The following reflections are from my time in Meditative or Imaginative prayer.  I share them with you in the hope that they will be helpful in your own Spiritual Journey and to encourage you to spend time sitting and praying with the Scripture, actively listening to what the Lord wants to say to you through them.

Most of my daily reflections on based on the Daily Gospel Readings available through the USCCB website. Before opening any Scripture verse, I ask our Holy Mother, Mary, to request on my behalf that her Son, Jesus, would send the Holy Spirit to aid me in my selection of the verse or words to focus on, guide me in my reflection, help me in understanding what He is saying, and in recognizing how what I learn applies in my life or the lives of others. I encourage to come up with your own prayer for this purpose.

March 10- 2026

The following reflection comes from the Gospel of Matthew 18:21-35, but is based on the final verse in that Gospel, “unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

I was struck by the fact that “each” of us, no exceptions to this, must forgive from our heart. I reflected that to forgive from the heart is a different level of forgiveness. We typically forgive someone mentally, or try to, because we know it is the right thing to do. In such cases, we may find ourselves trying to forgive the same person repeatedly for the same thing because our forgiveness doesn't stick. Perhaps doing it because it is the “right thing to do” isn’t a strong enough motive for lasting forgiveness.

On the other hand, to forgive from the heart requires humility. It requires recognition of our own weakness as sinners and a recollection of the many times we have hurt others in similar ways. It is an acknowledgement of the mercy and forgiveness that we have received from God, completely unmerited. It is also an act of love as we recognize that the person we are forgiving is a beloved child of God, just as we are. We are called to forgive them for that reason alone.

(It is important to note here that “to forgive” does not mean we must forget. God does not ask us to suddenly trust someone who has been untrustworthy.)

When we forgive someone from the heart as described above, we are better able to let go of the anger and hurt that we feel. This anger and hurt does nothing to the source of that hurt, the person who brought it about. Rather it is a poison in our own hearts that can do us much harm as it will spread and affect other areas of our lives.

When we forgive our brother from our heart, we purge ourselves of this poison. We are healed; we are free. We are more capable of loving others as God loves us. This is one possible reason why Jesus encourages us to “forgive your brother from your heart.”

Easter Reflection – April 20, 2025

It is Matthew’s Gospel of the Resurrection. The women, having found the tomb empty, are following the instructions of the angel and running to tell the disciples that Jesus would meet them in Galilee. “⁹ And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.” (Matt 28:9 NABRE)

I had just finished this verse when a question popped into my head that I could not ignore: “Jesus, what is it about Your feet?” I recalled John the Baptist, when he said, “I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs on His sandals.” Then there was the repentant woman who bathed his feet with her tears. Afterwards, Mary anointed his feet with perfumed oil. Then Jesus washed the disciples’ feet to demonstrate how to serve others and now these women were clasping tightly to those same feet.

Jesus, what is it about Your feet? I reflected for several minutes without success and was about to move on when this answer came to me: The feet are the lowest, and in those days, the dirtiest part of the body. In the Body of Christ, they are symbolic of those who are destitute, the poor, the lowly (and those feeling low) who walk into our lives.

And this call rose in my heart:  That, like the Baptist, we should stoop in humility before them knowing that we are not worthy to help anyone, bathe them with our tears, anoint them with the oil of gladness, and help Jesus as He washes them clean. Let us embrace them like the women did and say to them, “Come up my friend to a better place” and take your seat with me.

Let us embrace the feet of Jesus as He walks through the door today.