Sancte Michael Catholic Defense

GOODNESS OF GOD: 03/15/25 (Fourth Sunday of Lent)

Gospel
John 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38

As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.
He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva,
and smeared the clay on his eyes,
and said to him,
“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” — which means Sent —.
So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said,
“Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”
Some said, “It is, “
but others said, “No, he just looks like him.”
He said, “I am.”

They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees.
Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath.
So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.
He said to them,
“He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”
So some of the Pharisees said,
“This man is not from God,
because he does not keep the sabbath.”
But others said,
“How can a sinful man do such signs?”
And there was a division among them.
So they said to the blind man again,
“What do you have to say about him,
since he opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”

They answered and said to him,
“You were born totally in sin,
and are you trying to teach us?”
Then they threw him out.

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,
he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He answered and said,
“Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
Jesus said to him,
“You have seen him, and
the one speaking with you is he.”
He said,
“I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.

Reflection:

This Sunday is called ‘Laetare Sunday,’ which means ‘Rejoice’ in Latin. Easter is drawing near. How is our preparation? Have we been able to pray and reflect more? The season of Lent is a time for self-examination, to repent and turn away from sin. God is always waiting for us to approach Him with an open heart, even when we make mistakes.

In today’s Gospel, a miracle of healing the blind man is shown, which only made the Pharisees angrier at Jesus. Because of Jesus, the blind man could see, yet the Pharisees insisted that He was a sinner. Because of this, they became the truly blind ones. Blindness is not only physical; it can also be spiritual. This also happens to us when we no longer see the goodness of God in our lives. This happens if we harbor envy, hatred, vengeance, and selfishness in our hearts, just like the Pharisees. Because of this blindness, Jesus was right in front of them, yet they failed to see that He was the long-awaited Messiah.

Spiritual blindness hardens the heart. Even God is saddened when we do not see all the beautiful things He does, yet He continues to provide for us. This Lent, let us strive to be grateful. Let us count our blessings throughout the day before we go to sleep. Even upon waking up and throughout the day, let us look for things to thank God for, instead of things to complain about. Problems in life are inevitable, but we can always find good things to be grateful for because, despite the hardships, God’s goodness never ceases. Amen. +

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death.

Amen. +

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +

Source:
https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:
https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

Website on how to raise and guard children in their Catholic faith:
https://howtokeepyourkidscatholic.com/

WELLSPRING OF WATER: 03/08/25 (Third Sunday of Lent)

Gospel
John 4:5-42
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her,
“If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘
you would have asked him
and he would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her,
“Go call your husband and come back.”
The woman answered and said to him,
“I do not have a husband.”
Jesus answered her,
“You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’
For you have had five husbands,
and the one you have now is not your husband.
What you have said is true.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one speaking with you.”

At that moment his disciples returned,
and were amazed that he was talking with a woman,
but still no one said, “What are you looking for?”
or “Why are you talking with her?”
The woman left her water jar
and went into the town and said to the people,
“Come see a man who told me everything I have done.
Could he possibly be the Christ?”
They went out of the town and came to him.
Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
But he said to them,
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
So the disciples said to one another,
“Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me
and to finish his work.
Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’?
I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
The reaper is already receiving payment
and gathering crops for eternal life,
so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for;
others have done the work,
and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him
because of the word of the woman who testified,
“He told me everything I have done.”
When the Samaritans came to him,

they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the woman,
“We no longer believe because of your word;
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

Reflection:

“Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” This is what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in today’s Gospel. She was drawing water at a time when no one else was around because of the shame she felt regarding her past life with different men. Yet, Jesus went there to speak with her and to reveal the eternal life of God and the water that comes from Him—water which, if we drink it, will ensure we never thirst again.

These words are like a mirror of our own lives, in which we often search for so much in this world. We look for fulfillment in people, possessions, situations, accolades, and many other things. Even if some of these things are good, there is only one thing that can truly fill our hearts—God. Therefore, it remains important that we pay attention to His thirst. Yes, God is thirsty for us. He desires more time with us in prayer.

