February 8 through 14, 2026
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(February 8, 2026: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“You are salt of the earth. You are light of the world.”
Jesus proclaims to all who wish to follow him that they are to be light to the world, and salt of the earth. These are powerful images, as powerful today as they were when Christ first proclaimed them. For disciples of every time and place, these images are not mere ego boosters. No, they are a constant challenge to dare to become for God and others what Jesus was so clearly.
To be a light to the world is to illumine others with God’s truth and mercy. Likewise, that same light must expose the sins of pride, envy, meanness, indifference, injustice and anything else that blinds us from the divine truth and mercy that Christ has gained for us. Insofar as sin is anything that makes it more difficult to see in ourselves and one another the light and love of Jesus Christ, exposing such sin not only frees us from darkness but also better enables us to do all that is good and life-giving.
In Jesus’ light, we see the source of all light. We see the Father’s creative love; we receive Jesus’ redeeming love; we experience the Spirit’s inspiring love. Still, it is not enough to let this light shine out upon others: we must also allow that light to penetrate and permeate every fiber of our being. The greatest encouragement that our God-given light can give to others is to show to others how that light is, in fact and at first, transforming us.
To be salt is to accept that fact that our efforts – or lack thereof – to follow Christ do have an impact upon others, regardless of whether we are always aware of that impact or not. There are times in our lives when we lose our taste for God and/or the things of God. More frequently than not this is displayed by our own feelings of inadequacy and/or indifference when it comes to practicing virtue. We all have our moments when we are tempted to believe that our day- to-day efforts at following Christ simply don’t make a positive difference in the lives of others, let alone in God’s overall plan for salvation. Unlike salt, however, we can regain that taste for doing what is righteous and good through prayer, the sacraments and, perhaps most practically, by doubling – even tripling – our efforts at practicing those very virtues that we are tempted to cease pursuing.
When we are tempted to wonder about our own efficacy in witnessing to the power and promise of God’s creative, redeeming, inspiring, healing and challenging love in our everyday, imperfect lives we should take consolation and encouragement about something which is true about both light and salt: even the smallest amounts of each go a very, very long way.
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(February 9, 2026: Monday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“They begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.”
People continued to bring the sick – and themselves – to be healed by Jesus. The account in today’s selection from the Gospel of Mark provides an interesting detail: folks coming to Jesus for help believed that if they merely touched his clothing they would experience healing power.
It would seem that just a little bit of Jesus – even the smallest touch of Jesus – went a very long way.
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote: “Among sacred lovers there are some who so completely devote themselves to exercises of divine love that its holy fire devours and consumes their life…” (Book VII, Chapter 10, p. 41) Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of this love. His love for others was so intense that even the smallest sampling of it changed forever the lives of those he touched.
Today, will the same be said of our love?
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(February 10, 2026: Scholastica, Virgin)
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“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed: “Remember that God is not only in the place where you are: God is present in a most particular manner in your heart and in the very center of your spirit.” (Part II, Chapter 2, p. 85)
Clearly, this truth was completely lost on many of the Pharisees and scribes. If they had realized that God dwells less in temples, laws, precepts and traditions and more within and among human beings, then they would had put their priorities in order. However, they were more concerned about protecting their own ways of doing things at the expense of promoting the ways of God, The result? The Pharisees and scribes became stumbling blocks for themselves and others when it came to recognizing that God’s preferred and most personal dwelling place is with and among God’s people.
Each of us is the dwelling place of the Lord. God dwells in us and we in God.
Will the ways that we relate to others just this day give witness to this truth?
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(February 11, 2026: Our Lady of Lourdes)
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“When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon’s great wisdom, she was breathless…”
In today’s reading from the First Book of Kings, when the Queen of Sheba experiences first-hand the depth and breadth of Solomon’s wisdom, we are told that it took her breath away.
The Judea-Christian tradition includes wisdom as one of a total of seven gifts associated with the Holy Spirit. In a sermon on this topic, Francis de Sales preached:
“Let us take a closer look at these seven gifts. The prophet lists them in order of dignity. Since the gift of wisdom is the highest and most perfect, it is placed first; the less perfect come at the end of the list. For ourselves – talking about the gifts in order to learn from them – let us begin at the lower end and work our way up…”
These gifts are:
Fear/Temperance
Piety/Justice
Knowledge
Fortitude
Counsel
Understanding
Wisdom
For Francis de Sales “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 11: 10) This gift of fear has two faces: (1) Fear of being punished, and (2) fear of losing heaven. And so, “fear of the Lord” is the first step in turning away from evil.
