Today's Gospel always cracks me up. Jesus is telling the people a parable about a vineyard owner who has leased his land. He sends back some people to collect the fees, but they are all killed. He then decides to send his son, who he says "surely they will respect my son, He's My Son." Of course they kill him too.

What does this mean? Well Jesus is telling them the story of Salvation History and predicting His own death. The Father created the earth and gave it to us to live on and enjoy and take care of. He then sent us his prophets to guide us back to His plan. We killed or ignored them all. So He sends us His only Son. What will we do with Him?

Spoiler Alert: We kill Him too.

At the end Matthew writes: When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that He was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

They knew it and they still sought out a way to kill Him. Isn't that the same with us though? We know what's good for us. We know that the Lord has great plans for us. Yet, we still ignore Him on purpose. We still deny Him in the areas of our life where we just want to do our own thing. I always think there's more time. He'll send me another sign if that's what He really wants me to do. But today is the day to start following Jesus. Today is the day to return to Him. Today is the day to renew my relationship with Him. Today is the day. Carpe Diem as they say!

Where in your life are you ignoring Jesus? 

What is the Lord calling you to do? Do you want to do it?

How can you return to Jesus today?

Today, return to Jesus. Make a prayer and give yourself to Him.

“The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness” -Pope Benedict XVI

I always want everything in life to go my way. I want to be comfortable, successful, always happy, and in control. However, this is not really how a life following God works. Jesus calls us to follow Him, to trust that He is working in our lives, maybe in ways we don't even understand. It does not seem to make sense that those who suffer see God and the rich and comfortable are blind to Him. But, when you look with the eyes of faith, we know that God has a reason for everything and this is not irrational.

God became man, and He did not live a wealthy or even a comfortable life. During His time in ministry, the One through whom all creation was made had no stable income, no home to return to, a lot of people wrote Him off as crazy or a liar, and some of His friends turned their backs on Him. Jesus lived a hard life and He is still with those who suffer now. He is with you in all your hardships and He suffers with you in the difficult situations in your life. You are not alone in your pain and suffering. 

As Christians, we are called to live like Christ. This means we strive to follow the words and teachings of Jesus, spreading His mission of proclaiming the Good News of Salvation, and giving up comfort is a part of this. I think this is a huge pill to swallow but it's true. You are not called to be the most popular in school, have the best instagram photos, get the best job, be the best athlete, or even the best student. You are called to love like Christ, to offer your life to God while putting others first. Living like Jesus and loving like He calls us to in the Gospels is what true greatness is. Lazarus in today's Gospel lived a painful life that looks pitiful to any healthy person, but Jesus uses this parable to show us that greatness is not in victorious or triumphant accomplishments, but in the love of God. 

Life is full of hardships, but we can always unite our sufferings to Christ. He has taken all our sins and suffered for them on the Cross, and we can offer our own sufferings to Him. There is a real closeness to Christ that comes with that. But it is in this closeness to Christ through our love and imitation of Him that makes us truly great. Wealth, status, and power lead to comfort, but you are called to greatness: a life centered on following Jesus and growing closer to Him, no matter hardships in life. And remember, the greatest life we can possibly imagine, filled with joy and peace, free from all pain and illness, comes after this life. Jesus has given us the gift of eternal life, we just have to accept it and live our lives on earth in anticipation for the perfection to come. 

What comforts do you rely on that keep you from depending on Jesus? What do you need to do to decrease your reliance on these things?

How do you handle hardship? Do you let it turn you from God, or do you unite it to the Cross?

​How can you be truly great today? How can you live like Christ?

"Lead me, Lord."

"Help me love like you."

​"I love you."

Do something that makes you uncomfortable for the sake of loving like Jesus does. Even if it involves sacrificing your time or money, love someone today in a way that you might not normally do. This could mean talking to someone who seems alone, or donating money to the poor, or stopping gossip. Whatever you do, do it in love. 

Today's prayer was prepared by Mary Griffin, a graduate student of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. 

If you have anything you'd like our team to pray for, please go to the page of our website called "Prayers" and let us know how we can pray for you today. 

Use the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again).

​Growing up my parents kept a very tidy and neat house. I remember cleaning almost every day, in some fashion or another, and thinking it was pointless. We would clean so often, we barely gave the house time to get dirty before cleaning it again. There was a part of me, that I think most can identify with, that rebelled against the idea of having to clean and the authority my parents had over me to make me clean, so I put up a fight every time I was asked to clean.

I look back now and recognize that it would have just been easier to clean and not put up a fight— I knew I wouldn’t win back then but for some reason wanted to always try to argue. Inevitably, I always heard the same thing from my parents as the reason they needed me to do what I was told, “because I said so.” Those four words cut right to the heart. My parents didn’t need to justify their answer, they just had to wield their authority and I fell into line (eventually). 

It’s interesting to think about situations like this in light of today’s Gospel reading. Jesus, while dealing with the mother of James and John, begins talking about what attitude a disciple must have when it comes to authority and leadership. He talks about the rulers of the Gentiles and how they love to exercise their authority in powerful ways that are felt by their subjects— reminding many of us of those dreaded four words we are used to hearing, “because I said so.” But Jesus explains that true leadership, true greatness lies not in wielding our authority over others, but in serving. 

Jesus came to serve and not to be served. He isn’t the parent holding a list of chores we need to do for him, he isn’t expecting us to wait on him hand and foot by following a list of laws and rules, or saying the right things at the right times. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. How often do we think of God as simply someone, or even something, that we need to please with our service? How often do we simply do the “chores” of the Christian life simply to hope we’ve pleased God and he won’t be upset with us and yell at us? How often do we see our relationship with God as a master to be served by us, his slaves? 

This is especially poignant during this season of Lent, when we are all striving to do some of the annually planned “deep cleaning chores” to prepare for Easter Sunday. We are in danger of being too focused on pleasing God with our service to him through rigid fasting and mechanical prayer. Lent is about making way for Jesus to come into our lives even more, but we have to always remember that Jesus is coming into our lives to love and serve us, not to be served. 

These questions are to be used to talk to God; have a conversation with the Lord about these questions and what is going on in your heart as you pray today.
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Do I view the Christian life as a bunch of chores to be completed? Has my fasting become rigid or my prayer become mechanical?

How do I view my Lenten fast? How is my Lenten fast making way for Jesus to come into my life more?

Where do I tend to wield my authority over people? How can I focus more on serving?

In this step, you listen. Stop talking, let God speak to your heart. You may repeat one of these short phrases to focus your mind on the Lord.
​
"You came to serve."

"You gave your life for us."

"Renew my heart."

In light of today's reading and your time spent in prayer with the Lord, what concrete action or actions will you take to let this encounter with the Lord bear fruit in you today?
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When your prayer and fasting starts to feel mechanical and rigid this Lent, ask the Lord to renew your heart and your desire to love and serve Him.

​“It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through the righteousness that comes from faith.”

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph- husband of Mary, terror of demons, and foster father of Jesus! It is always a big deal when you are celebrating a member of the Holy Family (I mean, it’s Jesus, Mary, and Joseph), but today brings a chance for us to step back and reevaluate our relationship with God in light of St. Joseph.

The fact that Joseph’s feast day always occurs during Lent means that it’s always a chance to take a break from our fasts and celebrate in a special way. Today presents an opportunity to feast and celebrate St. Joseph’s life of great faith, trust, and hope. The second reading (that’s right- solemnities always include a second reading, even during a weekday Mass) today alludes to the great faith of St. Joseph. 

St. Joseph was a man of few words but of great action. As a matter of fact, if you were to scour the entirety of the Gospels, you’d see St. Joseph’s only quote, “ “. But what St. Paul tells us in the quote above is that we don’t always have to be people who preach eloquently or follow the law diligently. St. Joseph shows us that the greatness of God in our lives, what we call holiness, comes more from our internal disposition than anything else. The promise that God gives us, to be holy and united to him in intimacy, comes through the righteousness that comes from faith. We are made holy by our faith in Jesus Christ, just as St. Joseph.

Now, don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean that we only have to profess faith in Jesus Christ to be saved, as some might say. We also have to be men and women of action, spurred on by our faith in Jesus. St. Joseph, as we read in the Gospel, was willing to put his trust entirely in the Lord and his call to follow him. 

Let’s follow the example of St. Joseph today and focus more on our interior lives, made holy by our faith in Jesus Christ, than on our eloquence in preaching the Gospel or following of the law. 

How am I spending effort on following the law of God?

Is my relationship with God focused on faith or on my outward appearance?

How am I striving for holiness? How much focus do I put on my faith in God? How much on myself?

"Increase my faith."

"Help me trust in you."

"St. Joseph, pray for me."

Take an honest look at how you live out faith in Jesus Christ- how much emphasis are you putting on yourself versus on faith in the Lord? Write out how you are trusting in your own efforts and invite God into each area so your faith in him can take the reins.