Beads of Joy Blog II (2025 - 2026)

Building a Legacy Holding onto The World Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. I want you to picture something for a second. Imagine your entire world, everything you've built, everything you've worked for, everyone you love, all your plans, all your security, sitting right here in the palm of your hand. Your whole life. Right there. Now imagine someone taking that hand and smashing it onto a table. Shattered. Like glass. Broken into a thousand pieces. And you're left standing there, trying to survive in the wreckage. That's where I was. We were raising five kids, beautiful, wonderful kids who were the sprinkle of love that made everything work. We had our faith. We had each other. And then my wife got sick. Six years of suffering with cancer. I was working 70 hours a week, trying to hold everything together, trying to provide, trying to be strong. And then I had my strokes. Two of them, back-to-back. And then another one years later, in 2020, five years aft...

A Mothers Persistent Humble Trust A Reflection on Mark 7:24-30 In today's Gospel, we meet a mother whose love refuses to accept "no" for an answer. Jesus has traveled to Tyre, seeking rest and privacy, but this Gentile woman, the Syrophoenician mother, breaks through every barrier to reach Him. She's an outsider by every measure: wrong nationality, wrong gender to approach a rabbi publicly, and yet she persists. When Jesus tests her with words that sound harsh to modern ears, she doesn't retreat in offense or despair. Instead, she meets Him exactly where He is, turning His own image back to Him with wit and humility: "Even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Her faith is so profound that Jesus marvels at it and grants her request immediately. What makes this woman's faith so powerful? She sees what many miss: that Jesus's love is abundant enough for everyone, that His mercy overflows beyond any human boundary. She understan...

Dash Worthy Moments #2: The Grocery Store Saint Photo Created by James Dacey Jr using Co-Pilot There's a woman at my local grocery store who's been bagging groceries for probably thirty years. She knows everyone's name. She asks about your kids, remembers your dog had surgery, and tells you to drive safely when it's raining. Last week, I watched her spend five minutes helping an elderly man count out exact change while a line formed behind him. Nobody sighed. Nobody checked their phone impatiently. We all just... waited. Because we know her. And when she retires someday, that store will feel different. Emptier. Like something irreplaceable walked out the door. Here's what gets me: she's never going to be famous. She'll never have a Wikipedia page or a building named after her. Her job title won't impress anyone at a cocktail party. But I guarantee you, when her time comes, there will be people at that funeral who wouldn't have missed it for the wor...

The Heart God Sees Photo Created by James Dacey Jr using Co-Pilot A Reflection on Mark 7:1-13 In today's Gospel, Jesus confronts a painful reality: it's possible to look perfectly religious on the outside while our hearts remain far from God. The Pharisees were meticulous about washing their hands and purifying their cups, yet they had found clever ways to avoid caring for their own parents. They had turned God's law into a performance, a show of external compliance that actually masked a deep interior emptiness. Jesus cuts through this pretense with stunning clarity. God doesn't want our rituals for their own sake. He wants our hearts. He wants the love, the sacrifice, and the genuine devotion that should flow from those hearts into every relationship and responsibility we have. This is where the Rosary becomes such a powerful companion to our faith. When we pray the Rosary, we're not just reciting words or counting beads; we're entering into the mysteries of...

The Touch That Transforms Photo Created by James Dacey Jr using Co-Pilot A Reflection on Mark 6:53-56 In today's Gospel, we witness something extraordinary: people weren't just seeking Jesus; they were desperately reaching for even the smallest connection to Him. They brought the sick on mats, laid them in marketplaces, and begged simply to touch the fringe of His cloak. Think about that for a moment. These people believed so deeply that even the smallest physical contact with Jesus could heal them completely. And Mark tells us that as many as touched Him were made well. Every single one. This was faith meeting Divine Love, and that encounter changed everything. What's remarkable is that this same Jesus, the one whose garment held such power, is even more available to us today than He was to those crowds in Gennesaret. In the Eucharist, we don't just touch His cloak; we receive His very Body and Blood. When we pray the Rosary, we don't just reach toward Him from a...

Light in the Darkness Photo Created by James Dacey Jr using Co-Pilot A Reflection on the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time The prophet Isaiah calls us to something radical: share your bread with the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked. But notice what happens when we do this: "your light shall break forth like the dawn." God isn't just asking us to be kind. He's revealing a profound truth about how His light enters the world. It comes through our hands, our compassion, our willingness to see another person's need and respond. When we feed someone who is hungry, we become the answer to their prayer. When we offer shelter to someone in need, we become God's providence made visible. Our acts of mercy aren't just good deeds; they're the very way divine light pierces through darkness into our broken world. Saint Paul tells the Corinthians that he came to them not with eloquent wisdom but "in weakness and fear and much trembling," relying ...

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...