Broken and Belonging

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today declare the commitment of Christ to love those suffering from brokenness in society.

Welcome the Broken

In the Reading from the Book of Wisdom, the wicked deny survival after death.

* [2:1–20] In this speech the wicked deny survival after death and indeed invite death by their evil deeds.

* [2:12–5:23] From 2:12 to 5:23 the author draws heavily on Is 52–62, setting forth his teaching in a series of characters or types taken from Isaiah and embellished with additional details from other texts. The description of the “righteous one” in 2:12–20 seems to undergird the New Testament passion narrative.

* [2:12] Law: the law of Moses; “training” has the same meaning.

* [2:22] This verse announces the subject of the next section. (Wisdom, CHAPTER 2 |, n.d.)

Psalm 34 declares God gives protection to the poor.

* [Psalm 34] A thanksgiving in acrostic form, each line beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In this Psalm one letter is missing and two are in reverse order. The psalmist, fresh from the experience of being rescued (Ps 34:5, 7), can teach the “poor,” those who are defenseless, to trust in God alone (Ps 34:4, 12). God will make them powerful (Ps 34:5–11) and give them protection (Ps 34:12–22). (Psalms, PSALM 34 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of John, Jesus attends The Feast of Tabernacles.

* [7:26] The authorities: the members of the Sanhedrin (same term as Jn 3:1). (John, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)

Amy Turbes comments that having a broken heart is a very real part of the human condition. We have all experienced heartbrokenness at some time... When we feel helpless to fix things or guilty when we have so much.

“Lord, I am brokenhearted.”

“Amy, I watch over you, take refuge in me.”

Sharing these feelings with God is not to ask for them to be taken away, but to accept them as a true part of my humanity and God’s presence in my life. Even with my own brokenness, I accept this pain and share it with God.

From one human (aka child of God) to another, I invite you, at this midpoint in Lent, to be open to a new way of encountering God. Perhaps use your favorite psalm as a conversation starter. Or spend time with a psalm or passage you find difficult and tell God how those words really make you feel. God wants to be a part of your life—all of it—and is simply waiting for the invitation.

In this Lenten season, may you discover new ways to communicate with God and savor the graces it gives. (Turbes, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Christ our physician,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"As Christians, our task is to make daily progress toward God. Our pilgrimage on earth is a school in which God is the only teacher, and it demands good students, not ones who play truant. In this school we learn something every day. We learn something from commandments, something from examples, and something from sacraments. These things are remedies for our wounds and materials for study." (excerpt from Sermon 218c,1) (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that in the passage from the Book of Wisdom the wicked will array themselves against the good people They will plot to defeat the good people. In the Gospel Jesus comes to Jerusalem where the leaders are trying to kill Him as He proclaims to be from God not Nazareth. They respond by trying Him for blasphemy but Friar Jude declares that it is where Jesus really is from.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Wisdom 2:1, 12-22 comments that without the help of a loving God, we risk coming to the conclusion that “nothing really matters, anyone can see,” as Freddie Mercury lamented in the song “Bohemian Rhapsody.” We may wonder, “Why bother pursuing goodness? What is to be gained by suffering or sacrifice?”

Jesus, the innocent victim, has revealed to the world “the hidden counsels of God” (Wisdom 2:22). He has shown that our highest calling is to imitate him by setting aside glory, by washing each other’s feet, and by enduring even betrayal and death for the sake of the gospel. Jesus has revealed the true answer to the question “Why bother?” And that answer is as simple as it is profound, as comforting as it is challenging: because Jesus has loved us, even to the point of his own death, and all who want to live in him must love as he did.

“Jesus, thank you for revealing to us the wisdom of God!” (Meditation on Wisdom 2:1, 12-22, n.d.)

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces psychotherapist James Finley who found himself retraumatized by an abusive priest as a young man, after living with a violent father. Finley shares how Jesus met him in his deep shame and suffering.

Then suddenly, looking this way and that, I saw Jesus sitting alone in the moonlight at the edge of a clearing. I walked across the clearing and knelt at his feet. I could feel his hand on my shoulder as I leaned in close to whisper in his ear, revealing the burdens of my shame-based weakness and fear. 

Having poured out all that my wounded and hurting heart was moved and able to say, Jesus drew me in close and whispered in my ear three words that set me free, words that still echo inside me to this day. I heard him whisper: “I love you!” 

Dazed and amazed in being so unexplainably loved, the spirit within me let me know what both Jesus and I were waiting to hear me say. So I leaned in close and whispered my secret “I love you” to Jesus. And there in that instant there was the realization between us that the matter was settled once and for all. The matter being that the good news of God’s love for us is never measured by our ability to be true to who we know in our heart God is calling us to be. For the sole measure of God’s love for us is the measureless expanse of God’s merciful love, permeating us and taking us to itself in the midst of our faltering and wayward ways. (Rohr, n.d.)

We contemplate the promise of Jesus to meet us in our brokenness and rejection by the forces that seek to control our world by coercion and corruption with an invitation to replace hate with love and aggression with cooperation.

References

John, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/7? 

Meditation on Wisdom 2:1, 12-22. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/03/20/1521806/ 

Psalms, PSALM 34 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/34?17 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Jesus Heals Our Shame. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/jesus-stills-heals-our-shame/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). His Hour Had Not yet Come. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Turbes, A. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-march-20-2026 

Wisdom, CHAPTER 2 |. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/wisdom/2?1 

Blessing and Blame

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to reject our human attitudes of entitlement and victim blaming as we serve broken people with care and compassion.

Blessing without Blame

The Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah proclaims Authentic Sabbath Observance That Leads to Blessing.

