Today’s Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

I often insert myself into the Bible stories, so when I first read this parable, I immediately identified with the Master’s servants. The Master’s servants don’t get an easy time of it – here, they are beaten, stoned, and killed. It’s entirely possible some of us could face martyrdom in the course of working for our Master, too. That’s just part of our “employment package,” and as far as I’m concerned, it’s worth it. After all, why should I pride myself better than the Son, who met a brutal reception doing His Father’s business?

But, I also identify with the wicked tenants who are out to defraud the Landowner, even to the point of committing murder. How often have I sought to defraud my Master, volitionally or out of simple carelessness? How many times have I held something back – some resource, some part of myself? “This isn’t important, it’s only this little bit of money,” I try to hoard, or, “I can’t help this person, I have to look out for myself, here,” as I turn my back on a need presenting itself to me.

The fact is, the Master owns me. He bought me on that Cross. There is no “mine” – it’s all His, to command, to delegate, to collect. . .to harvest as He sees fit.

Ponder:

Have I given my all to my Master? Is there anything I’ve tried to except from His ownership of me?

Pray:

Heavenly Father, please help me to remember just how completely I belong to You – no exceptions, no compromises.

Copyright 2016 Laura Lowder

Laura Lowder was received into the Catholic Church in November, 2002, after more than 25 years as an evangelical Protestant. She is a Benedictine oblate and lay leader of her local oblate deanery. In addition to writing, Laura works in church music and teaches piano.

The post Daily Gospel Reflection for February 26, 2016 appeared first on CatholicMom.com – Celebrating Catholic Motherhood.

Today’s Gospel: Luke 16, 19-31

Today’s Gospel reminds me of the “Amazing Grace” verse that says, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”

Today’s parable is about a rich man who doesn’t notice the poor, sickly, and starving man lying at his door. If he does notice poor Lazarus, he certainly doesn’t help him. After they both pass away, the rich man looks up from the “netherworld” where he is being tormented, and sees Abraham comforting Lazarus. When the rich man asks Abraham for comfort, he is reminded that he lived a good life and didn’t help poor Lazarus even though he had the ability to do so.

In the afterlife, the roles of the two men are now reversed. The rich man will live in torment and Lazarus will live with God in heaven, healed, whole, happy.

To me, it is monumentally sad, tragic even, that the rich man never got to feel the joy of serving a person (or people) who really needed his help. He never got to look into Lazarus’ eyes and see the thanksgiving in them. He never made a difference.

God commands us to help the least of HIS people. As I write this, I feel monumentally blessed to be the kind of person that reaches out to help others and who knows so many great people who do more than I ever could. We were all taught the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have done to you! I leave you with this quote from one of my favorite people.

“Be the one!” ~ Mother Teresa

Ponder:

How can you use your time and talent to make our world a better – more loving, comforting, and hopeful place – for the least of your brethren?

Pray:

Dear Lord, I pray that You touch my heart and guide me in ways that encourage me to reach out and help my neighbors. Take me out of my comfort zone and mold me into a more giving and helpful person. Please keep me in Your light that I may never be lost to You and Yours. Amen!

Copyright 2016 Emily Davis

Emily Davis is Catholic convert, homeschooling mom, and 3rd grade religious ed teacher. She lives in the Fort Worth area with her husband Marque and son Christopher. She left her career in event planning and executive administration to stay home with her son who has Aspergers. She writes about faith, life, finances, homeschooling and crafting. davishomemarysmantle.blogspot.com

The post Daily Gospel Reflection for February 25, 2016 appeared first on CatholicMom.com – Celebrating Catholic Motherhood.

Today’s Gospel: Matthew 20:17-28

There is no shortcut to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus has just warned the twelve of his coming passion, and in an exquisite moment of bad timing, Salome, mother of James and John, requests that her son be granted honors when Jesus becomes king. On the very road to His passion, they still don’t get it.

Like us, they think things will continue as they always have. For James and John, that meant an earthly king with power to rule and grant favor. For us, it means that our conversions too often come without an expectation of the cross. We must drink the cup along with James and John, and in it we shall drink our trials and our hardships. Yet that cup is not filled with gall but with a share in the blood shed by the Lord, so our suffering doesn’t have to be meaningless. United to the cross in baptism, we participate in the saving work of Christ.

Everything is made new in Christ, and the old forms and meanings don’t hold. The apostles expect greatness in this world, not imagining that our glory only comes in the next. The apostles expect to sit at the side of the king while servants give them the choicest morsels on golden plates. Jesus had something else in mind for them, and us. They were to serve as he did, even unto death. And He Himself would provide the choicest of all morsels, not a golden plate, but from His very hands, and made of His very body.

Ponder:

Do we expect our faith to lift us up above all people and even all trials, or do we realize that we are closest to Christ in our brokenness and humility?

