Category: Catholic

Greetings on this the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a; Psalm 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33

Summary

Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.” (Mt 14:33).
Later in Matthew, Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Mt 16:16).

Reflection

• The Walking on the Water has been our gospel reading this past Monday and Tuesday and again today.
• On Monday we considered doubt: Why did you doubt?
• On Tuesday we considered the response: Put Your hand in The Hand

Today we arrive at recognition: “Truly, you are the Son of God.”

We can glean the context with the first reading from First Kings: At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. The Lord revealed himself in an amazingly gentle and simple way.

Not in the strong winds.
Not in the earthquake.
Not in the raging fire.

But in a tiny whispering sound. The “silent sound,” is mysterious and ultimately ungraspable.

In that silent whisper, volumes of presence.

The story of the Walking on the Water brings the full meaning forward, the Lord doesn’t overpower but helps us overcome our doubts and enlivens our Ask. Jesus, like in the story of Elijah, is the gentle whisper. He is the Son of the God of Whispers with the full weight of the power, victory and majesty.

Our psalmist brings in verse the poetic meaning of his divine presence.

I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD — for he proclaims peace.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.

Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.

The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.
(Psalm 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14)

Personal Reflection

Lord, the Walking on Water brings us clarity on who you are, how you are, and what you desire for us.
Truly, you are the Son of God.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080926.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Memorial of Saint Dominic, Priest
Readings: Habakkuk 1:12—2:4; Psalm 9:8-9, 10-11, 12-13; Matthew 17:14-20

Summary

How long will I be with you? (Mt 17:17b).
How long will I endure you? (Mt 17:17c).

A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, “Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” (Mt 17:14-16).

Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silence while the wicked devour those more just than themselves? Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision. For the appointed time, a testimony to the end; it will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. (Hab 1:13, 2:2a, 2:3bcde).

Jesus makes clear the Lord is not late, we are not responding as we should.

Reflection

Here we have the collision between faltering trust and the active presence of the Lord. The Transfiguration has occurred, followed by Jesus’ identification of John the Baptist with Elijah’s prophetic role. Earlier in time (in the Matthew sequence Chapter 10) the disciples received the power and authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.

How long will I be with you? That is, when will you start taking your responsibilities seriously?
How long will I endure you? That is, why do you resist the divine aid within you and for you?

Then Jesus provides the answer most directly.

Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed… (Mt 17:19-20a). They had little faith (faltering trust) but even mustard-seed faith, rooted in humility and obedience, would have been enough.

The contradiction is the answer.

This is evident in the sacred gospel portion that follows in Matthew – Payment of the Temple Tax and the Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew continues exposing the disciples’ still-developing faith: questions of privilege, responsibility, status, and greatness follow immediately.

Personal Reflection

How long?

Lord, may the time be shortened where I am prideful and disobedient! May instead the wonderful works of your hand be fruitful even in the most difficult of circumstances.

• Take responsibility.
• Obey without sinful pride.

In your name, may I say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/memorial-saint-dominic-priest

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7; Deuteronomy 32:35cd-36ab, 39abcd, 41; Matthew 16:24-28

Summary

Because ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their branches (NABRE Na 2:3b).
Because ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their tendrils (RSV Na 2:3b).

Ruined branches and tendrils have an important meaning to us today.

• Branches represent the main structure of a thing – its architecture.
• Tendrils represent the supporting and relational aspects – reach and relationship.

The reference in Nahum is specific to the Assyrians and the coming attack on the capital city Nineveh by a coalition of nations thus near ending the Assyrian Empire.
The Assyrians had gained ‘the whole world‘ through plunder but eventually forfeited their lives and the lives of their children.

Or what can one give in exchange for his life? (Mt 16:26b)

The Assyrian branches were the military conquest and desire to accumulate wealth.
The Assyrian tendrils were the oppression and robbery of every people and nation they occupied.

For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct (Mt 16:27).

Reflection

What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? (Mt 16:26)

Jesus takes the direct application of this question to the discipleship of a Christian.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:24-25).

• The Jesus branches are discipleship that is not built on worldly status or accumulated wealth but on him, the root.
• The Jesus tendrils are the Cross of sacrifice – reaching outward through sacrifice, service, and concern for the Other.

Personal Reflection

What are my branches?
What are my tendrils?
That is, what is my life built on, and what does it reach toward?

As to my own soul and my own life, I reject within me what is counter to the call of Jesus.

If Nineveh is my capital city—if I use the text to name the place within me that is built on domination, greed, or self-protection—then may that city fall.

