Holiness Happiness and Health

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to assess and act on the conditions in our lives that support our seeking fullness of life for all communities.

Christian Care for Cuba

The Reading from the First Book of Kings explores Solomon’s Listening Heart and the visit of the Queen of Sheba.

* [10:1–13] The sub-unit on Solomon’s wisdom contrasts with 3:16–28. There Solomon’s gifts led him to listen to the humblest of his subjects; he accomplished justice and was revered by all his people. Here the emphasis is on his clever speech to a foreign monarch. She is duly impressed by the glory of his court, but it is she, not Solomon, who recalls the monarch’s duty of establishing justice (v. 9). The unit is interrupted briefly by a remark about Solomon’s maritime commerce (10:11–12).

* [10:1] Queen of Sheba: women rulers among the Arabs are recorded in eighth-century B.C. Assyrian inscriptions. Sheba was for centuries the leading principality in what is now Yemen. (1 Kings, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 37 proclaims people’s very actions place them among the ranks of the good or wicked.

* [Psalm 37] The Psalm responds to the problem of evil, which the Old Testament often expresses as a question: why do the wicked prosper and the good suffer? The Psalm answers that the situation is only temporary. God will reverse things, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked here on earth. The perspective is concrete and earthbound: people’s very actions place them among the ranks of the good or wicked. Each group or “way” has its own inherent dynamism—eventual frustration for the wicked, eventual reward for the just. The Psalm is an acrostic, i.e., each section begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section has its own imagery and logic.

* [37:3] The land: the promised land, Israel, which became for later interpreters a type or figure of heaven, cf. Heb 11:9–10, 13–16. The New Testament Beatitudes (Mt 5:3–12; Lk 6:20–26) have been influenced by the Psalm, especially their total reversal of the present and their interpretation of the happy future as possession of the land. (Psalms, PSALM 37 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus proclaims what comes out of a person, that is what defiles.

* [7:17] Away from the crowd…the parable: in this context of privacy the term parable refers to something hidden, about to be revealed to the disciples; cf. Mk 4:10–11, 34. Jesus sets the Mosaic food laws in the context of the kingdom of God where they are abrogated, and he declares moral defilement the only cause of uncleanness.

* [7:19] (Thus he declared all foods clean): if this bold declaration goes back to Jesus, its force was not realized among Jewish Christians in the early church; cf. Acts 10:1–11:18. (Mark, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)

David Crawford comments that what we do and say should accurately reflect Christ, but too often there is a disconnect between what Christians are called to do and what Christians actually do. We often are tempted to become like the Pharisees, so sure in our righteousness and how we see the world that we assume everything we do, say, or think is in concert with what God wants, and equally sure that anyone who disagrees with us is somehow deficient.

To be a better representative, my daily interactions with those who are suffering should bring healing, not add to pain. I should follow the Spirit’s promptings to foster unity (not division) and reconciliation (not distrust). I should welcome people with God’s love and mercy, not drive them away with self-righteous condemnation. When someone falls short,

I should joyfully forgive (like the Prodigal Father), not begrudge that forgiveness (like the Prodigal Brother). I should seek to be the just one described in today’s psalm, one whose mouth tells of wisdom and whose tongue utters what is right.

Loving God, change our hearts and our minds so that everything we say, everything we do, everything we think is worthy of you. (Crawford, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “The cycle of bitterness broken by forbearance,” by Tertullian, 160-225 A.D.

"Let us, then, his servants, follow our Lord and patiently submit to denunciations that we may be blessed! If, with slight forbearance, I hear some bitter or evil remark directed against me, I may return it, and then I shall inevitably become bitter myself. Either that, or I shall be tormented by unexpressed resentment. If I retaliate when cursed, how shall I be found to have followed the teaching of our Lord? For his saying has been handed down that one is defiled not by unclean dishes but by the words which proceed from his mouth ( Mark 7:15)."(excerpt from ON PATIENCE 8)

[Tertullian (160-225 AD) was an early Christian writer and theologian from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was a noted early Christian apologist who defended Christianity and the practice of Christians against the reproaches of the pagans. He promoted the principle of freedom of religion as an inalienable human right and demanded a fair trial for Christians before they were condemned to death.] (Crawford, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 7:14-23 asks how can we be pleasing to the Lord in our hearts and walk in holiness throughout our days?

First, don’t be discouraged! Remember: the same Jesus who asks you to strive for purity is the One whose blood can cleanse your conscience from “dead works” (Hebrews 9:14), and his cross and resurrection can give you the grace to turn from sin. He offers you power to love him and follow him. Second, remember that the Sacrament of Confession offers the perfect opportunity to bring your weaknesses and sins to Christ. There, you can receive his mercy and strength. There, Jesus will meet you in your heart and provide you with all the help you need.

“Come, Lord, and purify my heart! May my every thought, every motive, every intention be pleasing in your sight!” (Meditation on Mark 7:14-23, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that in 1 Kings the Queen of Sheba comes to see Solomon attracted by his wisdom. Israel had trading outposts in the Queen’s area. Wisdom is also knowing nature, medicine, solution to riddles, alchemy and magic. The Queen brings spices and gold to Solomon recognizing the blessing of God in his person and reign. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus attacks the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who are worrying what is outside ourselves and we should focus inside. Friar Jude notes Jesus' call to a radical transformation of our way of living, thinking, and seeing reality. 

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Rev. Dr. Ruth Patterson who has worked for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. In CAC’s journal ONEING, she characterizes our life’s journey as a return to a knowledge of God’s love and acceptance.

This longing inevitably leads to an expulsion from the false Eden and a pilgrimage that goes by the way of dispossession. Such a journey is not for the faint-hearted but for those who, in the words of Leonard Cohen, are willing to forget their perfect offering. They begin to see that the cracks are gift. The wounds of the journey allow the light to shine through. The softening of the heart welcomes the diversity that its Creator proclaims is good. Out of uncertainty, not knowing, vulnerability, and openness, they become the mercy-givers, the peacemakers, the light-bearers. With them, there is always more….

The way back to Eden, the space between “paradise lost” and “paradise regained,” the place where we live our lives, can be one of great love and great suffering, of newfound humility and awe. It can also be a return to wonder … to the movement or the dance of belonging and becoming. It is the place where we laugh and cry and sing. It is the place where we risk taking off our shoes. It is the place of ever-increasing awareness. This is the way in which we “are not” and along which we, and even I, may dance with joy. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen. (Rohr, n.d.)

We implore the Spirit to lead us in contemplation and action to seek transformation of our greed and energy for self gratification to acts of kindness, mercy, and peace for all people in our environment.

References

Crawford, D. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved February 11, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-february-11-2026 

Mark, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 11, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/7?14 

Meditation on Mark 7:14-23. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved Month 11, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/02/11/1497878/ 

1 Kings, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 11, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1kings/10?1 

Psalms, PSALM 37 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 11, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/37?5 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 11, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/longing-for-the-garden/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Out of the Heart Come Evil Thoughts. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 11, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Persecution and Migration

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to attend to our responsibility in the face of persecution of people who migrate to protect the safety, health, and survival of their families.

Migrants and Mercy

The reading from the Book of Genesis describes the migration of Jacob and family to Egypt.

* [46:1–47:26] Jacob and his family settle in Egypt. Joseph’s economic policies.

* [46:3] I am God: more precisely according to the Hebrew text, “I am El.” “El” is here a divine name, not the common noun “god.” (Genesis, CHAPTER 46 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 37 responds to the problem of evil.

* [Psalm 37] The Psalm responds to the problem of evil, which the Old Testament often expresses as a question: why do the wicked prosper and the good suffer? The Psalm answers that the situation is only temporary. God will reverse things, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked here on earth. The perspective is concrete and earthbound: people’s very actions place them among the ranks of the good or wicked. Each group or “way” has its own inherent dynamism—eventual frustration for the wicked, eventual reward for the just. The Psalm is an acrostic, i.e., each section begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section has its own imagery and logic. (Psalms, PSALM 37 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus warns of coming persecutions for followers of the Way.

* [10:21] See Mi 7:6 which is cited in Mt 10:35, 36.

* [10:22] To the end: the original meaning was probably “until the parousia.” But it is not likely that Matthew expected no missionary disciples to suffer death before then, since he envisages the martyrdom of other Christians (Mt 10:21). For him, the end is probably that of the individual’s life (see Mt 10:28).

* [10:23] Before the Son of Man comes: since the coming of the Son of Man at the end of the age had not taken place when this gospel was written, much less during the mission of the Twelve during Jesus’ ministry, Matthew cannot have meant the coming to refer to the parousia. It is difficult to know what he understood it to be: perhaps the “proleptic parousia” of Mt 28:16–20, or the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, viewed as a coming of Jesus in judgment on unbelieving Israel. (Matthew, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB, n.d.)

Sara Schulte-Bukowinski was recently present as a prayerful witness to an ICE raid in Omaha. The desperation of family members trying to reach their loved ones was palpable. Those detained that day were not violent criminals, but people who had worked hard, some for decades, in her own city. They are people who raised families, paid taxes and were trying to create a better life for their children.

Looking at our gospel for today one could make the argument that their persecution was not because of their faith in the Lord. However, what stirs in my heart as I read today’s readings (especially the psalm) is that the pursuit of freedom, justice, and the dignity that comes from one’s labor are indeed Kingdom values. In any case, our gospel today is clear that the political authority of the world will sometimes be in conflict with the exercise of faith. This does not mean I can have a flagrant disregard for laws in general, but it does mean that I must never confuse the law of the land with the Law of the Lord. I must strive to follow the latter and trust in the Lord, even when it brings painful division, even should it bring persecution.

Lord grant us wisdom to hear your call, and the courage to respond. (Schulte-Bukowinski, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “The Spirit of your heavenly Father speaks through you in every age,” by Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD).

"To be sure, we heard in that reading, 'But when they deliver you up, do not be anxious how or what you are to speak... for it is not you who are speaking but the Spirit of your Father who speaks through you.' And he says in another place: 'Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world' (Matthew 28:20). Does this mean that the people who heard those words of the Lord would be here until the end of the world? The Lord was referring, rather, not only to those about to depart from this life but also to the others, including us and those who would come after us in this life. He saw everyone in his single body, and the words he spoke, 'I am with you even to the end of the world,' were heard by them and by us too. And if we did not hear them then in our knowledge, we heard them in his foreknowledge. Therefore, safe as sheep among the wolves, let us keep the commandments of him who directs us. And let us be 'innocent as doves but cautious as snakes' (Matthew 10:16). Innocent as doves that we may not harm anyone; cautious as snakes that we may be careful of letting anyone harm us." (excerpt from the Sermon 44a.2) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30 comments that moving is always stressful, and pulling up roots to move to a foreign country is ten times as challenging! So imagine, in today’s reading, Jacob assembling his caravan—his growing family, their possessions, and all the flocks and herds they tended.

You may find yourself today in new circumstances or unfamiliar territory. You may be facing opposition from someone close to you. You may even end up wrestling with old patterns of thinking or habitual sin. Yet these are the times when God’s promises mean the most. So whatever you are facing, you can also expect the Lord to stay close to you. Even if you have to “go down to Egypt” today, know that you won’t be going alone!

“Lord, help me to stand on your promises and take refuge in your presence!” (Meditation on Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the Genesis passage where the brothers of Joseph invite Jacob to Egypt, who is always thinking of self even as God tells him to be a great nation. As Jacob is welcomed into the Nile delta, the author calls the man Israel, the name associated with wrestling with God as a man of integrity struggling to find the Will of God. Matthew’s Gospel declares the Apostles will suffer and will need to be shrewd and clever to survive. Friar Jude notes they were handed to death, even by family. Near 85 CE Jewish rabbis decided to kick Christians out of the synagogue as heretics to burn in hell forever, Friar Jude notes that what Jesus came true in Matthew’s time.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares how the story of Jonah became so important to him and his framework of transformation.

I’ve always made a great deal of the passage where Jesus says, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah” (Luke 11:29). He is saying that his message is simple and clear: You’ve got to die before you die. In rites of initiation we teach people that they have to go down before they can possibly go up. In modern psychological language, we call it the death of the ego or the separate self. What has to die is our sense of separateness, because what goes with separateness is superiority. Once we define ourselves according to our nationality, culture, religion, or identity, then we feel we have to defend each one of those. What a waste of energy! We sink to scolding and blaming; not just are we “number one,” but everybody else is a second-class citizen.  

That’s how dualistic our thoughts become. When the private ego didn’t die, Christianity even made salvation into a victory trip, thinking we knew who “won.” To undergo the sign of Jonah feels like losing, and by worldly standards, it looks like it, too. The sign of Jonah is a symbol of surrender, of letting go, of giving up. Most of us wouldn’t describe those as the stages of the journey of enlightenment, but they’re much closer to the real truth and the real journey. (Rohr, n.d.)

We ponder our spiritual heritage of migration to living as disciples of Christ and implore the Spirit to activate our Baptismal anointing as priest, prophet, and leader in our actions to support brothers and sisters seeking to migrate for the sake of their family well being.

References

Genesis, CHAPTER 46 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/46?1 

Matthew, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/10?16 

Meditation on Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/07/11/1329579/ 

Psalms, PSALM 37 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/37?3 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-story-of-transformation/ 

Schulte-Bukowinski, S. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-july-11-2025 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Sheep in the Midst of Wolves - Wise and Innocent. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jul11