Pray:

Lord, help us to serve in our lives, and with our suffering, to help build up the Kingdom.

Copyright 2016 Thomas L. McDonald

Thomas L. McDonald is a writer, catechist, and historian. He blogs at God and the Machine.

The post Daily Gospel Reflection for February 24, 2016 appeared first on CatholicMom.com – Celebrating Catholic Motherhood.

Today’s Gospel: Luke 9, 28B-36 – Second Sunday of Lent

Have you ever found yourself watching a television show or talking on the phone and you started to fall asleep? You try to pay attention to the program, the other person, or situation but you can’t quite keep your eyes open. You start to drift off, missing a few words here, a couple sentences there. Soon, you’re not quite sure what’s happening and if you are talking to a friend, they’ll have told you to go to bed.

As I reflected on this incredible reading, the Transfiguration, I couldn’t help but notice a line I’ve missed all these years. Luke says “Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory…” Did you catch that? They were sleeping! For the whole conversation Jesus had with Moses and Elijah about what was going to happen in Jerusalem! It’s only as the two men were leaving that the disciples managed to open their sleepy eyes and recognize the miracle before them.

How often are we asleep to the miracles around us? How often do we miss an encounter with our Lord because we weren’t paying attention? I received a book for Christmas called Thrift Store Saints: Meeting Jesus 25¢ at a Time by Jane Knuth. The book chronicles Jane’s experiences volunteering at a St. Vincent de Paul store, and how she grew in awareness of Jesus’ presence in the store’s clients. Each chapter Jane shares a story of how the poor and homeless of Kalamazoo, Michigan, helped her not only grow spiritually, but encounter Jesus in each of them. She “woke up” to the reality of Jesus in the poor. Her book has challenged me to consider how awake I am to daily encounters with Jesus, especially in the faces of the poor and homeless.

Ponder:

What are some areas where you are sleepy, especially spiritually? What do you need to ask Jesus to open your eyes to so that you might see Him more clearly?

Pray:

Dear Jesus, please help us to be fully awake to the miracles You place in our lives every day. Let us see Your face in each person we encounter, recognizing them as a beloved child of God.

Copyright 2016 Kate Taliaferro

Kate Taliaferro is an Air Force wife, mom of 3 under 4. She enjoys homeschooling her two oldest while chasing her early-walking, food-scattering-loving baby. She has a Masters in Religious Education and tries to find God’s presence in all parts of her day, be it cooking, cleaning or just the everyday ordinary. Follow her blog, Daily Graces to join her crazy, adventurous, God-filled family.

The post Daily Gospel Reflection for February 21, 2016 – Second Sunday of Lent appeared first on CatholicMom.com – Celebrating Catholic Motherhood.

Today’s Gospel: Matthew 5, 43-48

Today’s Gospel read cuts right to the chase. Jesus doesn’t give a way out or alternatives. He is very specific, perhaps painfully so: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” As I write this reflection I am preparing my heart and home for another deployment, another extended period of time when my children will not be tucked in by their father, when we will have an empty place at our table, when I will pray every night that if one of my children needs me during the night, the others will sleep soundly so I don’t have to choose who to comfort first.

Love my enemies? Pray for those who persecute me? This Gospel reading challenges me to stop and think critically about my present situation. I have a husband who is going to war. Every day, there is a clear and distinct enemy who does not have his best interests at heart or those of other warriors like him. How do I pray for these people? How do I love someone when they wish the opposite for me, my husband, and other soldiers and warriors? How do I wish for their good, when they so clearly do not wish for mine?

I have come to realize that it’s not about them.

It’s about me. It’s about how far I’m willing to trust God. God is not asking me to reconcile the nations, He is asking me to reconcile my heart. God created all of His creation good and He asks that each of us see it in that light. Regardless of who these people are, where they live, what they believe, they were made in the image and likeness of God. Before they are anything else, they are God’s children, they are my brother and my sister.

Ponder:

Who is your enemy? Why do you see them as an enemy? How can you incorporate them into your prayer life in a positive, meaningful way?

Pray:

Dear heavenly Father, please be with all of those at war this day. Regardless of which side they stand for, I ask you to look kindly upon them and bring them home safely to their families. Inspire in their leaders’ hearts the ways of peace, justice and dignity for all men and women of the world.

Copyright 2016 Kate Taliaferro

Kate Taliaferro is an Air Force wife, mom of 3 under 4. She enjoys homeschooling her two oldest while chasing her early-walking, food-scattering-loving baby. She has a Masters in Religious Education and tries to find God’s presence in all parts of her day, be it cooking, cleaning or just the everyday ordinary. Follow her blog, Daily Graces to join her crazy, adventurous, God-filled family.

The post Daily Gospel Reflection for February 20, 2016 appeared first on CatholicMom.com – Celebrating Catholic Motherhood.

