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Saturday of the First
Week of Lent • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II
✝️ Today's Mass Readings
First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8
Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48
📖 The Gospel - Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus saves what may
be His most demanding teaching for the end of the week, love your enemies. Pray
for those who persecute you. Do not simply "tolerate" them. Don't ignore them. Love them. And
then He gives the reason that makes it both possible and unavoidable: because
that is what your Father in heaven does.
🙏 Gospel Reflection
I want to be honest
with you this morning. This Gospel is challenging. It is probably the hardest
thing Jesus asks of us in the entire Sermon on the Mount. Because loving people
who love us back is really easy. But loving the person who has hurt you deeply,
betrayed you, dismissed you, pushed you away, and even spoken harshly against
you can be difficult. To go one step further, sometimes it could be someone you genuinely care
about in a heartfelt, kind, Christian way, who just doesn't want that closeness
with you anymore. And giving that love and genuine forgiveness to them requires
something that does not come from us.
That has to come from the grace of God, buried deep inside your heart.
And yet. Deuteronomy today reminds us of who
we are, a people set apart, a people belonging to God, a people called to walk
in His ways. And God's way is this extravagant, impractical, world-defying love
that does not wait for people to deserve it. Let us always remember, He loved
us while we were still sinners. He sent His Son for the very people who would
crucify Him. That is the example for us to follow.
Here is what I have learned about loving enemies:
you cannot do it by gritting your teeth and trying harder. The only way it
works is by praying for them. I mean, really praying for them. Not a bitter
little complaining prayer that says Lord bless them, I guess. But a very kind
of prayer where you actually bring their face before God and say, Father, they
are Your child too. Heal whatever pain is driving their behavior to be so harsh
and mean. Give them what they need from You. And then something extraordinary
starts to happen in you. The grip that you have felt from the way you have been
treated loosens. The anger begins to soften, and you start to see them the way
God wants us to see them.
That is the transformation that Lent is about.
That is the chord of this whole week playing at full volume today.
💭 Reflection Question
Who is the person, or
the kind of person, that you find most difficult to pray for genuinely? What
would it mean to bring their face before God in your Rosary today, and ask for
their blessing as earnestly as you ask for your own?
📿 Today's Rosary - The Sorrowful Mysteries
Today's Focus
Mystery: The Death of Jesus on
the Cross
From the cross, Jesus
looked at the people who had put Him there and said, Father, forgive them. They
don't know what they are doing. That is love of enemies at its absolute
fullest. As you close this first week of Lent with your Rosary today, let the
mystery of the crucifixion be your teacher in what it means to love without condition
and forgive without limit.
🌹 Our Lady of Fatima - Today's Connection
Our Lady of Fatima
stood at the foot of the cross. She knew the cost of loving without limit; she
lived it as the sword Simeon promised pierced her heart. And yet she never
stopped interceding, never withdrew her love. When she appeared at Fatima and
asked for prayers for sinners, for enemies of God, she was continuing that same
Calvary love. Every Rosary prayed for someone who has hurt you is a small
participation in what Our Lady did at the foot of the cross. It is costly. It
is beautiful. And it changes everything.
🕊️ Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, I cannot
love my enemies in my own strength. But You can love them through me. Today, I
bring before You the person I find hardest to love, and I ask You to love them
through my prayer. Make me a little more like You this week than I was last week.
Amen.
©2026 James Dacey, Jr., OFS
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