Memorial of Saint Dominic, Priest

“Now listen to the words of the LORD: Should there be a prophet among you, in visions will I reveal myself to him, in dreams will I speak to him; not so with my servant Moses! Throughout my house he bears my trust: face to face I speak to him; plainly and not in riddles. The presence of the LORD he beholds. Why, then, did you not fear to speak against my servant Moses?”

Jealously is a vice we all have to struggle against. Sometimes when we see another person who is prospering or blessed in some way, we start to wonder why they have all the luck. Worse yet, if the person who is doing well is someone we dislike we might feel angry that they are getting all the breaks. We start to grumble about our lot in life and covet what others have in life, love, possessions, and whatever else we see ourselves lacking. This envy of others worms its way into our relationships, making us more and more spiteful, hollowing us out, eating away at all the things we once took pleasure or solace in. When we fall into the temptation to be jealous, this vice slowly but surely whittles away at joys and we find no comfort in anything as long as others are doing better than us. This is why we must nurture within ourselves a spirit of kindness. We should find joy in the joy of others, even our enemies. We should celebrate the successes of others as if they were our own. This empathy for our fellow children of God will help arm us against the vice of envy which can only grow where self love overcomes charity.

Are we jealous of anyone? If so, then how can we ground our relationship with that person or persons in kindness and love? What can we do to keep ourselves from being jealous of others?

O Lord, rid us of our jealousy and in its place give us hearts full of kindness.

Amen.

Second Friday of Lent

They then sat down to their meal. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, balm and resin to be taken down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers: "What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood? Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh." His brothers agreed. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.

Jealousy can lead us to do terrible things. Jealousy is a sin that is subtle and worms its way into our hearts when we focus to much on what other people have and are not satisfied with what we've got. It is a sin that comes from a lack of love and empathy for others. When someone has something we wish we had, we can be tempted to be envious. However, instead of envy, we should be thankful for the other person's good and supportive of them. We all have areas in our lives that are lacking in comparison to others, but one thing we are not lacking is God's Love. He loves all of us as his children and we need to recognize that all though God might seem to love others more than us, that is just our own lack of knowledge and perception. God will always love us because we are each a unique and unrepeatable expression of His Love of others and the world. We all have a unique role to play in Creation and we should be thankful for that above all else and realize jealousy denies this truth by taking away our uniqueness and trying to replace it with someone else's individual good.

Are we jealous of anyone? How can we rid ourselves of our envious thoughts? What can we do to focus on our own uniqueness and how special we are in God's Creation?

O Lord, cleanse us of all jealousy.

Amen.

Solemnity of All Saints

Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.

We all suffer the loss of loved ones. Some of us know what it's like to lose a parent, others know what it's like to lose a sibling. We know what it's like to lose an extended family member or friend. We might even have witnessed the death of someone firsthand. How we respond to these moments can define who we are and who we will be in the future. We can choose to mourn with and comfort others or we can be selfish and blame others (and God) for what has happened or avoid reality altogether. It is in comforting others that we are comforted, it is in mourning with them that we can heal. It is by being empathetic, sympathetic, and loving that we can become beacons of blessing to others and lights for the whole world. And it is through our prayers that we not only give glory to God, but also lead souls from Purgatory to Heaven.

How do we mourn? How do we comfort others? How do we pray to those in most need of God's Mercy on earth and in Purgatory?

O Lord, help us to mourn faithfully and comfort others with hope and love.

Amen.