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Thursday of the
Second Week of Lent • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II
✝️ Today's Mass Readings
First Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
📖 The Gospel - Luke 16:19-31
Jesus tells the story
of a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen who feasts every day while poor
Lazarus lies at his gate covered in sores. Both die. Lazarus is carried to
Abraham's bosom. The rich man finds himself in torment. And across the great chasm,
he begs for mercy and then asks that his brothers be warned. Abraham says, they
have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.
🙏 Gospel Reflection
This parable is one
of the most powerful things Jesus ever said, and it is told without a single
villain. The rich man is not described as cruel or hateful. Even though he
knows Lazarus is there, he simply does not see Lazarus. He feasts in his
lavish lifestyle every day, and Lazarus is right there at his gate, and somehow,
he just does not see him. That is the quiet horror of this story, just
comfortable blindness, ignoring those who suffer.
Jeremiah tells us today that the heart is
deceitful above all things. That is not a pessimistic statement; it is a
diagnostic one. We are capable of creating elaborate justifications for our
blindness. We are capable of walking past the same Lazarus at our gate day
after day and genuinely believing we are good people. The heart needs
examination. It needs the purifying work of Lent, prayer, and honest
self-reflection.
The chasm Abraham describes, the one that
cannot be crossed after death, is not there yet for us. That is the whole
point. Right now, in this Lent, in this week, on this Thursday morning, the gap
between you and your Lazarus can still be crossed. You can still see the person
at the gate. You can still act; don’t ignore those you see suffering around
you.
I think of all the people who gave me
something when I had nothing to offer in return, Uncle Mickey on the porch,
Sonny bringing Our Lady of Fatima’s statue down from the shelf to be with us at
the prayer meeting, my grandmother walking me through her faith with her broken
English and her overflowing love and joy. They crossed the gap. They saw me.
And God used every single one of them to reach my heart. Today, you might be
someone else's Sonny, someone else’s dear close friend, someone else's
grandmother. Reach out now, while you still can, and share your love for our
Lord and our Lady with them. You could change their lives now, and for all eternity,
for them, you never know unless you try.
💭 Reflection Question
Who is the Lazarus at
your gate right now, the person or the need that has been right in front of you
that you have somehow not been quite seeing? What is one step you could take
today to cross that gap?
📿 Today's Rosary - The Sorrowful Mysteries
Today's Focus
Mystery: The Crowning with
Thorns
In this mystery,
Jesus is treated as invisible, mocked, dismissed, and denied His dignity. He
becomes the Lazarus of the Passion, the one whom power and comfort walk past
without truly seeing. As you pray these beads today, ask for eyes that see,
eyes that recognize Christ in every person at every gate.
🌹 Our Lady of Fatima - Today's Connection
Our Lady of Fatima's
message was above all a call to see, to see the souls in danger, to see the
suffering of Christ in sinners, to see the urgency of the moment. She showed
the children visions precisely to open their eyes to a reality that comfortable
blindness had closed off. As you pray your Rosary today, let her open your eyes to the Lazarus at your gate, to the gap you can still cross, to the mercy you
can still give.
🕊️ Closing Prayer
Lord, open my eyes
today. Show me who is at my gate. Show me the gap I can still cross. Don't let
me feast while someone nearby is hungry, for bread, for kindness, for a word of
human dignity. Make me someone who sees those suffering and leads my heart to
find a way to help them, or at least get them help. Amen.
©2026 James Dacey, Jr., OFS
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Read My Story: An Invitation
To Read My Story - My Testimony
