Strength Disguised in Weakness

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to meet the challenges of being diminished in status, wealth, or influence as an opportunity to grow even while planted in a difficult field.

Strong and True

The Reading from the Book of Nahum declares Nineveh’s Inescapable Fate

a. [3:1] Is 10:13–14; Hb 2:12. (Nahum, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB, n.d.)

The response from the Book of Deuteronomy is a poetic sermon, having for its theme the Lord’s benefits to Israel.

* [32:1–43] The whole song is a poetic sermon, having for its theme the Lord’s benefits to Israel (vv. 1–14) and Israel’s ingratitude and idolatry in turning to the gods of the nations; these sins will be punished by the nations themselves (vv. 15–29); in turn, the foolish pride of the nations will be punished, and the Lord’s honor will be vindicated (vv. 30–43).

* [32:36] Neither bond nor free: an all-inclusive expression; cf. 1 Kgs 14:10; 2 Kgs 9:8. (Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 32 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus proclaims to deny someone is to disown him (see Mt 10:33; 26:34–35) and to deny oneself is to disown oneself as the center of one’s existence.

* [16:24] Deny himself: to deny someone is to disown him (see Mt 10:33; 26:34–35) and to deny oneself is to disown oneself as the center of one’s existence.

* [16:25] See notes on Mt 10:38, 39.

* [16:27] The parousia and final judgment are described in Mt 25:31 in terms almost identical with these.

* [16:28] Coming in his kingdom: since the kingdom of the Son of Man has been described as “the world” and Jesus’ sovereignty precedes his final coming in glory (Mt 13:38, 41), the coming in this verse is not the parousia as in the preceding but the manifestation of Jesus’ rule after his resurrection; see notes on Mt 13:38, 41. (Matthew, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB, n.d.)

Becky Nickerson reflects there is often a temptation to focus on achievement, recognition, or control. Yet Jesus’ invitation to “deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me” reminds me that true leadership and discipleship begin with humility, trust, and a willingness to let faith guide my actions.

The call to take up my cross is not necessarily about dramatic acts of sacrifice but about the daily choices I make. As a professional, it may mean putting people before projects and leading with integrity rather than seeking personal success. As a family member and friend, it may mean being patient, present, and supportive even when it requires setting aside my own ideas or timeline. In every role I hold, following Christ pushes me to look beyond my own preferences and priorities, choosing instead to lead, serve, and love in ways that place others at the center. Through these daily acts of selflessness, I am continually shaped by God’s grace and grow in my faith. (Nickerson, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Walk as Christ has walked,” by Caesarius of Arles (470-543 AD).

"When the Lord tells us in the Gospel that anyone who wants to be his follower must renounce himself, the injunction seems harsh; we think he is imposing a burden on us. But an order is no burden when it is given by one who helps in carrying it out. To what place are we to follow Christ if not where he has already gone? We know that he has risen and ascended into heaven; there, then, we must follow him. There is no cause for despair - by ourselves we can do nothing, but we have Christ's promise... One who claims to abide in Christ ought to walk as he walked. Would you follow Christ? Then be humble as he was humble. Do not scorn his lowliness if you want to reach his exaltation. Human sin made the road rough. Christ's resurrection leveled it. By passing over it himself, he transformed the narrowest of tracks into a royal highway. Two feet are needed to run along this highway; they are humility and charity. Everyone wants to get to the top - well, the first step to take is humility. Why take strides that are too big for you - do you want to fall instead of going up? Begin with the first step, humility, and you will already be climbing." (excerpt from SERMONS 159, 1.4-6) (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler shares a reflection on today's Mass readings. Nathum is a prophet who tends to be vindictive against the Assyrians who were infamous for crimes against humanity. It is one way in which the Hebrew Testament differs from Jesus' Testament. We have to follow Christ in the martyrdom of pinpricks. The Son Of Man will repay each for transgressions and there will be a time of reckoning. Friar Jude invites us to ponder the declaration in the Gospel of Matthew declares that some will not taste death until they will see the transcendent reality of Jesus and the defeat of evil.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 16:24-28 comments Jesus is asking us to follow in his footsteps—not to embrace martyrdom, unless that is the Lord’s will, but to “deny” ourselves and to “lose” our lives as we follow him (Matthew 16:24, 25). Let’s look at a common everyday situation that can help us see how the Lord might be calling us to do this.

