4 March 2026 - drinking the chalice

Today's Readings
(Audio)

"Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom."

Maybe this was seen as damage control in light of the recent prediction by Jesus of his impending death. Maybe they could use their positions to help protect him from that inevitability. Or if, God forbid, something did happen to Jesus, at least they would have something to show for the time they spent with him. Or maybe they hadn't really even processed the prediction of the cross and were seeking the seats from a merely human desire for self-advancement. But whatever their motives, their perspective was still too limited. Their vision of greatness was still, apparently, too much like that of the rulers of the Gentiles who lord it over their subjects.

They were meant, finally, to receive honor and power in the Kingdom. But they were not meant to do so in the image of the world, but rather in the image of God. They first needed to become holy and merciful as God was himself holy and merciful so that they could wield power for the sake of loving service, as God did, and Jesus himself constantly demonstrated. Half the point of earthly authority seemed to be the power to avoid drinking the chalice of suffering. But the way Jesus used his divine authority was precisely to drink the chalice, to lay down his life for his friends.

My chalice you will indeed drink,
but to sit at my right and at my left,
this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.

In the first instance, those who were at his right and his left were two thieves. His throne was the cross, from which, though he appeared powerless, he reigned in love. It was not yet time for James and John to share in those positions of honor. They still needed more growth before they could share the chalice of Jesus. But one day they would. 

When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the two brothers.

The other ten failed to parse anything about the nature of power from what had been said thus far. They only heard that James and John were trying to get an edge on the rest of them, and establish themselves as greater than the others. They didn't clock the fact that Kingdom power was always tied to self-sacrificial love. The greatest among the disciples would be the ones who gave themselves most completely to love of God and love of neighbor. But they were too afraid of missing the starting gun of an earthly competition, too afraid that others might gain advantages and useful privileges while they were left in the dust. So Jesus spelled things out more directly.

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Our first reading today shows Jeremiah demonstrating the proper use of power and authority. In doing so he became very clearly a type and foreshadowing of Jesus himself.

Must good be repaid with evil
that they should dig a pit to take my life?
Remember that I stood before you
to speak in their behalf,
to turn away your wrath from them.

Even when the things we want are good things we tend to want them for the wrong reasons, or at least with mixed motives. We typically want the crown without the cross, sometimes specifically so that we can avoid the cross. But this only shows us how far our hearts are from love, and the degree to which we are not yet ready to be entrusted with Kingdom authority. But the world needs us to get ready. It needs the love which the Lord Jesus desires to show through us. We too are called to share the chalice, in ways unique to each of us. Let us pray to the Father that he prepares us for that day.

Brotherhood Of Hope - To Love You And To Make You Loved

 

3 March 2026 - rabbi bye

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.

The scribes and the Pharisees had legitimate teaching authority, and, for that matter, genuine knowledge of the Scriptures. But they did not practice what they knew, so as to become truly holy as God is holy. Instead they performed what they knew in a way that was convenient for them, that required no deep conversion, no real change of heart. They might well have often preached true things, things which their listeners would be required to observe. But they themselves did not practice them so as to present good examples worthy of imitation. One could observe the truth of their words. But if one went further and imitated their behavior it was likely that he would become like them, a hypocrite.

They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry
and lay them on people's shoulders,
but they will not lift a finger to move them.

The Pharisees weren't motivated by mercy. Since their hearts were hardened, they were unable to receive it and were in no position to demonstrate it toward others. Lacking the one correct motivation for sharing the truth they have to make do with lesser substitutes. They not only didn't mind that they were almost asking the impossible of their audience, they seemed to celebrate it. When someone collapsed under the weight of their teaching it was just another instance as someone could judge as inferior to themselves. Not, of course, that they really practiced the things they commanded. But by preaching in the way they did they seemed to come to believe in their own perfection. They performed just enough to make others think they were practicing, though their hearts were far from God. But the fact that others were willing to believe it helped them to reinforce their own illusions.

All their works are performed to be seen.
They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.

We may not know any teachers with massive phylacteries or giant tassels. But we all know teachers who are a bit over-invested in the idea of themselves as teachers, as sages and sources of wisdom. But this must be because they overestimate their own contributions on that score. It is not as though they are truly the sources of the wisdom for which they are admired. No one is really interested in something wisdom that was made up or created by man.  Rather, true teachers are valuable as conduits of wisdom for which they themselves cannot take credit. Moreover, even their ability to convey that wisdom is itself a gift of the Holy Spirit. As individuals, they are valuable precisely for their ability to surrender and get out of God's way. John the Baptist understood this when he said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (see John 3:30). Pride is the enemy of learning, both on the side of teachers, and on that of students. 

