“Seeing is believing,” the old saying goes. Yet in today’s first reading and in the Gospel, those who have seen with their own eyes—people hearing the words of the recently converted Paul, as well as disciples who have been at Jesus’ side throughout his ministry—cannot reconcile what they have seen and heard with the larger message. Jesus asks, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?”

He might ask us the same question, if he were to stand before us today. We have spent years, maybe our entire lives, listening to the teachings of Jesus, receiving him in the Eucharist, professing that he and the Father are one. Still, there are probably days when, like the disciples, we approach Jesus with a bit of spiritual amnesia.

It’s not that we haven’t listened; it’s that we have listened with our ears rather than our hearts. The good news is that we do not always have to fully understand in order to receive the graces that flow from God toward a seeker with a sincere heart. “O God teach me to be satisfied with my own helplessness in the spiritual life,” Thomas Merton writes in one of his early journals. “Teach me to be content with Your grace that comes to me in the darkness and that works things I cannot see.”

Today, let us put aside the need to know it all and let us trust in the mystery beyond all knowing.

Mary DeTurris Poust, “Spiritual Amnesia,” from the May 2025 issue of Give Us This Day, www.giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2024). Used with permission.

Photo by Anastasiya Badun on Unsplash

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Here’s the description of the book, which is available in pocket size, large print, e-book, and bulk shipments:

Prepare for the celebration of Christ’s coming with this popular and inviting annual guide. During the especially busy Advent and Christmas seasons, this book offers brief, down-to-earth reflections that bring prayer and Scripture into everyday life in a thought-provoking and lasting way. Through Mary DeTurris Poust’s reflections on lectionary readings from the weekday and Sunday Masses, readers will grow in their understanding of the word of God. This book will help busy people enrich their prayer life during the seasons of Advent and Christmas.

Pre-order HERE. Thank you!

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The Lord bless you and keep you!
The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!
The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace! —Numbers 6:22-27

At first glance, we might wonder why the beautiful words of the Blessing of Aaron are included in the Mass of Mary, Mother of God, celebrated as we enter the new year. Yes, the prayer is gorgeous and familiar, the sentiment comforting and uplifting, but why now? This priestly blessing, given by God to Moses and spoken by Aaron and his descendants, is one of the oldest written pieces of Scripture, discovered in 1979 tucked into a silver amulet in a burial cave near Jerusalem and dating back some 2,600 years. We can understand why this verse would have held so much power for our Hebrew brothers and sisters, but how does it fit into our story today and Mary’s feast?

Jesuit Father Victor Cancino, writing in America magazine, explains, “Jesus, the Son of God and Mary, is an incarnation of the priestly blessing for the world. Whenever anyone calls upon this holy child, God blesses, protects, looks upon with grace and confers kindness and peace. Mary is the fundamental channel of God’s grace in the new covenant. Mary, as the original and exemplary disciple, reminds Christ’s followers to act as channels of blessing to all they encounter.”

There is clearly something about this blessing that speaks to our hearts. We hear the words and know it is meant for us. Next to my front door, I have a small wall hanging of the Immaculate Heart that opens to reveal a space for a hidden message. Rolled up in that heart is this Blessing of Aaron. I consider it my Christian version of the Jewish tradition of hanging a Mezuzah near the front door. This blessing marks us as beloved children of God and disciples on the journey. Today let these words take up residence in your own heart, offering protection and blessing, comfort and hope.

And here is a favorite song that incorporates this beautiful blessing:

Mary DeTurris Poust, “The Blessing of Aaron,” from the January 2025 issue of Give Us This Day, www.giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2024). Used with permission.
Photo by Mary DeTurris Poust

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Jesus doles out some tough love in today’s Gospel, which echoes the equally tough love offered by the prophet Ezekiel. Don’t get me wrong, Christ the King coming to lead his sheep into the eternal kingdom is both a powerful and comforting message. But then the other shoe drops: Am I a sheep or a goat? Because as it turns out, according to Scripture, the goats are not going to fare so well. We can “baaaaaa” all we want, but at the end of the day if we have not lived up to the challenges God has put before us—caring for those who are hungry and naked and sick, loving God first—we will “go off to eternal punishment.”