Nineveh is destroyed;
who can pity her?
Where can I find
any to console you? (Na 3:7b)

My consolation shall be in the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080726.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
Readings: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 9; 2 Peter 1:16-19; Matthew 17:1-9

Summary

As the visions during the night continued, I saw. Lord, it is good that we are here (Dn 7:13; Mt 17:4).

The more we want to see, we see.
The more we want to hear, we hear.
The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth (Ps 92:1a).
Jesus changed everything, how we see him, how we see others, how we see creation.
His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him (about his Exodus, his mission) (Mt 17:2b-3).

The Church exists to lead us into this dynamic of listening and decision-making, in which we come to understand for whom we are to live and how we are to live. The Church is the community in which we learn to discern the voice of God, which never simply coincides with our own opinions, and to dare to obey the Holy Spirit, who makes bold and creative all those who choose to follow Jesus. While we are “disfigured” by separating ourselves from him and from others, we are transfigured through the bonds that nourish and call us to life. Franciscan spirituality, in which you have been formed, is among the most attentive to restoring fundamental relationships with God and with all his creatures. Today, more than ever, this is a harmony that needs to be safeguarded and cultivated.

See: https://aleteia.org/2026/08/06/pope-leos-transfiguration-homily-in-assisi/

Reflection

Today the Lord Jesus Christ shone with splender on the mountain.

Personal Reflection

(Join in) the descent of Peter, James and John from the high mountain of the Transfiguration. May your return be reflective, open to the future and committed to Jesus Christ. He trusts you, counts on you and remains always with you. - Pope Leo XIV, today on the Transfiguration at Assisi.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080626.cfm

Footnote: Here is a reflection on Transfiguration from 2020. My Mom had just recently died (Feb-2020) and COVID-19 has appeared on the scene – six years ago now. I buried her in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, NYC, just before the shutdown of the city. https://deacongerrypalermo.blog/2020/03/12/transfiguration/

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jeremiah 31:1-7; Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12ab, 13; Matthew 15:21-28

Summary

The quote from Jesus regarding children and dogs is rather difficult to read, yes?
There are many animal-to-human analogies in sacred scripture.

1. Sheep
2. Swine
3. Dogs

… to name a few. It takes careful reading to make good use of this: It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.

You may infer that Jesus knew what she needed and he planned to help her at the conclusion of the dailog but the dialog is intended to reveal – (x-ref) And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me (Jn 11:41b-42).

Yet sometimes going to the end of the story and work backwards helps to understand the beginning of the story.

1. And her daughter was healed from that hour.
2. Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
3. But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”
4. A Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.”

(to the disciples) He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (to the disciples) ”Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (to the Canaanite woman) He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” (Mt 15:24; Mt 10:6, Mt 15:26-27).

Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.”
And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Reflection

The Greek word is a diminutive form of “dogs,” sometimes rendered “little dogs” or “household dogs.” This may shift the image from scavenging dogs outside to animals beneath the family table, but it does not remove the difficulty of Jesus’ words.

We struggle with basic truths. You’ve heard the questions in different forms:

1. Why does God allow sin, and calamity?
2. Why doesn’t he fix things right now?
3. Why does he love the Jews more than everyone else?

Even as we know the rational answers to these questions … the questions remain, at least at some level.

The basic answer is:

1. God does things with love in a fashion: timely, orderly, progressively, and purposefully.
2. At the same time He preserves our dignity and freedom and made us capable to order things aright as well.
3. This is a story of proper perspective for everyone – relations toward others and relation with God.

Jesus’ mission begins within Israel, in fidelity to God’s covenant, and from Israel extends to all nations. This is an order of revelation and mission, not an order of human worth.

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 (Mt 5:45).

The Canaanite woman reveals movements common to faith in every age. The woman does not convince Jesus to be merciful. Through the dialogue, Jesus reveals the faith by which she already receives mercy.

1. Recognition: Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
2. Homage and Persistance: She did him homage… Lord, help me.
3. Trust in abundance: Let me … eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters. Translation: this is a small matter for you, but a big matter for me.
4. O woman, great is your faith!
5. Let it be done for you as you wish. And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Personal Reflection

The story deserves its difficult reputation, but difficulty is not its final meaning. It reveals love and devotion and divine presence not based on chaos and capriciousness. It also reveals our deportment toward the divine.

The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” (Mt 8:8).

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080526.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Memorial of Saint John Vianney, Priest
Readings: Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22; Psalm 102:16-18, 19-21, 29, 22-23; Matthew 14:22-36

Summary

You shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Yesterday the gospel portion was paired with the story of The Two Yokes. Today the same gospel portion was paired with the Promise of Restoration. The reflections bear the same distinction.