As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.'
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called 'Master';

We might be afraid to ever teach when we hear the high standards to which the Gospel holds those who do so: "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness" (see James 3:1). Yet instructing the ignorant is among the spiritual works of mercy. But we must do so on guard against the temptation to see ourselves as the source, or to present ourselves as infallible. It is desirable, and even possible, that we become good examples, worthy of imitation. We want to be able to say, together with Paul, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (see First Corinthians 11:1). But like him, we must not be afraid to admit that we are limited, finite, and fallible. We should be ready to repeat his words "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (see First Timothy 1:15). We know that God humbles the proud but exalts the humble. We want to be like Mary, ready to celebrate that fact.

John Michael Talbot - Holy Is His Name

 

2 March 2026 - blessed perspective

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.

We are often quick to judge, ready and waiting for an excuse to condemn others. We are more likely to assume the worst about the behavior of others. We are more ready to believe something was intentional, planned malice, rather than a momentary failure of self-control or a mistake. Even less do we bother imagine what sort of circumstances might make said behavior make sense. We do all this and then we come to expect that God has a similar bias toward us, that he is looking for an excuse to condemn us, waiting for any misstep of ours to send us to hell. We need to reevaluate, starting from the top down, learning to imitate God's merciful heart, rather than projecting our egotistical self-protective nature on him. We tend to judge others not for the sake of justice but to feel validated ourselves. But God has no such self-interested need, and is thus entirely free and available to show mercy.

Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.

It has been truly said that we can't outdo God in generosity. The more we willingly and readily forgive others the more we will experience the effects of his forgiveness in our own lives. The more we treat others merciful, as fallible creatures in need of grace, the more we ourselves will experience ourselves being treated by God in that way. As we ourselves act mercifully and forgive, we will experience the presence of God, the origin of all good and perfect gifts (see James 1:17), living and moving within us. There is no better gift than God himself.

We have sinned, been wicked and done evil;
we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.

Daniel himself had not done any of those things for which he plead guilty and asked God for mercy. But rather than asserting his own righteousness and judging others, he identified himself with them, pleaded for mercy for them as if for himself. It would have been easy for him to smugly look down on others while asking God to preserve only him. But he seemed to unite himself to the destiny of his people, such that he and they together would either receive the mercy for which he prayed, or else perish together. There was apparently no incentive to pray such a selfless prayer. But it was precisely through this prayer that massive blessings were unlocked not only for Israel, not only for subsequent generation, but even for Daniel himself, who grew closer to the Lord and became a type of Jesus by doing so.

Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name's sake.

 

Vineyard - Help Us Our God

 

1 March 2026 - from glory to glory

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,
and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them;
his face shone like the sun
and his clothes became white as light.

Moses had received the law on Mount Sinai and descended with his face shining, radiant with the light of God's glory. The Transfiguration revealed that it was the light of Jesus, the word of God, that made the face of Moses shine. He himself was the source of the light that shone from him like the sun. As God had met Moses on Sinai so too had he once met Elijah on a mountain in the form of a quiet voice. How could they be present with Jesus unless he himself transcended time and was present to all times and in all places? Jesus thus allowed his eternity to break into the normal world, to show forth through the normal veil that concealed it, for the benefit of Peter, James, and John. 

Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

At first Peter didn't know what to make of that which was revealed to him, didn't know how to process glory of that magnitude. He did his best to contextualize it in the traditions of his messianic hope. Perhaps in suggesting to build tents he was trying to prolong the experience, and may have thought it justified if the revelation meant that the messianic age had at last arrived. But he was overwhelmed and barely knew what he was saying. But this was not the culmination of the mission of Jesus. Peter was experiencing the already/not yet duality that would become a hallmark of Christian spiritual experience.

While he was still speaking, behold,
a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,
then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
listen to him.”

The Father's voice made it clear that there was a purpose to the Transfiguration. It was not the end of the journey. They would still need to descend the mountain together with Jesus and eventually witness something as dark and traumatic as the Transfiguration was bright and glorious, the passion of their Lord. The motive of the Transfiguration was thus that they would "listen to him", not to the 'them' of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, but to Jesus as the one who in himself summed up and fulfilled both the law and the prophets. As disciples, Peter, James, and John had been listening already. But now they were called to do so with even more complete trust in him than ever before, and to  keep listening, even when it seemed as though all was lost. It is true, of course, that they did not always listen well, even after the Transfiguration. But the experience planted a seed which would later help to give them strength to repent, return, and listen again. They were able to reflect back on the Transfiguration and realize that the cross could not possibly be the end of the story for such a one. It would give them, at least, the courage to hope.

and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel.

This appearance, this epiphany, had a preview during the Transfiguration. But it was made known to the world through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Even more than the Transfiguration forever changed Peter, James, and John, his resurrection is meant to transform all Christians. 

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (see Second Corinthians 3:18).

What strength do we receive from the Transfiguration? Let us listen to Saint Paul: "Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God".

