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Friday of the First
Week of Lent • Day of Abstinence • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II
✝️ Today's Mass Readings
First Reading: Ezekiel 18:21-28
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7, 7-8
Gospel: Matthew 5:20-26
📖 The Gospel - Matthew 5:20-26
Jesus takes the
commandment thou shalt not kill and digs all the way down beneath it. He says,
it's not just the act of murder that breaks the law. Anger. Contempt. The word
you muttered under your breath. The cold silence you've been giving someone for
weeks. That's where it starts, then He says, before you bring your gift to the
altar, go make it right first.
🙏 Gospel Reflection
This Gospel is one of
the most challenging things Jesus ever said, precisely because it is so
impossible to hide from. Most of us can honestly say we've never committed
murder. But anger? Contempt? The relationship we've quietly walked away from
and never repaired. Jesus says those things matter a lot.
Ezekiel brings the same message from a
different angle. There is no autopilot in the spiritual life, no coasting.
Every single day is a new choice. Every day, we either turn toward God or we
turn away. I look at faith like riding a bicycle; there are times you can coast, and times you must pedal, but ultimately you can't just stop; if you do, you
fall. Yes, you can get back up and start again, but faith is not
self-sustaining. It must be continuously worked on, just like riding a bicycle.
Now, let’s look at the image Jesus gives us.
You've walked all the way to the temple. You're holding your offering. And
right before you lay it down, you remember, there's a broken relationship
between you and your brother. And then Jesus says, go. Come back to the altar
after you made things right. Because a gift offered with an unreconciled heart
is not the gift God wants.
I have had to go back and make things right
in my life. We all have. It is never easy. Pride is a stubborn thing. But I
have never once regretted reconciliation. Not once. And the peace that comes
after, that is the peace the Rosary always points toward. Our Lady of Fatima
asked for peace. Real peace. The kind that starts in the human heart, choosing
to lay down its anger and go first.
💭 Reflection Question
Is there someone in
your life right now that you should reconcile with? Maybe you should leave your gift at the altar, because
this is unresolved. Maybe it's a relationship, a broken friendship that has created
distance, a reconciliation you have been postponing that is much needed, and
what would it look like to make things right again? This week? Or even right
now?
📿 Today's Rosary - The Sorrowful Mysteries
Today's Focus
Mystery: The Crowning with
Thorns
Jesus was mocked,
humiliated, and treated with contempt, the very thing He warns us against in
today's Gospel. And He responded not with retaliation but with silence and
surrender. As you pray these beads today, ask for His grace to absorb contempt
rather than return it, and to go first in whatever reconciliation He is calling
you toward.
🌹 Our Lady of Fatima - Today's Connection
Our Lady of Fatima's
central message was peace, and she made clear that peace in the world begins
with peace in the human heart. The sins she wept over included the quiet sins
of anger, pride, and hardheartedness that Ezekiel and Jesus address today. As
you fast and abstain today, offer it specifically for the healing of a broken
relationship. Let your sacrifice be a prayer for reconciliation, the peace Our
Lady longs to see in every human heart.
🕊️ Closing Prayer
Lord, show me where I
need to reconcile and make things right today. Give me the humility to lay down
my pride before I lay down my gift. I want to come to Your altar with a clean
and reconciled heart. Help me take the first step. Amen.
©2026 James Dacey, Jr., OFS
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