Our world these days is too often about being a GOAT (Greatest of All Time), but Jesus turns that idea on its head. We are not called to be the GOAT among family or coworkers or neighbors, flaunting our success and power to the envy of all. No, we are called to be like the lost sheep, pulled back from the perilous edge of a rocky crag by the Master’s voice. Jesus does not ask us to perform feats of strength or earn piles of money or rise to the highest level of our profession to earn his love. He asks us to let go of the need for all of that and turn back to him with all the tenderness and love we can muster, to follow where he leads.

From the November 2023 issue of Give Us This Day, www.giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2023). Used with permission.

Photo by J. Schiemann on Unsplash

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I woke up in the middle of the night with this psalm verse running through my head. This is not one of my “favorite” psalms and this sort of thing does not typically happen to me, so how and why did this particular psalm end up in my sleepy subconscious. When I got up I Goggled the verse because I honestly had no idea where it came from in Scripture, but I was intrigued that it decided to show up for me. Now I find myself pondering what I’m supposed to take from it. (And turning it into the graphic you see here.)

For me it is a reminder that I am called (and I think we are all called) to find “the house of the Lord” right where we are. It is not somewhere out in the distance of space and time. It is now, here. If we look at life through the eyes of wonder and with the heart of gratitude, we find God’s house right in front of us at all times, around us, within us. I think that verse came to me in my sleep because I need to do a better job of being present in my own life and aware of God’s abiding present there with me. What does this verse say to you?

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Vengeance takes center stage in today’s readings, just as it often does in our own lives. We might read Jeremiah’s words and feel uncomfortable hearing his in-your-face prayer asking for justice to be brought down on those who mistreat him. But the truth is, we’ve all been Jeremiah at some point. Someone does something to threaten us, and we imagine how sweet it would be not only to be free from the threats but to watch as our enemies get their comeuppance.

Unfortunately, what was once a rarity is becoming the norm. People on all sides seem to have a thirst for vengeance and a willingness to take matters into their own hands. Much like the mob in today’s Gospel, modern-day crowds gather around those considered outsiders and pick up their version of stones. Where are we in this scene? Do we have a rock in hand? Are we in the crowd waiting to watch justice play out? Are we the one who feels threatened? Every one of us has a choice in how we respond. We can choose fear, or we can choose trust.

Do we believe, truly and without hedging, that God is our “rock of refuge,” and we need nothing more? It is only through such deep and abiding trust that we begin to realize we can release ourselves from the snares of the enemy, snares that have no power once we stop giving them oxygen and put everything in God’s hands.

Trust in God, and watch the traps and threats fall away.

From the March 2023 issue of Give Us This Day, www.giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2023). Used with permission.
Photo by Astrid Schaffner on Unsplash

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As Ecclesiastes tells us, God “has put the timeless into [our] hearts, without [our] ever discovering” it. In other words, we have eternity within us, but like my young daughter, we can’t really grasp it. Viewed from our human vantage point, it’s too overwhelming. In fact, we often use the term “like an eternity” when referring to long—and unpleasant—waits, at the doctor or bank or the Department of Motor Vehicles. Let’s all pray that eternity is not like the DMV!

While we may not be able to fully grasp eternity this side of heaven, can we glimpse it? Like the apostles in today’s Gospel, the answer is clearly yes. God does give us small glimpses of the glory that awaits us—in the mundane miracles of our daily lives, in the things that make us pause, smile, breathe deep with gratitude. Eternity may be hard to fathom, no matter our age, but God promises us that it will be ours . . . when the time is right and the timelessness that lives hidden within us becomes our eternal home.

Mary DeTurris Poust, from the September 2022 issue of Give Us This Day, www.giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2022). Used with permission.

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You can get this book in the standard pocket-sized version for only $1.99. If you buy 50 or more — for, say, a parish, a group, or a really big family — the price drops to 99 cents a copy. What a deal! It’s perfect for carrying in a purse or a pocket. Easy to take with you so you don’t miss a day. You can also get a large-print version for only $5.95, which is really nice if you prefer to keep this in your personal prayer space or on a nightstand and like a book with a little more heft. You can get the e-book for only 99 cents, if digital is more your speed. And you can get any of those variations in Spanish. Something for everyone. (Order soon so there are no issues with potential shipping delays, as has been common during COVID.)

