​Take time to pray today about how you can repent of your sin and turn to God. Schedule time to do a good examination of conscience and get to Confession this week.

Today's prayer was prepared by Adam Smyth, a high school youth minister at Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Ellicott City, MD. 
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These readings are incredibly close to the heart of God.

Queen Esther is doing exactly what Jesus urges us to do in the Gospel— go to the Father as His beloved child and ask boldly for what you need and for what you desire. 

Is this something you find challenging? It definitely was (and still is) for me.

I grew up believing that if I asked God for anything, it was selfish and ungrateful. How dare I ask for anything from God when I have a beautiful life? How dare I ask for anything when others do not have what I have?

And to take it one step further, if I did ask God for what I desired and He didn’t give it to me, I believed it was because I was wrong— I was selfish, ungrateful, not trusting enough, didn’t pray hard enough, etc. 

Do you see the tactics of the enemy at play here—> I shouldn’t ask because it is wrong, and when God doesn’t give me what I desire, it is because I am wrong.

Y’all (I am from Texas so when I say “y’all”, I mean business), this is not of God! The enemy wants to shame you from approaching God’s heart with filial trust, and he wants to shame you through despair as you look at your own heart. But y’all. The truth is that God always wants us to come to Him, no matter what, and the truth is that God calls us “very good”. We must come to our Father to know who He is and who we are.

But before I close I do want to acknowledge something that can be challenging when it comes to approaching God with our needs and desires.

Asking God for what we need, and especially for what we desire, is very vulnerable because our deepest desires are what we hold most dear. If we give them to God, will He come through? Equally challenging and vulnerable is asking God for things when we feel He has let us down in the past. However, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what I want to say is this, even when I received a “no” from God, even when it felt painful to show God my heart, it was in daily prayer that I was reminded that He was my Father. Tender, compassionate, only looking out for my good. I was reminded that my Father created the world, my Father promised and gave a Savior, my Father made Abraham the father of many nations, my Father split the Red Sea, my Father fed the Israelites in the wilderness, my Father gave sight to the blind, my Father restored families and those on the margins, my Father said all things work out for the good of those who love Him. My Father is a Father who makes good on His promises.

These readings are incredibly close to God’s heart because they express His greatest desire- that you, HIs beloved child, would simply come to Him.

Lord, what is it that I desire and need?
Lord, where am I not asking You for what I really desire? Why?
Lord, what do I believe about Your heart and about mine? Why?

God the Father is trustworthy.
God is for me.
I am His beloved.

Write down 5 characteristics of Jesus’ heart (ex. tender) and how He has proved those characteristics in your life (ex. He didn’t judge me when I complained to Him about an annoyance in my life.). Put them on your bathroom mirror for a day or two just to be reminded!

Over the past year, I have been praying with the Psalms. I take one psalm a day and sit with it to see what the Lord wants to say to me through it. However, never once have I reflected on a psalm for my Carpe Verbum reflection, up until today. So here we go! 

During my time in the Psalms, I have been so surprised by this two-word phrase: "steadfast love." Time & time again it is used. Why? Because we have a heavenly Father whose love is unending, never failing, constant. We have a heavenly Father who's love is steadfast. 

But what does steadfast mean? According to our good friend Webster, "steadfast" means to be firmly fixed in place, immovable. We believe in a God whose love is immovable, firmly fixed in place, firmly fixed on us! What a gift it is to live in this reality and welcome this kind of love into our lives.

Today's Psalm applies steadfast in a different way. We hear David calling out for God to renew within him a steadfast spirit. He is asking for the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, to be firmly fixed in him, so much so that it is immovable. 

How would your life change if you lived with that kind of confidence? If you lived each day knowing that the spirit of God was in you, firmly fixed in the depths of your heart, never to be moved - what would that mean for your life? Well, the truth of the matter is that His spirit is IN you; and it cannot be moved. By virtue of our baptism, and completed at Confirmation, the Holy Spirit becomes steadfast within us. It becomes immovable, totally fixed in our hearts.

I want to challenge you to live this reality today. Maybe you have wanted to live more boldly: call upon the Holy Spirit within you and take steps to be bold today. Maybe you desire to have more courage in an area of your life: call upon the Holy Spirit and take steps to live courageously. Whatever it is, call upon the power of the Holy Spirit, the steadfast spirit of God, for guidance and help. It will change your life. I promise. ​

What does it mean to you when you hear that God's love is steadfast? What does that reality affect or change in your life? 

How can you more boldly invite the Holy Spirit to guide you in your life?

What is it that you can ask the Holy Spirit for today? How can you be bold, have courage, and allow God to guide your heart? ​

​On this day, as you call upon the Holy Spirit to allow God's steadfast love to live in your heart, invite the Spirit to give you the grace to live your Lenten penance and promises well and with Joy. How have you been doing with your fasting and penance? Invite the Spirit to help you in those penances and live them in a real and loving way today. 

Today's prayer was prepared by Connor Flanagan, a Youth Minister and Catholic Musician who lives in St. Paul, MN. 
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(This was written in 2018)
Northern Illinois had a somewhat slow start to the winter regarding snow. But as we began February, things certainly picked up with several decent snow storms. Despite what many people might say, snow is great and has some incredibly positive aspects! It provides a lot more cheer for the children at recess, on the sled hill, and even the long-shot snow day; it also gives us skiers a well-groomed mountain to slalom down; and cosmetically speaking it hides the unattractive brown grass during these dreary winter months. Furthermore, our scripture passage from the Prophet Isaiah today tells us that rain and snow waters the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, to give bread to the one who eats. So, snow and rain come down with the intention of bearing some very positive results! 

But this passage today isn’t simply about the positive aspects of snow or rain, it goes way deeper than this. What we are invited to see from this reading is the positive aspects of God’s Word for our lives. Today and every day we are invited to “Seize the Word!” Carpe Verbum! We recall what the first reading tells us, the Word of God will not return back to Him void, rather, as the Lord says, it “shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” So many things grab our undivided attention, but why does His Word often times get only a little of our attention? 
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As our Lenten journey’s continue let’s allow the Word of God to penetrate the heart. I’ll be the first to admit, sometimes I read or hear the Word of God and don’t give it much time to soak in, convict me, and change me. Brothers and sisters, God’s Words have the power to produce incredible benefits for our lives, simply take the time and allow them to soak in and nourish the soil, just like the rain and snow. ​

​Open your Bible, and explore the Word of God. Allow it to convict you and change your heart for the better.