Vineyard Worship - Shine Jesus Shine

 

28 February 2026 - breaking the cycle

Today's Readings
(Audio)

You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

They previously heard the commands of the law with the ears of minimalists. The law told them to love their neighbor, so they assumed that they were therefore free to hate their enemies. From a merely human perspective that made sense. In order to preserve themselves and not succumb to their enemies they thought they had to hate them. They may have believed that it was insufficient hatred for Gentiles that had caused such problems as their struggles during their desert journey, that made them long for what they left behind in Egypt. They probably assumed that it was the hatred of their enemies that allowed them to wrest control of the promised land from the various tribes who dwelt their. Moreover, the world seemed to have it out for them. From the Babylonians, to the Assyrians, to the Greeks, to the Romans, people seemed to be lining up for their turn to oppress them. It didn't seem like their was a realistic way to care for their own people without hatred for Gentiles. 

But I say to you, love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you

On the surface, the command of Jesus to love our enemies seems hugely impractical. It seems to require that we simply role over and admit defeat whenever we encounter opposition. Yet it is true that as nations we must sometimes still take decisive action to maintain a justice international order, and that, within nations, we must take steps against those who are lawless in order to keep the peace. But even when are at war, it does not mean the people with whom we fight are really are enemies. Even criminals have dignity as men and women made in the image of God, and are still capable, despite what many believe, of redemption. The point is not that we shouldn't preserve appropriate boundaries, but rather that we understand the reason for those boundaries. The good that God wants to protect by his command to love is not merely one or another group, but all. This was seen in the parable where it was in fact the Samaritan who was in fact the neighbor of the man beaten by robbers. He really did go the extra mile to provide for the wounded man, giving of his own time and resources to help him. In doing so he did something better than preserving a rigid boundary between Jews and Samaritans. He began to actually heal the wound. Rigid boundaries might seem necessary at times. But even if they are, they are like a tourniquet on a wound, meant to be eventually removed so that life can return in fullness.

that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

In the fall of Adam humanity signaled its desire to be separate from God, to have a barrier behind which they could make their own determinations about good and evil. But although God could not immediately restore things to how they had been, he spent the rest of history working to heal humanity's self-inflicted wounds of sin and division. We treated God like an enemy. Yet he did not merely destroy us, as he easily could have. While we were yet his enemies, as far as the disposition of our souls was concerned, he sent his Son to die for our sins. When Jesus came we acted as his enemies too, nailed him to the cross, and took his life. But he allowed us to do so, surrendered himself into our hands, so that by absorbing our hatred with a greater love he could make us his friends and his brothers. We will never rid this world of enemies by means of force, conquest, and victory. Violence is a cycle that more violence is insufficient to break. But we can still have hope for the future if we act as children of the heavenly Father, in the pattern given to us by his Son. We can rid the world of enemies, not by beating them, but by loving them until they become friends.

For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?

Love is meant to be more than repayment. It is something we are meant to show to others whether or not they have earned it. Reciprocity is relatively easy. We are capable of mutual affirmation amongst those with whom we are close. But we seldom wish to reach beyond those boundaries. We are generally willing to greet brothers and sisters. But what about when strangers cross our paths? Do we cross to the other side of the road, or rather, like the Samaritan, show them mercy?

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The Jewish people had often interpreted the call to be holy as God was holy in the sense that they were meant to be rigidly separated from the surrounding nations. And before the coming of Jesus that was perhaps the best that could be hoped. But by his coming Jesus opened and taught a new and better way, a way to more perfectly imitate God, to love neighbor and enemy, without the risk of succumbing the idolatry of the world around us. It wasn't something that merely human love could do. But Jesus gave his followers new hearts with which to love, hearts so full of the Holy Spirit that they could give and give without becoming empty, and therefore without being tempted to seek alternatives to God. Finally the call of God to his people through Moses could be realized.

Be careful, then,
to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.

Brooke Ligertwood - Bless God

 

27 February 2026 - the yes behind the no

Today's Readings
(Audio)

I tell you, 
unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.

We tend to begin Lent with a Pharisee-like focus on performative acts of religion and merely external compliance so as to tick as many boxes on the list of what, we imagine, a good Catholic ought to do. But the thing about stopping at the surface is that we can still be quite terrible on the inside, all the while putting on a good show for those around us, possibly even believing our own hype. But as for the Pharisees, so for us. Such righteousness is insufficient. 

Externally we may not be violating the letter of any laws, even if our hearts are not converted. But we may be acting against the spirit of those laws, or twisting their meaning to justify ourselves. We may fixate on the small details of our specific performance so as to ignore the larger and more important areas in which we know that we have room to grow. While claiming to follow the laws we may be cherishing in our hearts the very things they call us to reject.

But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment,
and whoever says to his brother, Raqa, 
will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,
and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna.