• Yesterday: Why do you doubt? The rush to conclusion by the Prophet Hananiah (breaking the wooden yoke off of Jeremiah) brought more difficulty much like our doubts.
• Today: The Ask(s). The divine action of Restoration in a most spectacular way – immediate and promised. Immediate and in a surprising way where the Medo-Persian Empire displacing the Babylonians. And a promise of the eventual restoration of the Davidic kingdom – which the Church interprets as the coming of the Christ.

Reflection

The Ask(s)

• They cried out in fear – At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
• Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” – He said, “Come.”
• (Sinking) He cried out, “Lord, save me!” – Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him.

My People, My God

• Restoration to courage in faith.
• Restoration to constructive life – a meaningful life.
• Restoration to safety in the Lord’s hands.

We do not need promises manufactured to calm us. We need Jesus.

Ask for courage of faith, a meaningful life and the safe touch of the Lord’s hand holding your hand.

An old song carries the invitation well:

Personal Reflection

Do you remember holding your dad’s or mom’s hand when you were little? May the Lord bless you with the memory of holding hands.

Heeding the plea of the lowly, not scorning their prayer.

Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.” (Ps 102:18, 19-21)

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080426.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jeremiah 28:1-17; Psalm 119:29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102; Matthew 14:22-36

Summary

The boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.

Jesus sends us on mission near and far and there are always storms – resistance, difficulty, scarcity.
But the first storm is always what contradictions we are stuck in.

Ghosts – Fear can make the presence of Christ appear to us as another threat.
Test – Peter’s faith is real enough to leave the boat, but still dependent upon extraordinary confirmation. Nascent faith.
Strong Winds – This is the natural world. There are always storms in life.
Sinking – It is fair to relate this to the fear of death and death itself.

So if I were thinking to answer Why did you doubt? It would be:

1. We hold onto the ghosts – the myths – the unimportant – the tangental – rather than the weightier things.
2. Test – We test the Spirit of God – sometimes correctly (clarification, uncertainty) but usually from basic passive resistance and/or the seeking of novelty or vain attention.
3. Strong winds – let’s face it problems multiply like rabbits. Life is sometimes a game of Whack-a-Mole. And that is the point. The many waves make excellent distractions from holiness.
4. Death or near death – it gets our attention. As well it should. But it can become an obsession, irrational exaggeration/imminence and object of desire. Death is part of our journey, but it is not our final destination.

Reflection

Their doubt does not cancel the mission. Jesus brings them through the storm and into a place of healing.

After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret.
When the men of that place recognized him,
they sent word to all the surrounding country.
People brought to him all those who were sick
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak,
and as many as touched it were healed.

Personal Reflection

I hope this doesn’t sound too weird. I love being home during storms. My bedroom has a Lanai attached. So the storm rages yet I am safely tucked in bed or reading a book in a chair and I can watch the storm not in anticipation of harm but in wonder of its power. That’s how I feel when I am with Jesus. The storms of life remain powerful and can even wound us, but they are subordinate of the safety of the Lord’s presence.

At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.”
Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.

Doubt is not always refusal to believe. Sometimes it is faith struggling to interpret Christ correctly while the wind is louder than his voice.

This is where I want the story to end/start. He beckons, I come to him, we walk together rain or shine.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080326.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Eighteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time
Readings: Isaiah 55:1-3; Psalm 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18; Romans 8:35, 37-39; Matthew 14:13-21

Summary

God works through relationship rather than coercion and He works through divine-human cooperation as His preferred operating mode.

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.

Jesus did not choose confrontation but a certain isolation that invites us out of our towns to him: alone, undistracted, specific in purpose.

The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.

[He] saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.

Then he made divine-human cooperation central to his response.

Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.”

1. It is the Lord who performs the miracles of healing and the multiplication of the loaves.
2. He invites us to present our meager resources as gifts.
3. He brings them into fullness by the power of his love (in this case described as pity – sympathy and sorrow for those suffering).
4. The miracle is super-abundant food enough for all to be satisfied and, symbolically, for the whole of Israel (12 baskets for the twelve tribes).

Isaiah invites the thirsty to come freely to the water; Jesus later reveals himself as the giver of water welling up to eternal life.

All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, buy grain and eat. But whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (Isa 55:1; Jn 4:14).

Reflection on Divine-human cooperation

For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building (1 Cor 3:9).

The second reading (Letter to the Romans) makes clear that our little contribution is enough in the hands of a loving God. God’s plans will not be thwarted. Said another way, it grounds our cooperation in confidence that divine love sustains us despite our weakness, trials, and tribulations.

What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.

So the question isn’t, “Does God love us?” or “Does God have enough?”
The question is “What am I willing to offer?”

Personal Reflection

The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs (Ps 145:16).