Today’s Gospel: Matthew 5, 20-26 – Day of Abstinence

Jesus is challenging our concept of sin today. Throughout Matthew 5 we hear about how sin goes beyond just committing physical acts that harm ourselves or others. Sin also includes our attitudes and thoughts as well, which can be much more difficult to master. Jesus’ challenge reminds me of all of the times I’ve been angry at someone:

When I was angry at my boss or a close friend’s boss at work who made life difficult for them.

When I was angry at a roommate for leaving a mess, or for giving me a hard time for not being generous to them.

When I was angry at my parents as a child when they made me do something I didn’t want to do.

But Jesus is not trying to make us feel awful about the times when we got mad. He wants to stress the importance of seeking forgiveness. “Go first and be reconciled.”

There is a reason Jesus says this needs to be done before bringing a gift to the altar. A lack of forgiveness hurts our relationship with God and with each other. That’s why we as Catholics are encouraged to receive the sacrament of reconciliation as often as possible – it helps our relationships with him and with the other people in our lives.

None of us are perfect enough to enter the kingdom of heaven by our own merits. It is God’s grace and forgiveness that gets us there, which we receive simply by asking for it. Jesus’ instruction to ask forgiveness from your brother before he hands you over to the judge applies when we need to ask another person for forgiveness, but also when we need to ask God for forgiveness and when we need to ask ourselves for forgiveness too.

Ponder:

Who do I need to ask for forgiveness from? Who do I need to forgive for wronging me, either by talking to them or simply forgiving them in my own heart?

Pray:

Lord, help me to avoid anger towards those who frustrate me, and ask for forgiveness from them when I act out on that anger. Help me to love like you do and always see the good in those around me.

Copyright 2016 Alex Johannigman

Alex Johannigman is a business analyst by day, theology graduate student by night, youth minister on the weekends, and blogger at All That Catholic Jazz when he should be sleeping. He developed a love for the homeless after serving as a missionary with Christ in the City and he enjoys teaching about St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

The post Daily Gospel Reflection for February 19, 2016 appeared first on CatholicMom.com – Celebrating Catholic Motherhood.

Today’s Gospel: Matthew 7, 7-12

Jesus urges us to ask God for what is good for us, reminding us that God only wants to give us what is good for us.
God wants us to have what is good for us.
God wants to give us what is good for us.
God wants us to ask for what is good for us.
God wants us to do what is good for us.
God wants us to know that when we do what is good for others, we have done what is good for us.

God knows what we need, and it’s not all about the creature comforts and the shallow things that we might find ourselves wanting. Our challenge is letting go of the desire to tell God what we think we need, to ask for the Lord to give us what is best for us, to seek ways to do what is good for others, to knock on that door to the Kingdom that will be opened to those who believe, trust and surrender our wills to His.

Today, may we seek to serve others with the same abundant, generous love God shows to us, to seek His Kingdom by serving Him and those around us.

Ponder:

When I ask God for something, am I asking for what I think is good for me rather than what God knows is good for me?

Pray:

Lord, help me to trust in your goodness and providence. Help me to abandon my ideas of what is good for me and accept your will for me.

Copyright 2016 Barb Szyszkiewicz, OFS

Barb Szyszkiewicz, OFS is a married mom of three and a secular Franciscan. Barb maintains two blogs, Franciscanmom and Cook and Count and is an editorial consultant for CatholicMom. She volunteers at the school library and enjoys Notre Dame football and basketball.

The post Daily Gospel Reflection for February 18, 2016 appeared first on CatholicMom.com – Celebrating Catholic Motherhood.

Today’s Gospel: Luke 11:29-32

Implicit in today’s Gospel, we are given this phrase: “Seek and Find.” When you think of this phrase, what comes to mind? The people who gathered listening to Jesus’ preaching were demanding (to seek and find) a sign. To this, Jesus describes the current generation as “evil,” and talks about Jonah, the sign to the Ninevites, and the Son of Man, the sign of the current generation.

“At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here” (Luke 11:32). In this season of Lent and after reading the Gospel, I come to find this phrase about seeking and finding not only the Son of Man, but also the Son of Man seeking and finding in what He does in our lives. Lent is the season in which we are called to repent, grow in our relationship with God, and have a deeper understanding of God.

The real heart of Catholic spirituality is growing in our personal relationship with Jesus; through the three points of Lent (prayer, fasting, and almsgiving), we are able to grow in that relationship. Prayer: Hear & Listen to Jesus. Fasting: Sacrifice of self. Almsgiving: Giving to God.

Throughout this Lenten season, I have a mission for you: Go to confession, and “Seek and Find” the Lord in your life as you grow in the relationship you have with Him! May God bless you as you journey through your life with Him.

