Click the link below or open your Bible to the passage and read through the reading at least once, paying attention to what is happening in the text. 

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

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Have you ever been on a team where someone cares more about their individual performance than the success of the team? It doesn’t matter if it is a sports team, a band, or a even a group project, when someone puts themselves before the team, everyone loses.

We see a similar thing happening in all the readings today, but especially in the first reading from Numbers. Moses is the leader of the Israelites at this point, in every aspect. He is the prophet and the guide. Then, one day, Eldad and Medad began to speak about God in ways only Moses and the people who had gone up the mountain with him had before. Some of the people got nervous, thinking Moses would be upset. 

Let’s pause there for one second. How would you feel if you were Moses? Would you care about the fame and the glory more, or would God’s message truly be your desire?

Moses, for all of his flaws, has a really humble heart here. He doesn’t care about his own glory at all. He rejoices that the Lord is speaking through other people in his tribe. He wants God to be glorified not himself.

This is a huge deal. Could you imagine how joyful our lives would be if we stopped getting jealous when other people outshine us, and rejoiced in their achievements instead? Let us no longer compare ourselves to others; that only leads to hatred and despair. Instead, let us rejoice in the gifts God gave us, and equally rejoice in the gifts God gave our neighbor as well. This is all for the glory of God, not us. 

AMDG - Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam - To the Greater Glory of God.

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.

How do you react when people around you do things that are really good? Why do you think you react that way? 

In what ways can you celebrate the achievements of those around you, not comparing yourself with them or competing with them but instead knowing that we are all collaborating with the same goal in mind? 

How are you currently seeing God's glory made manifest in your life and the lives of those around you? 

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.

"All for Your glory."

"I praise You, God."

"Come, Holy Spirit."

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?

Today's prayer was prepared by Sean Norris, a theology teacher at JSerra Catholic High School in Orange County, CA. 

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. 

Click the link below or open your Bible to the passage and read through the reading at least once, paying attention to what is happening in the text. 

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

As a late-blooming Catholic, it was in college that I first heard the name “St. Michael.” 

I wouldn’t have known if he was a man or an angel, but later learned St. Michael is an archangel, and prince and the commander of the army of God against all evil.

His name means, “Who is like God?” And he is the patron saint of soldiers, doctors, mariners, grocers, paratroopers, police and sickness. 

His feast day is today, Sept. 29. 

It was only this year, at the baptism of my best friend’s baby, Michael, that I learned that many theologians and some Catholic tradition think that St. Michael was Jesus’ guardian angel. 

This is the same archangel that in today’s first alternate reading from the Book of Revelation that led his team of angels in the fight for heaven to conquer and send the devil down to Hell. 

Woah. 

It is said that St. Michael appeared at least four times in a cave in Monte Gargano, Italy. Tradition has it that if you ask for anything in the cave, it will be granted. The original grotto dates back to the 5th or 6th century, and it is said to be the only church not consecrated by human hands, as St. Michael consecrated himself. 

The cave has been visited by countless saints and popes, and is said to be the place where devotion to St. Michael, a spiritual warrior, first began. 

St. Padrio Pio of Pietrelcina, who lived nearby, often visited the cave, invoking St. Michael’s powerful intercession. 

St. Francis of Assisi considered the cave to be so sacred that he refused to enter it. 

What a powerful protector to have on our side. 

Today let’s pray for St. Michael’s safekeeping over each of our lives. 

He has a special role of guidance and protection over each of us — physically, emotionally, spiritually — if we ask him. 

He also has a special role of defense over our Church, which currently is suffering from deep wounds and in desperate need of healing after tragic abuse cases. 

Let us start and end each day and Mass by invoking the intercession of this commanding archangel. After all, he was strong enough to order Satan to hell. 

Whom shall we fear? 

How much stronger will St. Michael’s dominance be when commanding over our pale struggles. 

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. 
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. 
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. 
And do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, 
by the power of God, cast into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world 
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

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.

Do you believe in the power of angels, specifically St. Michael? How can they help you in your everyday life?

Have you ever heard of St. Michael or the Archangels before? What are some of your favorite things about them?

How can you have a better devotion to St. Michael starting today?

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.

"Come Holy Spirit."

"St. Michael, defend us."

Thank you Jesus."

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?

The following image is here for you to save and use as a background or lock screen on your smartphone or device to help you carry today's Lectio Divina with you the rest of the day.

Today's prayer was prepared by Andrea Scott, a writer and editor based in Washington, D.C.

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. 

The time to weep and laugh, scatter and gather, be born and die will come when it comes. We don’t know when those times will be and that is okay … actually, that is perfect. God let it be that way for a mysterious yet glorious reason, and we must not fight it. Although some of those times are unpleasant, it would be better if we did not wish them away, try to take control, or become anxious. In other words, we miss all of the hidden graces of Monday when we wake up in dread, counting down the days until Friday.

I currently live about 800 miles away from my soon-to-be husband. Of course I am not prancing around enthusiastic about being far away from my beloved, but there is a certain inner peace that comes periodically, reminding me that I am where I need to be right now. I wish I could say I embraced all of the difficulties and unpleasantness of this specific time with gratitude, but I often fought it instead (and not in a noble sense of the word). It is important to note that not one of those moments of inner peace came when I was fighting; rather, it was always in a moment of total surrender and acceptance to God’s Will that God gifted me with peace.

A certain novena titled “Novena of Surrender to the Will of God” written by Father Don Dolindo Ruotolo has been a special blessing to me regarding the need to surrender to God’s timing rather than fight against it. Here is a segment of day two of the novena to better articulate my thoughts regarding the importance of letting go of our desires to control time and the difficult moments we find ourselves in (written from the perspective of Jesus):

“Surrender to me does not mean to fret, to be upset, or to lose hope, nor does it mean offering to me a worried prayer asking me to follow you and change your worry into prayer … Surrender means to placidly close the eyes of the soul, to turn away from thoughts of tribulation and to put yourself in my care, so that only I act. Saying ‘You take care of it’.”

When we surrender the present moment to God, letting Him into our hearts and take control, we open ourselves up to His graces. This is not about fighting or fleeing, this is about staying, surrendering, and soaking up every bit of the graces God is pouring out onto us during the pleasant and the unpleasant appointed times for everything.

Am I ready to surrender everything?

Do I trust that the Lord will take care of me if I hand it all over to Him?

Do I want to belong completely to Jesus?

“O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!”

"Mother, I am yours now and forever."

"Through you and with you I always want to belong completely to Jesus."

​Today’s first reading is a lengthy one for sure, but, I think when you shrink it down to its fundamental theme, its point is rather simple. I take it to mean something along the lines of “life is meaningless”. The author seems to be making the assertion that nothing we do matters. Does that sound dismal and sad? Well, it’s not meant to be. While it’s true the writer is making these statements, we need to realize that he is declaring them from the point of view of our earthly lives, not our spiritual or heavenly lives.

To say it another way, the truth is that our lives ARE meaningless… without God. That is the most important takeaway. The Baltimore Catechism answers the question “Why did God make me?” with the answer “God made me to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him in the next”. Think about that. If God created us for those reasons, then it makes perfect sense that a life lived without Him could not possibly realize the true meaning of its own creation.

So, there is a very real reason why we are all alive, and it’s got nothing to do with what we have, what we do, or how much we achieve. If God is not a part of all these things, they are fruitless. We should all keep this in mind as we go about the business of our lives. God desires to be at the center of each of our worlds. Let's be sure to keep Him there, so that He can give us a truly meaningful life of abundance.

When do you feel like what you are doing is meaningless? Have you ever felt like you efforts are futile?

Do you invite God into your daily life? Even into the mundane activities of your day? How does He change the meaning of or motivation behind your actions?

How does knowing that you are made out of love for love change the way you see the meaning of your life here on earth? 

"I need You."

"Help me know You."

​"I love You."

During the month of September, we ask that each day, for the Action step of our lectio divina, everyone prays a Divine Mercy Chaplet together for the healing of all victims of clerical abuse of any kind as well as for the healing and guidance of our Church.
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For more information on why we are doing this action step and a simple lock screen or how to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet, click here.