Lord, help me participate in feeding, healing, and sharing the divine life.

All I got is five loaves and two fish. Not much of anything at all.
You have the words of everlasting life! Take what I have and make it enough.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080226.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Readings: Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24; Psalm 69:15-16, 30-31, 33-34; Matthew 14:1-12

Summary

Regarding the Prophet Jeremiah

• This man deserves death; he has prophesied against this city.
• Then the princes and all the people said:… This man does not deserve death; it is in the name of the LORD, our God, that he speaks to us.

Two opposing judgments of Jeremiah emerge. After the public dispute, Ahikam, son of Shaphan, intervenes to protect him.

But the hand of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, protected Jeremiah, so they did not hand him over to the people to be put to death.

Now I could go on to talk about Uriah in the same chapter – a prophet like Jeremiah whose fate was like John the Baptist. But it complicates and lengthens the reflection.

Instead, I am only contrasting Jeremiah to John – and us to the others of the stories.

Regarding John the Baptist

Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison… although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. On account of Herodias… and… the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much… he swore to give her whatever she might ask for (John’s head on a platter). His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.

No one protested of the guests. Nobody else was invited to speak.

The crisis is not simply that bad leaders oppose good people or good leaders opposing bad people. Rather, the entire covenant community is fractured. None of those groups is portrayed as uniformly righteous or uniformly wicked. The division runs through every institution. Even “the people” are divided against themselves. And the court of Herod is an echo chamber of obligation.

Reflection

We are operating in a bubble.
So much so that even Scripture and reflection can be bent into support for whatever opinion we already hold today—even knowing that tomorrow’s opinion may be different.
A bubble is not merely a place where we cannot hear others; it is a place where our own choices begin to sound inevitable.

We are as trapped as King Herod. Trapped by power. Trapped by association. Trapped by desire. Trapped by feigned ignorance.

To which we cry: Lord, in your great love, answer me (Ps 69:14c)!

Personal Reflection

The greatest miracle God seeks today is not to change the world around us, but to soften the heart within us. Once we recognize our need for Him, we are finally able to hear what He has been saying all along. I am not merely diagnosing Herod today. I am asking to be rescued from becoming him.

Rescue me out of the mire; may I not sink!
may I be rescued from my foes,
and from the watery depths.
Let not the flood-waters overwhelm me,
nor the abyss swallow me up,
nor the pit close its mouth over me.

But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your saving help, O God, protect me.
I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving.

“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.”

(Psalm 69:15-16, 30-31, 33-34)

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080126

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
Readings: Jeremiah 26:1-9; Psalm 69:5, 8-10, 14; Matthew 13:54-58

Summary

Today both Jeremiah and Jesus speak the truth among people who believe they already know enough not to listen. We resist the prophet because his message is unwelcome, and we resist the Messiah because he is too familiar.

In our first reading today, all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD who spoke with neither eloquent speech nor flattering words. He came at the Lord’s command to Stand in the court of the house of the LORD…whatever I command you, tell them, and omit nothing. Perhaps they will listen and turn back, each from his evil way. It was to help them correct their behavior from self-destructive to fruitful worship and service.

It didn’t go well at first. The priests and prophets laid hold of him, crying, “You must be put to death!” In tomorrow’s reading we continue the story. For now we rest on the ending line: all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. Jeremiah is called the “weeping prophet” because his vocation was to proclaim an unwelcome message faithfully despite almost universal opposition. He was a prophet of symbolic actions and the herald of the New Covenant to come.

Now in our gospel portion today, we have Jesus returning to Nazareth.

Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?

Jesus performed many miracles and signs and teachings prior to returning to Nazareth. They were aware of all that he had done.

Didn’t matter.

The grievance list:

• Is he not the carpenter’s son?
• Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?
• Are not his sisters all with us?
• Where did this man get all this?

They knew his résumé, so they assumed they knew him.

Whether it is the one who proclaims the promise of the New Covenant or the one who is the person of the New Covenant, we seem to not get it. The turning point I noted a few days ago, is upon us. Matthew gives us the harsh reality of our resistance. The Lord responds with even greater healings, miracles, teachings, and self-sacrifice.

The movement now accelerates in Matthew’s narrative: Book V of the Gospel of Matthew – JESUS, THE KINGDOM, AND THE CHURCH

• Friday – The Rejection at Nazareth.
• Saturday – The Death of John the Baptist.
• Sunday – The Return of the Twelve and the Feeding of the Five Thousand.

Reflection

We should weep too. And also pray as the psalmist prayed. The parables aren’t a waste of time. They are a waking up.

But I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help (Ps 69:14).

Personal Reflection

I think my prayer today is like this.

Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:24).

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/073126.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry