Learning to have a heart that is moved (Pope Leo XIV)

    If Christ shows us the face of a compassionate God, then to believe in him and to be his disciples means allowing ourselves to be changed and to take on his same feelings. It means learning to have a heart that is moved, eyes that see and do not look away, hands that help others and soothe their wounds, shoulders that bear the burden of those in need. 

--Pope Leo

Image source 1: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-07/pope-leo-hope-is-source-of-joy-no-matter-our-age.html
Image source 2: https://www.today.com/parenting-guides/want-raise-empathetic-children-here-s-what-know-t177606
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Fiercely kind (Laura Jean Truman)

God,

Keep my anger from becoming meanness.

Keep my sorrow from collapsing into self-pity. 

Keep my heart soft enough to keep breaking. 

Keep my anger turned towards justice, not cruelty.

Remind me that all of this, every bit of it, is for love. 

Keep me fiercely kind. 

--Laura Jean Truman 

Image source 1: https://www.facebook.com/groups/387096378163324
Image source 2: https://fiercekindness.com/introducing-key-fierce-kindness-practice-tool-the-kindometer/
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The way to right wrongs (Ida B. Wells / St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata)

The way to right wrongs is
to turn the light of truth upon them.

 --Ida B. Wells

    When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed. 

--St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata 

Image source: A Missionaries of Charity nun talks with a man at a home for the dying in Kolkata, India, Sept. 4. The lunch took place during Mother Teresa’s canonization in Rome. https://catholicphilly.com/2016/09/news/world-news/mother-teresa-do-small-things-with-great-love-2/
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We bring God's life to others (Bishop Robert Barron)

    Friends, in [Sunday’s] Gospel, Jesus uses the images of salt and light to show how we are to bring salvation to the world. In our rather privatized and individualistic culture, we tend naturally to think of religion as something for ourselves designed to make our lives richer or better. Now there is a sense in which that is true, but on the biblical reading, religiosity is like salt, light, and an elevated city: it is meant not for oneself but for others. 

    Perhaps we can bring these two together by saying that we find salvation for ourselves precisely in the measure that we bring God’s life to others. The point is that we followers of Jesus are meant to be salt, which effectively preserves and enhances what is best in the society around us. We effectively undermine what is dysfunctional in the surrounding culture. 

    We are also light by which people around us come to see what is worth seeing. By the very quality and integrity of our lives, we shed light, illuminating what is beautiful and revealing what is ugly. The clear implication is that, without vibrant Christians, the world is a much worse place. 

--Bishop Robert Barron

Image source 1: https://maymanamarket.co.uk/food-cooking/enhance-flavour-with-salt-how-a-sprinkle-transforms-taste-in-seconds-2904/
Image source 2: https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/09/why-salt-enhances-flavor/
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, February 8, 2026: You are the salt of the earth...

You are the salt of the earth...
 But what does it mean to be salt? 

    When Jesus, in our reading from Matthew’s Gospel this Sunday, tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth and light of the world, he wants them to believe that they themselves are able to enhance the lives of others as they bring God’s love to bear on those lives. Salt enhances flavor; light brings life. In all that we do, Jesus suggests, we are called to live our lives for others, enhancing their lives. We are graced so that we can bring the love of God to all we meet, by living the gospel in their midst, thus revealing God’s love in action. 

    In fact, Jesus is echoing a key idea in Isaiah, where the Lord reveals that true social morality results in life-giving justice for all: Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. We are called to live lives of compassion, seeing the need around us, and meeting it in such a way as to equalize the situation at hand. But it means we can’t just talk about justice: we have to do justice, participate, act. Moreover, to be authentic, such behavior must come from the depths of who we are, and must reflect our own openness to and trust in God. Such a person—one who is in right relationship with God—is described more fully in Psalm 112: s/he is gracious (the source of grace and blessing for other), merciful, and just. When our compassion recognizes our source and our commonality, we respond out of that commonality. We can thus be a blessing to other, and God is revealed in us. 

    For Paul writing to the Corinthians, such knowledge of God is focused first and foremost on Jesus Christ and him crucified. The paradox of the Cross lies in the fact that salvation comes from a criminal: the love of Jesus dying for our sins transcends the embarrassment and humiliation of a crucified Savior. If you know this, know it not only in your mind but in your heart, you will experience God’s love in the depths of your being, and can only respond to the experience of such love with faith and humility, in complete service to other. Enhancing the lives of others, you are salt. It’s as simple as that. 

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

The preferential choice for the poor (Pope Leo)

          The preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society, if only we can set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry. 

        Those who follow Jesus must tread the path of the Beatitudes, where poverty of spirit, meekness, mercy, hunger and thirst for justice, and peace-making are often met with opposition and even persecution. Yet God’s glory shines forth in his friends and continues to shape them along the way, passing from conversion to conversion. 

--Pope Leo      

Image source: Br. Mickey McGrath, The Preferential Option for the Poor, https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/option-for-the-poor-and-vulnerable
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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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