As you do, the Holy Spirit enables you to step back from your strong reaction and viewpoint, and you begin to see things differently. Maybe you realize that you have a very different personality and way to approach life’s circumstances than the other person. Your upbringing and life experience—both positive and negative—are different from the other person’s. And the opportunities that you’ve been given—whether many or few—have given you a lens through which you view many situations, including this one.

This perspective helps you. Now you see that the best approach to the conflict is to choose humility. You resolve in your heart to “deny” yourself and “lose” your life a little bit. You decide to deny the drive to defend yourself and you lose the urge to be proven right at all costs. You decide to apologize, if necessary, and to see the good in the other person. Being right isn’t the point; following Jesus is.

How is Jesus leading you to follow in his footsteps of humility? (Meditation on Matthew 16:24-28, n.d.)

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, reflects on Job’s story as a source of wisdom about the path of transformation. Every movement toward union with God will feel like a loss of self-importance and self-control. We are realigned with truth when the real person meets the real God—which is exactly the stuff of spirituality, good theology, and transformation.

The book of Job ultimately assures us that faith can forever be found, like the hill of Calvary, “outside the walls.” In fact, that is where it finds its most ready soil—at the bottom, the broken, the edges of things.

If no meaning can be given to human suffering, if our wounds are not capable of becoming sacred wounds, the human project is surely doomed to a blaming war of all against all. The future, like the past, will be full of scapegoats and victims. This is no peripheral question the book of Job pursues.

Without the response from God in the whirlwind—what we might call today the sacred or transcendent dimension—life will surely be “nasty, brutish, and short” for most people in the twenty-first century. There will be no place to go to make our wounds sacred, but they will still be wounds, sore and bleeding. If there is no voice from the whirlwind, no calming eyes in the heart of the tempest, humanity can only “sit on its dung heap picking at its sores.” But in Job and in Jesus, we have heard a story that is always true, a story that makes all our wounds sacred. (Rohr, n.d.)

We implore the inspiration of the Spirit to accept that true leadership and discipleship begin with humility, trust, and a willingness to let faith guide our actions as we seek to demonstrate that strength can be disguised in weakness.

References

Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 32 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/32?35 

Matthew, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/16?24 

Meditation on Matthew 16:24-28. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/08/07/1640975/ 

Nahum, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/nahum/0 

Nickerson, B. (n.d.). Daily Reflection August 7, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-august-7-2026 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). From Suffering to Sacred Wounds. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/from-suffering-to-sacred-wounds/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Whoever Loses His Life for My Sake Will Find It. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Signs for Transformation

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to be aware of the “signs” present in our society that call us to present Jesus' Way to love and transformation in our environment.

Hope and Transformation

The Reading from the Book of Jonah proclaims Jonah’s Obedience and the Ninevites’ Repentance.

* [3:5] Great and small: the contrast can refer to distinctions of social class (prominent citizens and the poor).

* [3:7–8] Fasting and wearing sackcloth are signs of human repentance; here they are legislated even for the animals—a humorous touch, perhaps anticipating 4:11.

* [3:9–10] Scripture frequently presents the Lord as repenting (or, changing his mind) of the evil that he threatens; e.g., Gn 6:6–7; Jer 18:8. (Jonah, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 51 asks deliverance from sin, not just a past act but its emotional, physical, and social consequences.

* [Psalm 51] A lament, the most famous of the seven Penitential Psalms, prays for the removal of the personal and social disorders that sin has brought. The poem has two parts of approximately equal length: Ps 51:3–10 and Ps 51:11–19, and a conclusion in Ps 51:20–21. The two parts interlock by repetition of “blot out” in the first verse of each section (Ps 51:3, 11), of “wash (away)” just after the first verse of each section (Ps 51:4) and just before the last verse (Ps 51:9) of the first section, and of “heart,” “God,” and “spirit” in Ps 51:12, 19. The first part (Ps 51:3–10) asks deliverance from sin, not just a past act but its emotional, physical, and social consequences. The second part (Ps 51:11–19) seeks something more profound than wiping the slate clean: nearness to God, living by the spirit of God (Ps 51:12–13), like the relation between God and people described in Jer 31:33–34. Nearness to God brings joy and the authority to teach sinners (Ps 51:15–16). Such proclamation is better than offering sacrifice (Ps 51:17–19). The last two verses express the hope that God’s good will toward those who are cleansed and contrite will prompt him to look favorably on the acts of worship offered in the Jerusalem Temple (Ps 51:19 [20–21]). (Psalms, PSALM 51 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus addresses The Demand for a Sign.

