Hypocrisy isn’t only the loud scandal we recognize from afar; it’s often the quieter habit of criticizing the world while neglecting our own conversion. This night of recollection traces both forms: the public denunciation that can hide private weakness, and the constant talk of “reform” that never begins with the heart. Drawing on St. Josemaría, it calls us back to the real instruments of change—prayer, fasting, penance, and mortification—because holiness, not outrage, is what truly converts and renews the world.
Read MoreTwenty-third Sunday Per Annum
In this story of physical healing, we are directed to a much deeper reality—the sacramentality of the world. Sacramentality means that the physical world is a window into God’s presence and action. In the sacraments of the Church, we see this clearly: water becomes the means of new life in baptism; bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. But sacramentality goes beyond the sacraments themselves—it is woven into the fabric of the world. In the gospel, the man’s ears are opened, and his tongue is freed. Jesus uses the physical—his hands, his spittle, his voice—to bring healing. This is not incidental. God works through the created world to bring about salvation.
Read MoreTwenty-second Sunday Per Annum
I love the book of Deuteronomy. It is such a personal and hope filled work. Deuteronomy presents itself as a letter from Moses to his people. They have already escaped from Egypt and their forty years of journeying in the desert have come to an end. The Hebrew people now stand just outside the land of Canaan, their homeland, their promised land. As they stand upon the mountains and look upon their home, there is joy but there is also a twinge of sadness. Moses is dying. He will not make it home. His final act is to write a letter to his people that he has journeyed with for a lifetime.
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