He wants to hear our complaints and the blessings for which we are thankful. He wants us to ask Him for help every single day, whenever we need it, in both big things and small. If we seek everything we need in God, we will always find more than what we are looking for, because that is the nature of God’s love. It is so abundant that it will cleanse our mistakes, sins, and weaknesses if we repent. This Lent, let us return to our Father. Let us pray more every day, purify ourselves, and seek help to remove our bad habits and actions. Let us attend Mass every Sunday and go to Confession as a sign of repentance and a return to the Father. Returning to Him is the proof that we love God. Amen. +

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death.

Amen. +

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +

Source:
https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:
https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

Website on how to raise and guard children in their Catholic faith:
https://howtokeepyourkidscatholic.com/

GOSPEL REFLECTION OF THE POPES: 02/23/26 (Monday of the First Week of Lent)

From the Gospel according to Matthew
25:31-46

Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left,
‘Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked and you gave me no clothing,
ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’
Then they will answer and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?’
He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life.”

Words of the Popes:

There are so many aspects of God’s mercy toward us! In the same way, there are so many faces turned to us in order to obtain mercy. Those who have experienced in their own lives the Father’s mercy cannot remain indifferent before the needs of their brothers. The lesson of Jesus that we have heard does not allow escape routes: I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was naked, displaced, sick, in prison and you assisted me (Mt 25:35-36). You cannot stonewall a person who is hungry: he must be fed. Jesus tells us this! The works of mercy are not theoretical ideas, but concrete testimonies. They oblige us to roll up our sleeves to alleviate suffering.(…)

To focus on Jesus, to see Jesus in the hungry, in prisoners, in the sick, the naked, in those who don’t have work and need to lead their family forward. To see Jesus in these people, our brothers and sisters; to see Jesus in those who are lonely, sad, in those who have made mistakes and need counsel, in those who need to walk with Him in silence so that they feel accompanied. These are the works that Jesus asks of us! To see Jesus in them, in these people. Why? Because this is the way Jesus sees me, sees all of us. (Pope Francis, Jubilee Audience, 30 June 2016)

Source:
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day.html

Saint Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr— Optional Memorial:
https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-23-saint-polycarp-bishop-and-martyr/?_gl=12i11lr_gaMTE0NDI0NTc5Ni4xNzU0ODEwMjA1_ga_3M3Z1T3KZ8*czE3NzE4NjQ4MjgkbzE4MCRnMSR0MTc3MTg2NDg0MSRqNDckbDAkaDA.

Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:
https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

Website on how to raise and guard children in their Catholic faith:
https://howtokeepyourkidscatholic.com/

Ultimate Catholic Parents Guide:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6IcexZAls

Summary and Defense of Catholic Teachings:
https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth

GOSPEL REFLECTION OF THE POPES: 02/13/26 (Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time)

From the Gospel according to Mark
7:31-37

Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Words of the Popes:

Brothers and sisters, there is an interior deafness that we can ask Jesus to touch and heal today. It is interior deafness, which is worse than physical deafness, because it is the deafness of the heart. Taken up with haste, by so many things to say and do, we do not find time to stop and listen to those who speak to us. We run the risk of becoming impervious to everything and not making room for those who need to be heard. I am thinking about children, young people, the elderly, the many who do not really need words and sermons, but to be heard. Let us ask ourselves: how is my capacity to listen going? Do I let myself be touched by people’s lives? Do I know how to spend time with those who are close to me in order to listen? This regards all of us, but in a special way also priests. The priest must listen to people, not in a rushed way, but listen and see how he can help, but after having listened. (…) Starting a dialogue often happens not through words but silence, by not insisting, by patiently beginning anew to listen to others, hearing about their struggles and what they carry inside. The healing of the heart begins with listening. Listening. This is what restores the heart. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 5 September 2021)

Source:
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day.html

Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:
https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

Website on how to raise and guard children in their Catholic faith:
https://howtokeepyourkidscatholic.com/

Ultimate Catholic Parents Guide:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6IcexZAls

Summary and Defense of Catholic Teachings:
https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth

GOSPEL REFLECTION OF THE POPES: 02/01/26 (Feast of the Presentation of the Lord)

From the Gospel according to Luke
2:22-40

When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:

“Now, Master, you may let your servant go
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel.”

The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
-and you yourself a sword will pierce-
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
There was also a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.

Words of the Popes:

Today’s liturgy represents and brings up to date a “mystery” of the life of Christ: in the Temple, the religious heart of the Jewish nation, in which animals were continually sacrificed to be offered to God, he makes his first entrance, humble and modest, He who, according to the prophecy of Malachi, must “sit as a refiner and purifier” (Mal 3:3), in particular those people consecrated to the worship and service of God. The Psalmist, foreseeing this coming, exclaims full of enthusiasm, addressing the Temple itself: “Lift up your heads, O gates! / and be lifted up, ancient doors! / that the King of glory may come in. / Who is the King of glory? / The Lord, strong and mighty, / the Lord, mighty in battle! / … The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!” (Ps 24:7-10). But the “king of glory” is now a tiny newborn, just forty days old, who is brought to the Temple to be offered to God, as prescribed by the law of Moses. Who is this newborn child in reality? The answer to this question, fundamental for the history of the world and of humanity, is given prophetically by the elderly Simeon who, holding the child in his arms, sees and senses God’s “salvation” in him, the “a light for revelation to the Gentiles”, the “glory” of the people of Israel, the “fall and rising of many in Israel”, the “sign that is spoken against”. All of this is that child who, despite being the “king of glory”, the “Lord of the Temple”, enters it for the first time, in silence, in concealment and in the fragility of human nature. (Saint John Paul II – Homily, 2 February 1981)

Amen. +

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +

Source:
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day.html

Presentation of the Lord—Feast:
https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-2-presentation-of-the-lord-feast/?_gl=111521e1_gaMTE0NDI0NTc5Ni4xNzU0ODEwMjA1_ga_3M3Z1T3KZ8*czE3NzAwNDE4NjAkbzE1OCRnMSR0MTc3MDA0MTg3MyRqNDckbDAkaDA.

Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:
https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

Website on how to raise and guard children in their Catholic faith:
https://howtokeepyourkidscatholic.com/

Ultimate Catholic Parents Guide:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6IcexZAls

Summary and Defense of Catholic Teachings:
https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth

GOSPEL REFLECTION OF THE POPES: 01/31/26 (Memorial of Saint John Bosco, Priest)

From the Gospel according to Mark
4:35-41

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.
And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up,
rebuked the wind,
and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

Words of the Popes:

Jesus’ disciples are crossing the lake, and they are surprised by the storm. They think they can get by with the strength of their arms, with the resources of their experience, but the boat starts to fill up with water and they are seized by panic (cf. Mk 4:35-41). They do not realize that they have the solution before their very eyes: Jesus is there with them on the boat, in the midst of the storm, and Jesus is asleep, says the Gospel. When they finally awaken him, fearful and even angry that he would let them die, Jesus rebukes them: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith? ” (Mk 4:40). Here, then, is the great enemy of faith: it is not intelligence, nor is it reason, as, alas, some continue obsessively to repeat; but the great enemy of faith is fear. For this reason, faith is the first gift to welcome in the Christian life: a gift that must be welcomed and asked for daily, so that it may be renewed in us. It is seemingly a small gift, yet it is the essential one. (…) Often Jesus can rebuke us, as he did with his disciples, for being “men of little faith”. But it is the happiest gift, the only virtue we are permitted to envy. Because those who have faith have a force within them that is beyond merely human; indeed, faith “triggers” grace in us and opens the mind to the mystery of God. (Francis – General audience, 1st May 2024)

Amen. +

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +

Source:
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day.html

Saint John Bosco, Priest—Memorial:
https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/january-31-saint-john-bosco-priest/?_gl=111zh77i_gaMTE0NDI0NTc5Ni4xNzU0ODEwMjA1_ga_3M3Z1T3KZ8*czE3Njk4NzY2NzMkbzE1MiRnMSR0MTc2OTg3NjY5NSRqMzgkbDAkaDA.

Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:
https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

Website on how to raise and guard children in their Catholic faith:
https://howtokeepyourkidscatholic.com/

Ultimate Catholic Parents Guide:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6IcexZAls

Summary and Defense of Catholic Teachings:
https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth

GOSPEL REFLECTION OF THE POPES: 01/24/26 (Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church)

From the Gospel according to Mark
3:20-21

Jesus came with his disciples into the house.
Again the crowd gathered,
making it impossible for them even to eat.
When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him,
for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

Words of the Popes:

For Jesus, what matters above all is reaching out to save those far off, healing the wounds of the sick, restoring everyone to God’s family! And this is scandalous to some people! Jesus is not afraid of this kind of scandal! He does not think of the closed-minded who are scandalized even by a work of healing, scandalized before any kind of openness, by any action outside of their mental and spiritual boxes, by any caress or sign of tenderness which does not fit into their usual thinking and their ritual purity. He wanted to reinstate the outcast, to save those outside the camp (cf. Jn 10). There are two ways of thinking and of having faith: we can fear to lose the saved and we can want to save the lost. Even today it can happen that we stand at the crossroads of these two ways of thinking. The thinking of the doctors of the law, which would remove the danger by casting out the diseased person, and the thinking of God, who in his mercy embraces and accepts by reinstating him and turning evil into good, condemnation into salvation and exclusion into proclamation. (Francis – Homily in the Holy Mass with the new cardinals, 15 February 2015)

Amen. +

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +

Source:
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day.html

Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor—Memorial:
https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/january-24-saint-francis-de-sales-bishop-and-doctor/?_gl=11roapz0_gaMTE0NDI0NTc5Ni4xNzU0ODEwMjA1_ga_3M3Z1T3KZ8*czE3NjkyNzk5NTMkbzE0OCRnMSR0MTc2OTI3OTk2MiRqNTEkbDAkaDA.

Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:
https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

Website on how to raise and guard children in their Catholic faith:
https://howtokeepyourkidscatholic.com/

Ultimate Catholic Parents Guide:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6IcexZAls

Summary and Defense of Catholic Teachings:
https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth

GOSPEL REFLECTION OF THE POPES: 12/31/25 (The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas)

From the Gospel according to John
1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.

A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.

And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son,
full of grace and truth.

John testified to him and cried out, saying,
“This was he of whom I said,
‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’”
From his fullness we have all received,
grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father’s side,
has revealed him.

Words of the Popes:

“The Word was made flesh” is one of those truths to which we have grown so accustomed that the greatness of the event it expresses barely makes an impression on us. Effectively, in this Christmastide in which these words often recur in the Liturgy, we at times pay more attention to the external aspects, to the “colours” of the celebration rather than to the heart of the great Christian newness that we are celebrating: something that utterly defeats the imagination, that God alone could bring about and into which we can only enter with faith. The Logos, who is with God, is the Logos who is God, the Creator of the world (cf. Jn 1:1) through whom all things were created (cf. 1:3) and who has accompanied men and women through history with his light (cf. 1:4-5; 1:9), became one among many and made his dwelling among us, becoming one of us (cf. 2:14). (…) Thus it is important to recover our wonder at the mystery, to let ourselves be enveloped by the grandeur of this event: God, the true God, Creator of all, walked our roads as a man, entering human time to communicate his own life to us (cf. 1 Jn 1:1-4). And he did not do so with the splendour of a sovereign who dominates the world with his power, but with the humility of a child. (Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, 9 January 2013)

Amen. +

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +

Source:
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day.html

Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:
https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

Website on how to raise and guard children in their Catholic faith:
https://howtokeepyourkidscatholic.com/

Ultimate Catholic Parents Guide:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6IcexZAls

Summary and Defense of Catholic Teachings:
https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth

GOSPEL REFLECTION OF THE POPES: 12/29/25 (The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas)

From the Gospel according to Luke
2:22-35

When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

“Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.”