* [11:29–32] The “sign of Jonah” in Luke is the preaching of the need for repentance by a prophet who comes from afar. Cf. Mt 12:38–42 (and see notes there) where the “sign of Jonah” is interpreted by Jesus as his death and resurrection. (Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)

Rev. Rashmi Fernando, SJ, comments that the invitation of Jesus, therefore, is to stop searching for extraordinary proofs and instead recognize God’s presence in the ordinary, demanding moments of daily life: in conscience, in Scripture, in the quiet invitations to repent and return. 

 

Lent, then, is not about waiting for a sign but about becoming one. Like Jonah, our lives are meant to point beyond ourselves. Like Nineveh, our communities are called to collective conversion. And like the psalmist, we are invited to trust that God never rejects a heart that turns toward Him—however late, however imperfectly.

Questions for Reflection:

1. Where might God be calling me “a second time” this Lent, and how am I responding?

2. What concrete action—not just intention—can express my repentance and desire for change?

3. Am I seeking signs from God, or am I willing to recognize His presence in what is already given? (Fernando, 2026)

Don Schwager quotes “Don't put off conversion - tomorrow may never come,” by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"God is not now so long-suffering in putting up with you that He will fail to be just in punishing. Do not say then: 'Tomorrow I shall be converted, tomorrow I shall please God, and all that I shall have done today and yesterday will be forgiven me.' What you say is true: God has promised forgiveness if you turn back to Him. But what He has not promised is that you will have tomorrow in which to achieve your conversion." (excerpt from Commentary on Psalm 144,11) (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler notes that Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh the capital of Assyria but he wanted to see retribution against the enemies of Israel. Jonah walks for three days through the great city and the people turn away from their sin on the first day. God’s response to sin is to hurt for the damage it does to us. In the Gospel of Luke, people ask Jesus for a sign. Friar Jude notes two versions of the sign of Jonah: who was buried in the belly of the whale for three days and the preaching of conversion to Nineveh as Jesus is Wisdom Incarnate as sought in the Hebrew Testament.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 11:29-32 comments Jesus is looking for people who recognize that “something greater than Jonah” is in their midst (11:32). It’s important to see that Jesus’ reaction to such an attitude is not one of condescension or condemnation; it comes from a heart yearning to see his people turn to his Father.

Ask the Holy Spirit to stir your heart today. Make time for quiet listening so that you can hear his voice in a noisy world. Jesus is greater than Jonah. He is greater than Solomon. He is greater than any celebrity or politician or internet influencer. And yet, as great as he is, he wants to spend time with you.

“Jesus, open my ears and my heart to receive your words!” (Meditation on Luke 11:29-32, n.d.)

Brian McLaren describes some of the modern addictions that keep us from choosing the difficult path to freedom. Author Cole Arthur Riley reminds us of the slow work of liberation.

Could you wander for forty years if it meant freedom? If you listen, you can still hear them groaning—they who were rescued, only to find that freedom is never so easily won. That liberation is a path marked by uncertainty and thirst and grief over all that was lost in the revolution. In Exodus, we are faced with a God of slow rescue…. Perhaps God knew that part of liberation is confronting anything you might hunger for more than it. [1] (McLaren, n.d.)

McLaren continues:

The wilderness journey is always difficult and seems to last forever…. But the truth is, if we arrive before we’ve learned the lessons of the wilderness, we won’t be able to enjoy the freedom that awaits us in the promised land beyond it. There is wisdom we will need there that we can gain only right here. There is strength and skill we will need in the future that we can develop only here and now, on the wilderness road. There is moral muscle we will need then that we can exercise and strengthen only through our struggles on this road, here and now….

We will often be tempted to return to our old lives, but in that tension between a backward pull and a forward call, we will discover unexplainable sustenance (like manna) and unexpected refreshment (like springs in the desert). Against all odds, walking by faith, we will survive, and more: we will learn what it means to be alive. (McLaren, n.d.)

We seek the inspiration of the Spirit to be the sign of the freedom and fullness of life that Jesus offers to all people.

References

Fernando, R. (2026, February 25). Daily Reflection February 25, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved February 25, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-february-25-2026 

Jonah, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 25, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jonah/3?1 

Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 25, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/11?29 

McLaren, B. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 25, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-wilderness-journey/ 

Meditation on Luke 11:29-32. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved February 25, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/02/25/1508528/ 

Psalms, PSALM 51 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 25, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/51?3 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). The Sign of Jonah for an Evil Generation. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 25, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/