed, and the imprisoned are set free, the psalmist proclaims. Where God chooses the foolish of the world to shame the wise and chooses the weak of the world to shame the strong, Paul tells us. Seek justice, seek humility, the prophet Zephaniah exhorts us. Seek humility that no human being might boast before God. Seek humility, for we are in Christ Jesus, the wisdom of God. Seek humility, the very ground and birth of our being from God's fierce and tender love, a radical love that does justice, a justice that we are called to work for with others, especially learning from those on the margins. 

    Consider your calling, Paul says. Can we show up for this upside-down reigning of God? Can we place ourselves in spaces where we are not trying to be first, best, or boasting before God and others? Can we place ourselves instead in marginal spaces, place ourselves in humility before the sacredness of one another, to become people of authentic encounter, kinship, and relationship? 

    Consider your calling. God is calling us.... Welcome to your calling. Welcome to your calling that is blessedness, that is humility, that is fierce and passionate love, that is encounter, kinship, and relationship, that is collaborative and creative restructuring of our societies. So that the oppressed are set free, the lowly are lifted up, the mourning are comforted, and the hungry are not hungry in the first place. So that we may celebrate and join together in the Eucharistic banquet where no one is outside of God’s overflowing, abundant, and compassionate love. For this, let us rejoice and be glad! 

--Beth Ford McNamee    

Image source: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/why-you-should-literally-look-at-the-world-upside-down/
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Bringing peace through justice (Fr. Greg Boyle / Benoît Standaert)

I suspect that, were kinship our goal,
we would no longer be promoting justice
– we would be celebrating it.

 --Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ,
Homeboy Industries

    Whenever we strive to bring a little more peace through justice here on earth and, in whatever form, change sadness into happiness, heal broken hearts, or assist the sick and the weak, we arrive directly at God, the God of the resurrection. 

--Benoît Standaert 

Image source: Edvard Munch, The Sick Child (1907), https://medium.com/@leila.tayebifard/depictions-of-disease-in-art-history-70cf039445ff
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If I say I am a Christian (Pope Francis)

Whatever you did for
the least of these brothers of mine,
you did for me.

--Matthew 25:40 

    You cannot be a Christian without living like a Christian. You cannot be a Christian without practicing the Beatitudes. You cannot be a Christian without doing what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 25. It’s hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of your help. If I say I am a Christian, but do these things, I’m a hypocrite. 

--Pope Francis

Image source: Pope Francis meets with refugees, November 2014, https://slmedia.org/blog/pope-francis-meets-with-young-refugees-before-his-departure-from-turkey
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, February 1, 2026: Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth...

Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth…
 Do you need God? 

    When the prophet Zephaniah exhorts the people to seek justice and humility, he is offering them a path to finding God. For, in order to seek justice, we must first make room for God in our lives, embracing humility; justice flows from our willingness to be in right relationship with God, to be a people humble and lowly who take refuge in the Lord, recognizing that it is only through God that any human action is possible. And, after all, Psalm 146 reminds us that it is precisely the humble – the oppressed, the hungry, captives, the blind, those who were bowed down – who receive help from the Lord, and who can then, in turn, bring life-giving justice to others, God’s justice, born of right relationship. 

    In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus elaborates on the promise of Psalm 146, beginning with a blessing for the poor in spirit and the meek, those who know they need God, who seek not control but a measure of God’s love in their lives. From beginning to end, the Beatitudes invite all of us to live in a way that demonstrates that we do need God, for God is necessary to the fullness of life; without God, after all, what depth of meaning can we find in human existence? In the epistle, the Corinthians seem to have forgotten this lesson; Paul reminds them that God chose the foolish of the world – the humble of heart, the poor in spirit – to shame the wise, for God can only work through humble hearts open to God’s action in their lives. In that kingdom of inversion, the only kingdom in which true justice is possible, we seek the Lord, struggling to hold him, rather than worldly distractions, at the center of our lives. Isn’t this why we come to church each week, to recognize our need for God, the fact that God has a place in our everyday existence? Yes, we need God: we need God’s presence; we need God’s love. To walk the path of justice can only mean a self-emptying humility that recognizes this imperative need, and opens to it. 

This “vintage” post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture Class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

One small white candle (Penny Hackett-Evans)

For friends who have challenges 

I write to say
I am sending you light.
Tiny light –
One match struck.
The first spark
for your dry kindling.
Or maybe a pinprick
of starlight coming from
millions of miles and years
just into your dark room.
Or maybe one small white candle,
warm wax dripping into the cold. 

Or the light of one glow worm 

making a hazy green mysterious spot. 

Not to overwhelm this darkness 

where you shelter. But only 

to remind you 

that you are accompanied 

there by the softest hope. 

--Penny Hackett-Evans 

Image source 1: OLMC Easter Vigil, Holy Week 2025, https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1116337687198311&type=3 
Image source 2: OLMC's "Chosen" meeting during Advent 2025, photographer D. Gutierrez,  https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1328667322632012&set=pb.100064662700877.-2207520000
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