Francis de Sales said that almost immediately the “spirit of fear gives way to the spirit of adoption.” (St. Paul) To serve God and others without fear of punishment or hope of reward is the heart of justice: it is about giving people their due.
Francis believed that mere human knowledge merely enables us to know the difference between good and evil. However, the Spirit’s gift of knowledge helps us to actually turn away from evil but also to do what is good.
Francis preached: “Nothing is so common than to find people who know what is right but who lack the courage to do it.” Fortitude gives us the courage we need to persevere in our decision to turn away from sin and to practice virtue, especially when doing so is difficult, challenging and/or discouraging.
“The strength of an army needs the counsel of a commander,” observed Francis de Sales. “Just as fear causes us to break away from sinful habits and knowledge helps us to see what is wrong, counsel helps us to tackle what knowledge has taught us.” The gift of counsel helps us to determine how to do what is good.
How about the gift of understanding? Francis taught that it “allows us to penetrate, to see or appreciate more deeply Our Lord’s principles.” Understanding enables us to love the ways in which God wants us to ‘have life, and have life to the full.’ (John 10:10)
Finally (and hopefully) we reach the gift of wisdom. Wisdom “gratifies the soul with every blessing.” It helps us to know what’s really important and to know what really matters. This gift enables us “to see deeply into the excellence of God’s ways: not to talk or preach about them, but to live them.”
Let us imitate the example of Solomon. May our acquisition – and daily practice – of the virtues that will help us to grow in wisdom be less about taking others’ breathe away and more about our breathing life into others!
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(February 12, 2026: Thursday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time)
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"Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps."
We see a test of wills in today’s Gospel. A local woman is determined to wrest a miracle for her daughter from Jesus, but Jesus seems equally determined to deny her request. While Jesus appears committed to saying “no” to this woman’s plea, the woman appears equally determined to refuse to take “no” for an answer. Clearly, this scene has all the makings of a “Syrophoenician stand-off”.
In both cases, Jesus and the woman are persistent. They are both determined to persevere.
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Our Savior attaches to the great gift of perseverance the supreme gift of eternal glory, as He has said, ‘The one who shall persevere to the end shall be saved.’ This gift is simply the sum total and sequence by which we continue in God’s love up to the end, just as the education, raising and training of a child are simply the acts of care, help and assistance…Perseverance is the most desirable gift we can hope for in this life. It is in our power to persevere. Of course, I do not mean that our perseverance takes its origin from our power. On the contrary, I know that it springs from God’s mercy, whose most precious gift it is.” (Book 3, Chapter 4, p. 174)
Jesus credits the Syrophoenician woman’s persistence – her perseverance – for granting her request to heal her daughter.
Today, how determined are we in our attempts to bring our needs – and the needs of those we love – to the Lord?
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(February 13, 2020: Friday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“People brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him.”
Jesus was only too happy to grant their request to heal a deaf man with a speech impediment. As we see in the Gospel account today, however, Jesus did much more than simply lay his hand on him. He took him apart from the crowd. Jesus placed his finger in the man’s ears And then spitting, Jesus placed his finger on the man’s tongue.
Jesus healed people in a variety of ways. Sometimes he simply said a word. Sometimes he gave a direct command. Sometimes he followed someone to their home. Sometimes he healed from far away. Sometimes he healed in public. And sometimes – as seen in today’s account from Mark’s Gospel – Jesus’ healing is private: intimately up-close and personal.
Ask yourself this question: how might you need Jesus to heal you today? Then, ask yourself another question: how might Jesus need you to heal someone else today?
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(February 14, 2026: Cyril, Monk and Methodius, Bishop)
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“My heart is moved with pity…”
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Compassion, sympathy, commiseration or pity is simply an affection that makes us share the sufferings and sorrows of ones we love and draws the misery that they endure into our own hearts…” (Book V, Chapter 4, p. 243)
As we see clearly in today’s Gospel, Jesus’ compassion is more than affection; it is more than a feeling. While he clearly makes the neediness of others his own, Jesus does more than that - he does something about the neediness. Jesus satisfies the hunger. Jesus heals the pain. Jesus breaks the chains. Jesus confronts the injustice.
Every time Jesus’ compassionate heart is moved, something good happens to others.
Today, will the same be said for our hearts?
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