Pope Francis – Daily Graces

Getting Back to Work

Published on April 21, 2025 by Kate1 Comment

I was a little disappointed this morning when I realize Ben had to go into work. For some reason, I was so sure Easter Monday was a holiday and he was going to be staying home. I didn’t have any big plans for the day that were ruined by this realization, but I still felt like I was being robbed of something.

Thank goodness for the Gospel reflections I listen to every morning on Hallow. Jeff Cavins offers a daily Gospel reflection for the Gospel of the day. Today’s Gospel is from Matthew 28: 8-15. Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and asks her to tell the disciples to meet him back in Galilee. Remember, the events of the Passion all happened in and around Jerusalem. I loved the way Jeff interpreted this instruction. The area of Galilee was Jesus’ main “home base” for his ministry. It is where he continued to return to and was where most of the disciples were from. In a sense, Jesus is telling the disciples to “go back to the office. We’ve got work to do.”

This put a new perspective on Ben needing to go to work today. We have celebrated Easter, the biggest day of the year. But today it’s Monday. What do we do the day after the biggest day of the year? Jesus tells us: we get back to work.

We get to work sharing the Good News. We get to work as moms, dads, businessmen, students, nurses, teachers, volunteers, aids, whatever it is you do in your day-to-day life. But this isn’t the same old same old work. No, we are an Easter people, a resurrection people. We should be filled with light and joy that radiates to everyone we encounter today. Even if these are the same people we encountered yesterday.

Today, while being this day of getting to work, we are also pausing to thank God for the life and work of Pope Francis. I don’t think anyone expected to wake up to the news that the pope had passed onto new life. We are now entering a very interesting period of time and I think there will be some things that are important to keep in mind as we pray for whomever God is calling to be the new Bishop of Rome.

Speculation, while fun to dabble in, must not consume our thoughts. Of course we are all wondering who the next pope will be. Perhaps we will even engage in debates about who would be the best choice. However, it would be good to keep in mind that above all else, the Holy Spirit is guiding the Church and the process for the election of a new pope.
Things will change. Each pope is different and brings his own unique perspective on the world based on his lived experience, culture, theological training, etc. The next pope will not be a carbon copy of Pope Francis. This realization will either excite or dismay a great many people. Let’s let Jesus’ words, both before and after the resurrection, to guide us: Be not afraid! And then, trust in the Holy Spirit’s care and guidance for our particular cares and concerns as well as the global Church.
Take some time, if you can, to learn about how the Church is flourishing or struggling in a different country than your own. It can be very easy to be so focused on the issues the Church is facing in our own context and community we can forget that we are part of a global Church. What is a challenge for me and my community might not be a challenge for you in your area. The pope is the successor of Peter, the shepherd of the global Church. He must, to the best of his ability, guide the global Church without particular preference to one region or another.
Lastly, pray, pray, pray! Pray for Pope Francis as he enters new life in heaven. Pray for everyone traveling to Rome to celebrate and remember Pope Francis during these days of mourning. Pray for the cardinals traveling to Rome for the conclave. Pray for the cardinals as they discern the will of the Holy Spirit for the next pope. Pray for the man who will be chosen to be the next pope. God already knows his name, we simply await His timing to reveal the new pope to us.

Let’s get to work, we have a lot to do.

Angelus – Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Published on October 14, 2023 by KateLeave a comment

Matthew 22:1-14

As the weeks continue to march on, I am feeling stretched rather thin. At times like these, it is important to take the time to discern what God’s will is for this season, this moment. I have taken on quite a bit creatively, and Bilbo’s words from Fellowship keep coming back to me. This is from when he is talking to Gandalf about why he needs to go away from the Shire.

Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.
The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien

I am not ready to say weekly Gospel reflections here need to be paused, but I don’t have the creative energy or time to do both a YouTube video and additional post. So for this week, I leave you in the most capable of hands, Pope Francis.

The link here is to an Angelus audience from Oct. 11, 2020.

The Heart Sees – Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

Published on August 11, 2023August 9, 2023 by KateLeave a comment

While this week’s YouTube video focuses on the Gospel, as usual, I can’t pass up an opportunity to talk about the story of Elijah in 1 Kings. This is one of my favorite Old Testament stories. It is quite the epic situation. Elijah is on the run for his life. He has wandered through the wilderness and come close to death. He has been sustained by angels and miraculous food appearing before him. Finally, he has found shelter in a cave on Mount Horeb, the mountain of the Lord.

This mountain is not insignificant. You might know it by another name, Mount Sinai. This is the same mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments. This is the place of covenant, a place where God came to meet His people. Elijah has had to flee here, not from outsiders, but from his own people. Elijah tells God that, “the Israelites have forsaken your covenant. They have destroyed your altars and murdered your prophets by the sword. I alone remain, and they seek to take my life” (1 Kings 19:10).

Frightened and fearful, Elijah gives his report to God. What would God say? What do you think went through Elijah’s mind when God called him to stand outside the cave, utterly exposed, so God could pass by?

And then we behold both God’s power and His restraint. There is a wind that whips through the mountains, strong enough to crush rocks. An earthquake shakes the world, fire scorches past. Power, yes, such power over all the elements. How small Elijah must have felt. Yet, also perceptive. While these wonders were indeed displays of God’s power, He Himself was not in them.

In a way, and this is my own interpretation, God was giving Elijah one final test. You see, Elijah could have been righteously angry at the Israelites. He could have desired their punishment or at least reprimand for the way they were neglecting their faith. He could have sought revenge for his fellow prophets who had been killed. He could have sought retribution for the pains he himself had suffered. Any of those first displays of power could have swayed Elijah – yes, here is my mighty God who will bring vengeance and judgment down upon the people! But it would have been false, because God was not truly there.

The disposition of our heart affects how we perceive the world. Elijah’s heart was not full of anger, revenge, or despair. Through it all, he had remained faithful to God’s friendship and obedient to God’s will. This is why it is only in the smallest breeze, a still, small wind, that he hid his face in his cloak and went out to meet his God.

So often, we chase after what we believe will make us happy only to be disappointed. The disposition of our hearts can lead us in all manner of directions. The Bible talks quite a bit about our heart. One of the recurring themes in the season of Lent is the notion of allowing God to soften our heart, to give us a new heart. This new heart is one that is soft and clean, rather than hard and stoney.

A clean heart create for me, God;
renew within me a steadfast spirit.
Psalm 51:12

I am aware it isn’t Lent, but the message is timeless. God is always in what’s best for us, and what’s best for us is always God. This doesn’t necessarily mean a life of solitude and a diet of brown bread and water. And thank God! A person with a clean heart, a soft heart, is one that God can shape and form into who he or she God intended them to be. Another word for this is holiness. Holiness is a universal call – each one of you reading this, as well as the person sitting next to you, as well as your neighbor down the street, even that person who cut you off on the highway – all of us are called to holiness.

Pope Francis’ excellent exhortation, Gaudete et exultate, is all about the universal call to holiness. Check this quote out:

The important thing is that each believer discern his or her own path, that they bring out the very best of themselves, the most personal gifts that God has placed in their hearts (cf. 1 Cor 12:7), rather than hopelessly trying to imitate something not meant for them. We are all called to be witnesses, but there are many actual ways of bearing witness. Indeed, when the great mystic, Saint John of the Cross, wrote his Spiritual Canticle, he preferred to avoid hard and fast rules for all. He explained that his verses were composed so that everyone could benefit from them “in his or her own way”. For God’s life is communicated “to some in one way and to others in another”.
Gaudete et exsultate, 11.

So good, right? Ok, I know this has been a longer post so I’ll leave it here. I would encourage you to read over that quote again though and think about what gifts God has specially and specifically given to your heart. How are you using them? This really is a beautiful exhortation, though I wouldn’t read it all in one sitting. Take it a paragraph at a time. It’s really worth it.