Beads of Joy Blog II (2025 - 2026)

🌿 Sunday, February 22, 2026 Forty Days in the Desert Photo created by James Dacey, Jr., using Co-Pilot. First Sunday of Lent • Year A • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II ________________________________________________ ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17 Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19 Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11 📖 The Gospel - Matthew 4:1-11 The Spirit leads Jesus into the desert, not away from God, but deeper into Him. For forty days He fasts, He prays, He is tempted. And every single time the enemy comes with a beautiful, reasonable sounding lie, Jesus answers with the Word of God. He doesn't argue. He doesn't negotiate. He just speaks the truth, and the devil leaves. 🙏 Gospel Reflection Here is something very powerful that I read in today’s gospel, it says the Spirit led Jesus into the desert. Not the devil. Not bad luck. Not circumstance. The Holy Spirit brought Him t...

🌿 Saturday, February 21, 2026 Get Up and Follow Jesus - Leave Everything Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. Saturday After Ash Wednesday • Memorial of St. Peter Damian • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II ________________________________________________ ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Isaiah 58:9b-14 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 Gospel: Luke 5:27-32 📖 The Gospel - Luke 5:27-32 Jesus walks past a tax collector's booth, looks at a man named Levi sitting there, a man despised by his own community, a man everyone had written off, and says two words: Follow me. And Levi got up, left everything, and followed Him. Just like that. 🙏 Gospel Reflection I never get tired of this story. Never. Because Levi wasn't looking for Jesus. He wasn't at the synagogue praying. He wasn't in a posture of holy seeking. He was sitting at his tax collector's booth doing what he always did, and Jesus walked by and called h...

🌿 Friday, February 20, 2026 The Fast That Sets Us Free Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. Friday After Ash Wednesday • Day of Abstinence • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II ________________________________________________ ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Isaiah 58:1-9a Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 18-19 Gospel: Matthew 9:14-15 📖 The Gospel - Matthew 9:14-15 The disciples of John approach Jesus with a genuine question, why don't your disciples fast? And Jesus answers them with one of the most tender images in all of Scripture. He calls Himself the Bridegroom. And He says, you don't mourn when the bridegroom is right there with you at the wedding feast. 🙏 Gospel Reflection Isaiah hits hard today. God speaks through the prophet with a kind of holy frustration, you fast, but you keep on oppressing your workers. You bow your heads and lie in sackcloth, but your hearts haven't moved an inch. He's not attacking fasting. He...

🌿 Thursday, February 19, 2026 The Road Before You - Choose Life Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. Thursday After Ash Wednesday • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II ________________________________________________ ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6 Gospel: Luke 9:22-25 📖 The Gospel - Luke 9:22-25 Jesus looks His disciples straight in the eyes and tells them plainly, the road ahead involves a cross. Then He asks the question that cuts right to the heart of every Lent ever lived: What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose himself? 🙏 Gospel Reflection The day after Ash Wednesday is always a quiet one. The ashes have been received, the Lenten promises have been made, and now we are standing at the beginning of the road, looking out at forty days stretching before us. And right here on day two, Jesus does not let us ease into it gently. He says, pick up your cross. Daily. And foll...

🌿 Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026 Come Back to Me With All Your Heart Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. Ash Wednesday • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II __________________________________________________ ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Joel 2:12-18 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17 Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20–6:2 Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 📖 The Gospel - Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Today, Jesus doesn't open Lent with thunder or a list of rules; He opens it with a whisper about the heart. He pulls us aside and says: When you pray, when you fast, when you give, do it for God, not for the crowd. 🙏 Gospel Reflection Friends, welcome to Lent. Welcome to these forty sacred days where the Church invites us to slow down, strip away the noise, and ask ourselves one honest question: Where is my heart right now? Jesus is so gentle here in Matthew 6. He doesn't say if you pray, if you fast, if you give alms, He says when. He a...

Abundance We Overlook Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. A Reflection on Mark 8:14-21 In today's Gospel, the disciples find themselves in a boat with Jesus, worried because they forgot to bring bread. They have only one loaf among them, and their minds are consumed with this shortage. Yet standing right there with them is the very One who just fed four thousand people with seven loaves. Jesus gently rebukes them, asking if their hearts are hardened, if their eyes cannot see, and if their ears cannot hear. He reminds them of the abundance that flowed from His hands, twelve baskets left over when He fed the five thousand, seven baskets remaining after feeding the four thousand. The question hangs in the air: Why do they worry about bread when the Bread of Life Himself is present? We are so much like those anxious disciples. We carry our worries into the presence of Jesus, fretting about what we lack, forgetting what He has already provided. We focus on the material bre...

The Sign Already Given Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. A Reflection on Mark 8:11-13 In today's Gospel, the Pharisees demand a sign from Jesus, even though He's been healing the sick, feeding thousands, and teaching with divine authority right before their eyes. Jesus sighs deeply, a profoundly human moment that reveals His heartache over their spiritual blindness. They want proof on their terms, a spectacular show to satisfy their doubts, but they miss the greatest sign of all: God Himself standing before them in the flesh. Sometimes we do the same thing. We pray for clear answers while overlooking the graces already present in our lives, the Eucharist we receive, the forgiveness offered in Confession, and the quiet presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. This is where the Rosary becomes our teacher. When we meditate on the mysteries, we're contemplating the signs God has already given us: the Incarnation, the Redemption, the promise of eternal life...

The Freedom to Choose Holiness Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. A Reflection on the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time God places before us life and death, fire and water, and invites us to reach out our hand. This is the startling message from Sirach, that our choices truly matter, that we are not puppets dancing on strings, but beloved children entrusted with real freedom. The Lord commands no one to sin, yet He knows we will face the daily decision between following His law written on our hearts or turning away toward easier paths. Today's readings weave together a single truth: God offers us wisdom beyond human understanding, but we must actively choose to receive it. The commandments aren't just some rules designed to restrict us; they guide us on the narrow road that leads to Heaven. Jesus takes this further in the Gospel, showing that true holiness goes deeper than external obedience. He doesn't abolish the law but fulfills it by revealing its heart. Murd...

Stop Chasing Happiness: The Power of Living for Others Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot We spend so much of our lives chasing happiness, yet the harder we pursue it, the more it seems to slip away. Here's a truth worth remembering: happiness isn't found by turning inward and obsessing over why we're not content. It arrives quietly as a byproduct of something greater fulfillment. When we stop asking "How can I be happier?" and start asking "How can I become something meaningful?", everything shifts. Self-preoccupation breeds misery, but purpose breeds joy. Think about your own experience. When are you most miserable? Usually, when you're spiraling inward, replaying past mistakes, worrying about what others think of you, and anxiously monitoring your own emotional state. This kind of self-consciousness becomes a prison. The key to freedom isn't found in better self-analysis or more sophisticated introspection. It's found in the ...