* [58:6–12] Fasting is not genuine without reforming one’s way of life. A true social morality will ensure prosperity.

* [58:13–14] Sabbath observance becomes a cornerstone of postexilic piety; cf. 56:2, 4, 6. (Isaiah, CHAPTER 58 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 86 presents an individual lament desiring God’s protection.

* [Psalm 86] An individual lament. The psalmist, “poor and oppressed” (Ps 86:1), “devoted” (Ps 86:2), “your servant” (Ps 86:2, 4, 16), “rescued from the depths of Sheol” (Ps 86:13), attacked by the ruthless (Ps 86:14), desires only God’s protection (Ps 86:1–7, 11–17). (Psalms, PSALM 86 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke proclaims The Call of Levi.

* [5:17–6:11] From his Marcan source, Luke now introduces a series of controversies with Pharisees: controversy over Jesus’ power to forgive sins (Lk 5:17–26); controversy over his eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners (Lk 5:27–32); controversy over not fasting (Lk 5:33–36); and finally two episodes narrating controversies over observance of the sabbath (Lk 6:1–11). (Luke, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB, n.d.)

Vivian Amu reminds us that Jesus' purpose is to meet us in our brokenness: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Mercy is placed above judgment, just as God proclaimed through Isaiah. 

So, who are the Levis in our lives? Where does suspicion or self-righteousness still keep us from extending God’s love?

Despite our best intentions as children of God, many of us have an unconscious tendency towards selective compassion. Often, we divide the world into categories: “us” and “them,” “righteous” and “sinner,” “deserving” and “undeserving.” We might not name these divisions out loud, but our actions often speak for us —through whom we help, whom we welcome, or whom we avoid. It is comforting to believe that the table of God’s love is wide, and that all we need to do is come hungry, recognizing that it is not just the “other” who needs this radical inclusivity—we need it too. (Amu, 2026)

Don Schwager quotes Our All-powerful Physician, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 AD

"Our wound is serious, but the Physician is all-powerful. Does it seem to you so small a mercy that, while you were living in evil and sinning, he did not take away your life, but brought you to belief and forgave your sins? What I suffer is serious, but I trust the Almighty. I would despair of my mortal wound if I had not found so great a Physician." (excerpt from Sermon 352, 3) (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that in Third Isaiah the people are complaining that they have not seen the restoration promised in Second Isaiah. They faced hardships and they performed religious deeds but only superficially. The text exhorts them to reach out and keep the Sabbath as a holy day. “I get to go to Mass because I want to” We sometimes say Mass is portrayed as an obligation, but Mass is a privilege. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus reaches out to the anawim and in this case to the tax collector, Levi, working for Rome, thought to be a collaborator and the taxation method was an incentive for dishonesty. The Pharisees were concerned their sinfulness was a contagion but Jesus sees their brokenness and Jesus chooses to help and even if “they brought it upon themselves”. Friar Jude reminds us that “bringing it upon themselves” does not exclude them from Jesus' love or from our mission to address their brokenness.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Isaiah 58:9-14 comments that the biblical word for this kind of contract is “covenant,” and it is much more than a business agreement. At the heart of a covenant is a relationship between the Lord and his people. The two “parties” are not looking at production levels or profit margins. They are looking at each other and offering themselves to each other in a sacred bond.

Consider what God is calling you to in today’s reading: remove oppression, refrain from false accusation, feed the hungry, keep the Sabbath. He is giving you concrete ways to live out your covenant with him. When you treat the Sabbath as a time to rest in his presence rather than filling it with “your own pursuits” (Isaiah 58:3), you are loving the Lord. When you treat your neighbors with honor and dignity—especially those who are struggling—you are honoring God. When you look at anyone through the lens of his love, you are returning the “covenant gaze” with which the Lord is looking at you.

As you respond to God’s call in this way, you’ll experience his love for you more deeply—both in prayer and through the people around you. Reread today’s reading and savor God’s desire to love you. Let him show you the way that will lead you to “delight” in him (Isaiah 58:14).

“O God, teach me to love you and delight in you.” (Meditation on Isaiah 58:9-14, n.d.)

Fr Richard Rohr, OFM, comments Spiritual teacher and writer Christine Valters Paintner invites us to imitate the desert monks in their commitment to spiritual practices as a path to freedom and transformation:

They went to seek this kind of radical communion with the sacred presence, which teaches us that it is not the cell itself that brings inner peace…. Their wisdom reminds us that we can bring presence and focus in the midst of a crowd, and we can also sit in a silent place and be overwhelmed by thoughts and distractions….

Allow a few moments to center and breathe deeply, drawing your awareness back to yourself. Rest in the presence of the Beloved who dwells in the cave of your heart, that interior cell where you are called to simply be. Invite in the presence of some of the desert mothers and fathers to be with you. Notice how they appear to you. Notice if one or two of them approach you, and invite them to sit with you for a while. Share with them where you are in this season of your life and what the questions of your heart are right now. Listen for their response. (Rohr, 2025)

We exhort the Spirit to illuminate the “brokenness” in our environment and inspire our movement to help with Jesus' compassion and care and rejection of blame and transactional agendas.

References

Amu, V. (2026, February 21). Daily Reflection February 21, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved February 21, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-february-21-2026 

Isaiah, CHAPTER 58 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 21, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/58? 

Luke, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 21, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/5?27 

Meditation on Isaiah 58:9-14. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved February 21, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/02/21/1506356/ 

Psalms, PSALM 86 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved February 21, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/86?1 

Rohr, R. (2025, March 13). The Desert and Transformation: Weekly Summary. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 21, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-desert-and-transformation-weekly-summary/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Jesus Calls Sinners to Follow Him. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 21, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/