The point of the law against murder was not so that two people could live on in mutual hatred, celebrating each misstep the other made, or each disaster they experienced. It was not merely given by Moses to keep people safe from the hatred of others, although with no change of heart that was all the law could in fact accomplish. In denying murder it was not merely affirming the good of mutual nonaggression. Rather murder was rejected as a manifestation of a failure of relationship. It was because, as the Psalmist wrote, "how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" (see Psalm 133:1). The commandment, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" implicitly affirmed the goodness of human relationships and connections. Not only murder, but any kind of breakdown of relationships that could eventually end in murder, was rejected. Moreover, it tacitly implied what Jesus went on to teach.

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.

Neutrality was not enough. Relationships were a positive good that should, insofar as possible, be nourished. This is obviously an area in which we can really only have influence over our own hearts. We have no control over the feelings of the other party. But by actually getting through to that level, to the level of our heart, we will do much better than if we stop at the surface. We will be much more persuasive to those with whom we wish to be in relationship if we are, in fact, sincere, if we genuinely desire that relationship. Or at least if we know that we should, and want to want it, we will still be far beyond someone merely acting because of the pressure of an external legal requirement.

Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.

We may escape condemnation if we avoid mortal sin, or repent whenever we do fall into it. But even so, our hearts may yet have a debt to pay if we are still in some way cherishing sinful behaviors, even if we have avoided them, if we are still attached to sin in our hearts. It isn't necessarily an easy thing to attain conversion of heart, in the sense that it is never an immediate and permanent transformation. But we aren't going to avoid the necessity of doing so by delaying it. God has designed existence such that, after death, the souls who are united to him but not yet perfect can still experience the purification they did not complete on earth. After all, how could heaven by heaven if we still held hatred for others in our hearts? In heaven we and they will share life together, in complete transparency to one another, joining together in the praise of God, including praising him for the creation of the other. If there are those people in our world whose creation we cannot yet celebrate, we may still be in need of deeper conversion. This isn't surprising. That's what life is for. But we should add that the heart is not something we can convert ourselves.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (see Jeremiah 17:9).

What we need we can only receive as a gift. Or more precisely, we have received it. We have been given new hearts in baptism. But now we need to rely on the Spirit to help us put our old sinful self to death so that we can more and more live from the new hearts we have received.

Maranatha! Music - I Will Delight

 

26 February 2026 - prayer in practice

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.

We know that prayer isn't like magic. It doesn't usually bring results instantaneously to satisfy our whims or to give us that which merely seems good to us in the moment. That is why we often pray without any expectation that our prayers make a difference. We utter brief prayers in moments of desire and then forget about them entirely, only pausing later to confirm our suspicions that they were ineffective after all. 

Actual prayer that brings results seems to require that we invest something of ourselves into it. As with the widow who kept returning to the unjust judge until her demands were met we must persevere if we wish to receive what we ask. This isn't because there is any special power in our will that we have to build up sufficiently, or anything like that. It is rather because God uses prayer, not only to bless others, but to enlarge our own hearts. As with the leper who was brought before Jesus for healing but was first given the forgiveness of his sins we must be open to have our desires refined from those lesser things to those that God knows will conduce to our good. We may seek healing, when God first wants to offer us spiritual healing. We may ask for a loaf of bread or a fish. But God may respond by offering us more of his Holy Spirit. Though it is often the case that once we are willing to receive higher things from him it becomes safer for him to also give us lesser things as well, knowing that we won't turn them into idols.

For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, everyone who asks consistently, with faith, for matters necessary for salvation always receive from God. Why, then do we mistrust prayer? Why do we treat it like a lottery which we may only win if infinitesimally small odds happen to favor us? In part, no doubt, it is because we ask for things that aren't' ultimately part of the plan, and are not open to the better things God has for us instead. No doubt it is also because we are too quick to give up when the results are not immediate. But the reason that underlies both of these defects in our prayers is often our image of God. We do make him out to be an unjust judge, or someone just as likely to give us a stone or a snake as to give us fish or bread. We will pray better, and be more likely to receive answers, when we remember that God is a Father who desires to give us good things, more so even than our own parents desire for us.

Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the law and the prophets.

This golden rule is a separate point of the Sermon on the Mount. Yet it is connected to the principle of prayer. God does not give us anything whatsoever we ask of him. But rather he empowers us to love himself and others according to his divine wisdom. In a lesser but analogous way, we are not called to give others everything they want, but rather, the things we know will enable them to grow and to flourish. We know what these are particularly since we ourselves need the same things. It is true that God doesn't need anything from us. But he helps us act toward himself and his creatures in a way that makes us all grow and flourish together. He really is a good Father who desires to see his children thrive. So let's not give up after momentary disappointment. Instead, may we continue to seek him with all of our hearts.

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart (see Jeremiah 29:13).

Newsboys - Thrive