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On this Ash Wednesday which coincides with Valentine's Day, we are challenged not just to privately confess our sins, but to publicly confess our love for one another and our trust in the mercy of God.

In his letter, James assures us that God tempts no one. Rather, our desires tempt us. But within each of us there is a deeper desire for what is good and holy. Let us reawaken that desire in ourselves, and help to rekindle it in others.

True obedience works differently when it is to God and to other human beings. We are not to blindly obey human commands, but we need to learn to trust God completely, because God knows more than us. King Saul needed to learn that lesson.

John the Baptist pointed out Jesus to Andrew, saying "Behold, the Lamb of God!" Andrew then brought his brother Peter to Jesus saying "we have found the Messiah!" Vocations are personal, we have to decide for ourselves, but we also need the help of others in pointing the way towards God, so vocations are also communal, not private.

To fulfil the demands of righteousness and mercy, Joseph was going to divorce Mary quietly. Instead, God showed him a deeper justice and mercy. It is through our deeper commitment to justice that we can find a deeper mercy.

On this Gaudete Sunday, we are reminded that our truest joy comes when we recognise that the greatest joy we come to know it that of the joy of Christ, which can never be taken away from us.

If you saw only what the martyrs give up, it would make no sense. Yet they hear a beautiful song of which they are but one part, and the beauty of this song makes sense of every part, even their own deaths. Can we hear that greater melody?

Jesus told Zacchaeus the tax collector that he would dine at his house, and to make himself ready, Zacchaeus gave half of what he had to the poor and promised to pay back anyone he defrauded four times over. Are there things we need to do to make ourselves ready for the Lord to come dine with us?

Jesus challenges his hearers who pretend that they cannot interpret the present times, asserting that they know what God is calling them to, but simply do not want to respond. Not at all like us.....

St. Paul asks us to become slaves to goodness. Jesus points out that this might lead to division in our home, but it is better than a fake peace which favors the status quo.

As Christians, are we to go out preach the Good News, making people listen, or do we preach with our lives, inspiring others to follow, and not worrying about those who do not want to hear?

On this memorial of the guardian angels, we acknowledge that there is much more to creation than we understand, and that part of that is that God has created an angel for each of us who knows us and individually looks out for us.