Words of the Popes:

Simeon, moved by the Spirit, sees and recognizes Christ. And he prays, saying: “My eyes have seen your salvation” (v. 30). This is the great miracle of faith: it opens eyes, transforms gazes, changes perspectives. As we know from Jesus’ many encounters in the Gospel, faith is born of the compassionate gaze with which God looks upon us, softening the hardness of our hearts, healing our wounds and giving us new eyes to look at ourselves and at our world. New ways to see ourselves, others and all the situations that we experience, even those that are most painful. This gaze is not naïve but sapiential. A naïve gaze flees reality and refuses to see problems. A sapiential gaze, however, can “look within” and “see beyond”. It is a gaze that does not stop at appearances, but can enter into the very cracks of our weaknesses and failures, in order to discern God’s presence even there. (Pope Francis, Homily, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 2 February 2022)

Amen. +

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +

Source:
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day.html

Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:
https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

Saint Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr—Optional Memorial:
https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/29-december-saint-thomas-becket-bishop-and-martyr–optional-memorial/?_gl=1973zq8_gaMTE0NDI0NTc5Ni4xNzU0ODEwMjA1_ga_3M3Z1T3KZ8*czE3NjcwMTU2MjgkbzEzMCRnMSR0MTc2NzAxNTYzNSRqNTMkbDAkaDA.

Website on how to raise and guard children in their Catholic faith:
https://howtokeepyourkidscatholic.com/

Ultimate Catholic Parents Guide:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6IcexZAls

Summary and Defense of Catholic Teachings:
https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth

GOSPEL REFLECTION OF THE POPES: 12/27/25 (Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist)

From the Gospel according to John
20:1a and 2-8

On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we do not know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.

Words of the Popes:

In the Gospel passage we have heard (cf. Jn 20:1-8), John recounts to us that unimaginable morning that forever changed human history. Let us imagine that morning: in the first light of dawn on the day after the Sabbath, near Jesus’ tomb, everyone sets off running. Mary Magdalene runs to inform the disciples; Peter and John run toward the sepulchre…. Everyone runs, everyone feels the urgent need to move: there is no time to lose; they must make haste…. (…)

Jesus’ disciples run because they have received the news that Jesus’ body has disappeared from the tomb. The hearts of Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and John are full of love and beat fervently after the separation that seemed definitive. Perhaps the hope of seeing the Lord’s face again is rekindled in them! As on that first day when he had promised: “Come and see” (Jn 1:39). The one who runs the fastest is John, certainly because he is the youngest, but also because he has not ceased hoping after he had seen, with his own eyes, Jesus die on the Cross; and also because he had been close to Mary, and thus he was ‘infected’ by her faith. When we feel that faith is waning or is lukewarm, let us go to her, Mary, and she will teach us; she will understand us; she will help us feel faith. (Pope Francis, Prayer Vigil with young Italians, 11 August 2018)

Amen. +

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +

Source:
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day.html

Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:
https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist—Feast:
https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/27-december-saint-john-the-apostle-and-evangelist–feast/?_gl=11l7vegf_gaMTE0NDI0NTc5Ni4xNzU0ODEwMjA1_ga_3M3Z1T3KZ8*czE3NjY4NTg0MjMkbzEyNyRnMSR0MTc2Njg1ODQzMCRqNTMkbDAkaDA.

Website on how to raise and guard children in their Catholic faith:
https://howtokeepyourkidscatholic.com/

Ultimate Catholic Parents Guide:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6IcexZAls

Summary and Defense of Catholic Teachings:
https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth