Beads of Joy Blog II (2025 - 2026)

Compassion For The Crowd Photo Created by James Dacey Jr using Co-Pilot A Reflection on Mark 6:30-34 In today's Gospel, the apostles return to Jesus after their first mission, bursting with stories of what they've done and taught. But Jesus doesn't immediately send them out again or ask for detailed reports. Instead, He sees something deeper, their exhaustion, their need. "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while," He tells them. This isn't laziness; it's wisdom. Jesus knows that we cannot pour ourselves out endlessly without being refilled. He teaches us that accepting our human limitations isn't a failure of faith, it's an act of trust. We acknowledge that we are creatures who need our Creator, branches that must remain connected to the vine. Yet notice what happens next. When they reach the deserted place, crowds are already waiting. The moment of rest is interrupted, and here we see Jesus's heart fully revealed: ...

Building a Legacy If I Died Tomorrow Photo Created by James Dacey Jr using Co-Pilot If You Died Tomorrow, Would the People You Love Know. Not Just by Your Words, But by Your Life. How Much They Mean to You? Let me ask you something that might make you uncomfortable: If you died tomorrow, what would the people you love remember about you? Not what you “said” you believed. Not what you “claimed” you valued. Not the words you posted on social media or the things you talked about when it was convenient. What would they remember about how you actually “lived”? Because here's the hard truth: Your legacy isn't built on what you say. It's built on what you do when love costs you something, and sometimes everything. We live in a world where everyone has something to say about almost everything. Many people have opinions, beliefs, values they'll defend online or in conversation. People will tell you all day long that they're good people, that they love their spouse, their chi...

Sent with Nothing Sustained by Everything Photo Created by James Dacey Jr using Co-Pilot A Reflection on Mark 6:7-13 In today's Gospel, Jesus does something that seems almost reckless: He sends His disciples out with absolutely nothing. No food, no money, no extra clothes, just a walking stick and sandals. Why would He do this? Because Jesus wanted them to learn the most important lesson of discipleship: that God provides everything we truly need. When we strip away all our securities and comforts, we discover that grace fills the empty spaces. The disciples weren't sent out to fail; they were sent out to succeed in a way the world doesn't understand, through total dependence on the Father's love and the hospitality of those they served. This radical trust mirrors what we practice when we pray the Rosary. Each time we hold those simple beads, we're doing exactly what the disciples did, we're showing up with almost nothing in our hands, offering just our attent...

Dash Worthy Moments #1: The Silent Sum of Our Lives Photo Created by James Dacey, Jr using Co-Pilot A priest once stood at a gravesite, saying prayers over someone he'd known his whole life. It was a small gathering, maybe a dozen people, scattered around the hole in the ground, shifting their weight, waiting for it to be over. After the final "Amen," after everyone had walked away, he stayed. He knelt down and looked at the stone. Really looked at it. Two dates. A name he'd known for decades. And between them - a dash . One small, horizontal line carved into granite. That tiny mark represented seventy-three years of living. Seventy-three years of breakfasts and birthdays of arguments and reconciliations, of dreams pursued, and opportunities missed. An entire human existence, all the love given, all the pain endured, all the choices made, reduced to a symbol half an inch long. And in that moment, the priest understood something he'd never quite grasped before: eve...

When Faith Reaches Out Photo Created by: James Dacey Jr using Co-Pilot A Reflection on Mark 5:21-43 (St. Blaise) Today's Gospel shows us two people desperate for Jesus's touch: Jairus, a synagogue official whose daughter is dying, and a woman who has suffered bleeding for twelve years. What's remarkable is how both of them had to push through barriers to reach Him. Jairus had to humble himself publicly, falling at Jesus's feet before a crowd, risking his reputation to beg for his daughter's life. The unnamed woman had to break social rules; her condition made her ritually unclean, yet she pressed through the crowd to touch Jesus's cloak. Both understood something profound: that being near Jesus, touching Him, asking Him directly, was worth any cost or risk. They teach us that faith isn't passive waiting; it's active reaching. On this feast of St. Blaise, when we ask for the blessing of our throats, we're doing the same thing, physically presenting ou...

Humble Hearts  Meet The Holy Family Photo Created by: James Dacey Jr using Co-Pilot A Reflection on The Presentation of the Lord Today, we celebrate a moment when the ordinary requirements of faith became the stage for extraordinary recognition. Mary and Joseph brought their infant son to the Temple simply to fulfill the Law of Moses, to offer the sacrifice of the poor, two turtledoves, and to present their firstborn to the Lord. They came in obedience and humility, expecting nothing more than to fulfill their religious duty. Yet waiting in that Temple were two elderly souls, Simeon and Anna, whose patient years of prayer and longing had prepared them to see what others could not. When they looked upon this child, they saw not just another baby being presented, but the Light to the Nations, the Glory of Israel, the Salvation of the world. Their encounter teaches us that God often reveals His greatest works not in spectacular visions or dramatic signs, but in the faithful fulfillm...

The Upside-Down Kingdom Photo Created by: James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot A Reflection for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time Today's readings speak a radical truth: God's kingdom turns our world's values completely upside down. The prophet Zephaniah tells us to seek humility and lowliness, to become people who take refuge in God's name rather than in worldly power or prestige. Saint Paul reminds the Corinthians , and us , that God deliberately chose what the world considers foolish, weak, and lowly to shame the wise and powerful. And in the Beatitudes, Jesus himself teaches that the poor in spirit, the meek, the mourning, and the persecuted are the truly blessed ones. These aren't three separate messages, but one unified call: to embrace the humble way of Christ, trusting that God's strength is perfected in our weakness and that his wisdom confounds all human pride. This is precisely what Mary understood when she prayed the Magnificat, and it's what we con...

February Marian Days Opening Prayer O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, as we enter this blessed month of February, we consecrate these days to your Immaculate Heart. Through the centuries, you have appeared to your children, worked wonders in countless shrines, and drawn souls ever closer to your Divine Son. We ask you, O Star of the Sea, to guide us through each day of this month. May these reflections on your holy places and apparitions kindle in our hearts a deeper love for you and a more fervent devotion to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Obtain for us the grace to imitate your virtues: your purity, your humility, your obedience to God's will, and your unwavering faith. As we meditate upon your many titles and the graces poured out through your intercession, may we grow in holiness and draw nearer to the Sacred Heart of your Son. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary, pray for us now and always. Amen. February 1 - Baptism of St. Louis de Montfort On t...

Trust: Even when... Jesus Sleeps in the Storm A Reflection on Mark 4:35-41 The disciples had witnessed Jesus heal the sick, cast out demons, and teach with an authority that left crowds astonished. Yet when the wind began to howl, and the waves crashed over their boat, they forgot everything they had seen. Fear erased their memory of who was sleeping in the stern. This is the paradox of our faith journey: we can know Jesus intimately through prayer, receive Him in the Eucharist, and still panic when life's storms arrive. The disciples' fear reveals something profound about human nature. We often trust Jesus with our souls but struggle to trust Him with the circumstances that are in our lives. Their question, "Do you not care that we are perishing?" echoes in our own hearts during trials. Yet Jesus was never unaware of the storm. He was present in the boat, and His peace in the midst of chaos was itself a lesson they needed to learn. Today, we celebrate St. John Bo...