Thursday, February 19th
To complete today's challenge, find time to prayerfully read through the reflections below, attend a recovery meeting, and share what's on your heart and mind on today's discussion board.
REFLECT
Friday of the Second Week of Easter
What beautiful readings we have today! In the first reading, the apostles are rebuked before the Sanhedrin for teaching and proclaiming Christ. In our own lives, when challenges confront us—rejections and disappointments—do we rejoice as the Apostles did?
“After recalling the apostles, they had them flogged, ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them. So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name” (Acts 5:40-41).
They understood it as a worthy opportunity to suffer dishonor for the sake of Christ. I know that for me, much of my life and recovery journey has had me focused on disappointments and rejections as opposed to rejoicing in them as opportunities to offer them up as suffering for Christ.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus feeds His people both physically as well as spiritually. I like to think that the twelve wicker baskets filled “with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat” represents the abundant generosity of the Lord’s grace and mercy (John 6:13). This Easter season, let us be open to the everyday miracles our Lord gives us in our lives and recovery journey.
Reflection Questions
- Is the Lord asking you to transform your sufferings into an opportunity to form deeper intimacy with Him?
- What are some instances in your life and recovery when the Lord provided generously for you, leaving you with abundant “fragments” of His grace and love?
Daily Mass Readings
First Reading: Acts 5:34-42
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14
Gospel: John 6:1-15
Reflection by Aaron W.
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha
(1656-1680) — The “Lily of the Mohawks” was born to a Christian Algonquin mother and a pagan Mohawk chief father in Auriesville, New York. She was orphaned during a smallpox outbreak that also scarred her face and impaired her vision. Kateri was converted by Jesuit missionaries and was abused and ostracized by her tribe for her faith and for refusing an arranged marriage. She was baptized at 18 and fled through 200 miles of wilderness to a Christian village near Montreal, Quebec, where she died at age 24. She was known for her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and commitment to deep prayer as well as for being a miracle worker.
Kateri had an intense faith from the first moments of learning about Jesus. When her village was declining in morals, she chose life in Christ. She “came to believe that a Power greater than [herself] could restore [her] to sanity” (Step 2).
“Kateri impresses us by the action of grace in her life in spite of the absence of external help and by the courage of her vocation, so unusual in her culture. In her, faith and culture enrich each other! May her example help us to live where we are, loving Jesus without denying who we are” (Pope Benedict XVI, canonization homily on October 12, 2012).
Reflection by Brad Farmer
Other Saints
Discuss
Share your thoughts and connect with others on this journey.
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While living a life in active addiction and alcoholism I squandered my Talents, I lived a life of spiritual sloth and I received what was expected. However, while in recovery I learn the skills necessary to invest and multiple my Talents putting them to good use. A use focused and dedicated towards God. Prosperity is the life I have achieved for myself only when I put my Talents to good use for myself but others first.
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Lord forgive me for not seeking you always!
When I converted to Catholicism in 2014, it was one of the greatest moments of my life. My whole family was there, and I felt supported, hopeful, and finally grounded in something that gave me purpose. But as the years went on and I tried to live out the faith sincerely, things changed. Little by little, some of my family began to see me as “too Catholic,” and the rejection that followed cut deeply. It hurt even more because during the same time, I was fighting to become a recovering addict, and I needed their support more than ever.
My brothers don’t speak to me anymore, and that loss has weighed heavily on me. But through all of it, I’ve learned what it means to carry a heavy and burdened Cross. I’ve learned that my place is to walk faithfully, even when misunderstood, and to remember that I am in the world, not of the world.
May God bless you all. 🙏🏻 Peace be with you!