FEBRUARY 22 2026
1st Sunday
Lent
FOCUS: Jesus is the obedient Son.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Scriptures use metaphorical language to speak of Israel as God’s son. Yet like us today, the Israelites persist in disobedience, straying from their Father’s will. God thus sends Jesus, who is tempted in the desert to disobey God. Jesus’ example of obedience reveals what true sonship requires.
What's in Your Heart
The first reading this week offers a meditation on the origin of sin. The writer doesn't so much explain why sin came into the world as tell a story about its entry. The disobedience of Adam and Eve grows out of their breaking trust in God.
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Where am I tempted to break my trusting and faithful relationship with God? What do I do to find strength in those times?
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Satan also tempts Jesus to break his faith in God. When do I encounter the temptation to trust only in myself, doubt God's love for me, or seek too much power?
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Saint Paul contrasts the disobedience of Adam with the obedience of Christ. Through one came death, through the other comes life. What are the choices I face between "life" and "death"? Do I always, in the words of Deuteronomy 30:19, "choose life"?
Homily Stories
It happened too fast to pray for help. Semis in front of me, behind me, on both sides of me—on a congested, fast-moving stretch of winter highway just outside Chicago. Brake lights flared ahead. I had plenty of space to slow. But the truck behind me didn’t. The impact slammed me forward into the truck ahead, and suddenly the world was sirens, shattered calm, and strangers opening my door.
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EMTs whisked me to their ambulance, then to the ER. Nurses and doctors moved me from scan to scan, room to room. Eventually my family arrived to take me home. My niece, blunt and wise as 6-year-olds can be: “At least you’re not dead.” Thank God. And the injuries could have been far worse.
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What stayed with me most was the strangeness of being utterly passive in such a drama—of having no control, no plan, no ability to “manage” anything. After years of living alone and handling nearly every part of my life independently, I was suddenly being carried and tended to by what felt like one angel after another.
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In that vulnerable position, I found myself wondering whether this experience was saying to me, rather abruptly: stop. Let yourself be cared for. In this instance, I had no choice but to surrender to reliance. When I’m better, I plan to work on it willingly.
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First Reading
Second Reading
Gospel
Quotes
Our guardian angels are our most faithful friends, because they are with us day and night, always and everywhere. We ought often to invoke them.
—Saint John Vianney