Ponder:

Do I LISTEN to Jesus’ Word, SEE Jesus’ presence in my life and those around me, and FEEL Jesus’ unconditional love for me through His Body & Blood?

Pray:

Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen. St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!

Copyright 2016 Kevin Baker

Kevin Baker is a sixteen year old sophomore at Bishop Feehan High School and the Online Assistant at St. John the Evangelist Parish, both in Attleboro, MA. Kevin is discerning the call to the priesthood, and is the founder of the blog, Our Catholic Faith.

The post Daily Gospel Reflection for February 17, 2016 appeared first on CatholicMom.com – Celebrating Catholic Motherhood.

Today’s Gospel: Matthew 6, 7-15

I have an M.O., a behavior pattern, which drives me to protect myself. It shows its ugly head in assorted scenarios, but it materializes in a special way when I am overly worried or anxious or stressed about something. Protecting myself in these situations translates into becoming obsessed with assessing all possibilities in front of me, anticipating every possible scenario.

Like a lawyer preparing for trial, I think and overthink—even conducting complete and detailed conversations with myself where I outline not only what could happen, but also how I will respond, or what I will say.

A few years ago I shockingly realized that my physical therapist, my acupuncture doctor, and my spiritual director were actually all telling me the same thing: Open up your chest. Breathe as deep as you can. Let yourself be vulnerable, open, and genuine!

In truth, it takes a lot of discipline—and a deliberate choice—to stop the madness in my head in order to live open to the present moment, not worrying or fearful about the future.

I think this is what Jesus is talking about when He reminds us that ours is a loving Father whom we can trust, in whom we can rest, a Father with whom we can feel safe. This doesn’t mean we won’t experience hardship or hurt. It does mean we can be certain that God’s will for us is always grounded in love—and in His desire that one day we will join Him in Eternal Life.

With confidence, then, I can declare “your will be done,” certain that my Father will provide me my “daily bread.” I choose to trust in a God who wants to be present in whatever does happen. And when I do, I am shown first-hand the great and marvelous things that God has in mind for those who love Him.

Ponder:

My Lord, what are you trying to show me? What part of myself am I holding back? What specific area in my life can I offer up to my Father today?

Pray:

Heavenly Father, with confidence and assurance, I place my family in your hands. May your will be done in my life and in my heart.

Copyright 2016 Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda

María has published broadly in the U.S., including the New York Times, St. Anthony Messenger, Our Sunday Visitor and other national and regional publications. She is a mom of four awesome adult children and six phenomenal grands. She’s published six books, and contributed to numerous more. Her latest book is The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run: Father Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma. Maria blogs about finding God in daily life at DaybyDaywithMaria.blogspot.com.

The post Daily Gospel Reflection for February 16, 2016 appeared first on CatholicMom.com – Celebrating Catholic Motherhood.

Today’s Gospel: Matthew 25, 31-46

As a mom, it’s easy for me to hear today’s Gospel and think “I’m totally nailing this! I give drink, visit the grounded (that’s like being imprisoned, right?), comfort the sick and I’ve clothed plenty of naked bums. I got this!” Part of being a Mom is doing most of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy on a daily basis. I can coast through Mass, mentally patting myself on the back for a job well done and just sure of not going to that place of everlasting punishment.

Our Lord has a sense of humor: enter in my son with autism. As any one with a child on the spectrum knows, it’s a whole new ballgame. Providing drink to the thirsty turns into water at just the right temperature in THAT cup, to a child who has no problem wandering out of the house randomly, and those bums of his that need to be clothed will absolutely NOT be clothed in denim. Sweats only.

Suddenly, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy became drastically harder. And even more important. As Our Lord says – when we do these humble tasks to the “least of these brothers” we do them to Him. In those times when I thought I had the right cup for the water and I don’t, or when salsa is put on the chips as opposed to cheese, and when I’m holding my son (who almost weighs half as much as I do) as he convulses through another meltdown; I hear His voice whisper in my soul – you do this to Me.

I can’t say I understand my son or his struggles, but I can serve him – truly, one of Our Lords ‘least brothers’. In serving him, I see the face of God.

Ponder:

Has the Lord ever taken you out of your comfort zone to show you where you need to grow? How has He shaken you out of complacency and into some place new and different, but beautiful?

Pray:

O Lord, who through Your infinite grace and mercy has given me the ability to fulfill the works of mercy to the children You have entrusted to me, grant me the grace to remember that in serving them, I am serving you at the same time. Amen.

Copyright 2016 Kim W.

I am a Catholic convert (Class of 2006), a Benedictine Oblate, and a homeschooling mother of four kids. I love the Faith, Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, books, and monkeys. When I grow up, I want to be a saint.

The post Daily Gospel Reflection for February 15, 2016 appeared first on CatholicMom.com – Celebrating Catholic Motherhood.