This is my fifth book of seasonal Scripture reflections for Liturgical Press. I want to thank all those who have journeyed through past Advent, Lent and Easter seasons with me. I hear from so many of you, and I am so grateful for your emails, letters, comments, and observations.

If you go to the Liturgical Press website, you can get a taste of what’s inside this year’s book. They have the introduction and the first two reflections posted HERE.

Here’s an excerpt from the introduction:

“It’s easy to think, as we begin yet another Lenten journey, that we know the drill. We’ve been here before; we know what’s coming. But the truth is that Scripture is a living thing, always new. I know this firsthand because every time I sit down to write a Lenten reflection about a Scripture passage I’ve heard or read too many times to count, something jumps out at me and makes me say, ‘How did I not notice that before?’ We hear every Scripture reading differently depending on where we are on our life journey, our spiritual journey, or maybe just what side of the bed we woke up on that day. God meets us where we are, and, if we’re paying attention, we can hear God, see God, recognize God in unlikely places, in stories we think we know. When we take time to listen for the still small voice, a scene, a sentence, a word calls out to us as if surrounded by blinking neon lights along a dark
highway, and we are found, even if only for a few minutes…

“…To be honest, there were many days when I sat down with a set of Scripture readings and could not imagine what I might have to say that could be helpful to you. But, after sitting with the Scriptures, reading and rereading, taking them for a walk, sharing a cup of coffee with them as the sun rose outside my window, something always found its way off the page and into my heart, like a delicate shoot pushing through the cold, hard earth of winter into the warmth and light of spring.”

If you begin this journey with me on Ash Wednesday, which falls on February 17, we will be awaiting the delicate green shoots of spring by the time we wrap up on Easter Sunday, April 4. For some — like my family and friends in my old stomping grounds in Austin, Texas — spring will be pushing toward summer at that point. For those of us in the northeast, snow could still be on the ground. Regardless of geographic location, however, we will all have traversed the desert of Lent and Holy Week to emerge into the lush landscape of Easter and resurrection. I would be so grateful if you’d let me walk with you.

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You can catch my segment here. Just hit play. And feel free to comment with your own experiences of the spirit at work!

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I wish I could take credit. In fact, I wish it had anything to do with me or my writing skill or spiritual prowess, but the truth is that it’s all thanks to Scripture and spiritual truth. Scripture is like a living thing; it is always new, and so it can always speak to us in a new way. It’s not that my insights were particularly keen, but rather that spiritual truths are never out of time.

So often when I read Scripture in order to write about it, I wonder how I will possibly find something new to say about a reading I’ve heard over and over again in a way that will be helpful to a reader. There’s a been-there-done-that feeling as I approach a familiar scene. And then I read, and read again, and reflect, and suddenly a line or a detail jumps out at me as if it were just added to the text. I look at it and ask myself, “How did I miss that for so long?” But at that moment, coming from a specific vantage point—life experience, age, location, weather, spiritual landscape or whatever is going on in the world from day to day—I see something I never noticed before.

That’s why we can take the words of some of our great saints and sages from centuries or decades ago and feel as though they were written for us today. I think of St. Francis de Sales, Thomas Merton, St. Therese of Lisieux and so many others. How can people of another time and experience speak to us so directly today? It’s because spiritual truths are not bound by time and space. They operate on an entirely different plane, speaking to people across centuries and continents and sometimes even across faith backgrounds.

This was driven home to me just this past weekend when my yoga teacher, who had a copy of my Easter-to-Pentecost book, asked me to open our teaching training class by reading my reflection and prayer for that day. At first, I felt worried. My class includes people of many different faiths and no faith in particular. How would they feel hearing me talk about Jesus and, at that moment in time, the Ascension, about prayer life and trust in God? But as I read the reflection, it seemed to be a perfect fit, talking about the need for community and spiritual support and faith during dark times, about feeling abandoned and alone, something most of us know all too well as we grapple with the ongoing requirements of social distancing. Rather than be offended, my classmates said they were tearing up; one texted me to order five copies of the book even though it will technically be out of date by the time she gets it.

That is how the Spirit works. It finds its way into our daily life—often in the most unlikely places—and offers us opportunities to discover bold newness and familiar comfort, enduring wisdom and sudden inspiration in words spoken by kings and shepherds, prophets and beggars, and to hear them as if they were written for us today.

This column originally appeared in the June 3, 2020, issue of Catholic New York.

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