This is a three-part post:
– Part 1 – Days 1-11
– Part 2 – Days 12-22
– Part 3 – Days 23-33
DAY 23 – THE LAST SUPPER
It’s undoubtedly foolish to transgress against the first three Commandments and ignorant to belittle the Institution of the Eucharist. Yet, none of that pain compares to witnessing the mockery of the One you love.
DAY 24 – THE MYSTICAL BODY
I had a conversation with someone that was going smoothly—until I mentioned that I’m Catholic. His demeanor shifted instantly, and I could feel the judgment in that moment. But I didn’t care. As the conversation drew to a close, he said he respected Catholics for being the largest charity in the world but dismissed the Church as a corrupt institution, tainted by, specifically, the sex abuse scandal. He called it hypocritical. Before I could respond, he cut me off and walked away.
A few days later, we spoke again, though I can’t recall the topic. What I do remember is him using the phrase “in a masturbatory way” to describe an action so intense. He struggled to find more fitting words like vigorous, zealous, or passionate and instead settled on a top-of-head alternative. I was unsettled by his choice of language, of course. Yet, oddly enough, I felt a surge of gratitude for being Catholic.
GK Chesterton once said, “Men do not escape from the truth into untruth, but into habits of hypocrisy.”
Today, we reflect on the lives of the early Christians as depicted in Acts, Galatians, and Corinthians. They argued, they faltered, and their leaders were as flawed as anyone. Yet, despite the controversies and contradictions, they remained faithful to Jesus Christ. That’s why the Church has stood for over 2,000 years. That’s why I’m here, feeling thankful to be part of the Mystical Body of Christ. Its members may be scarred and wounded, burdened by sin and imperfection, but the Church endures—because Jesus Christ is Its Head.
DAY 25 – EVERYTHING IS AWESOME
Awe is “a contemplation of life, truth, beauty, goodness, and the sheer power of God.”
As a society, we’ve diluted the meaning of words like “awesome” and “great,” tossing them around in everyday conversations where the subjects often don’t deserve such grandeur…like when you’re part of a team and living your dream.
Kidding aside, I can pinpoint specific moments in my life when I truly felt awe—memories that are precious, set apart. It made me realize that if every day is “awesome,” then no day is special. If we’re constantly in awe of everything around us, what distinguishes a budding flower from a discarded tin can?
As I pondered this, I recalled the moment when St. Thomas Aquinas had a mystical encounter with God, compelling him to leave his monumental work, Summa Theologica, unfinished. The experience was so intense and transcendent that he considered all his writings “mere straw” in comparison.
Now, that’s awe.
It led me to think of heaven—not as a meticulously manicured garden, but as a space radiating with the glory of God, beyond what any human language can describe. It’s Awe to the Utmost Level, an awe we will one day experience in heaven.
But for now, I find glimpses of it in the quiet moments—walking into an empty church and genuflecting before the Tabernacle, the tears that well up after receiving the Eucharist and feeling Jesus’ embrace, the peace that floods my heart when God answers in the silence of the Blessed Sacrament.
That’s awe.
DAY 26 – BE PREPARED
In college, when I started taking Mass seriously, I began to pay closer attention to how I presented myself at church. I was mindful of what I wore, the state of my mind, and the time I arrived. A decade later, these habits remain. I still make sure I look presentable and often listen to Bishop Barron’s reflections before Mass. Since Andrew has been blessed with us, I’ve also taken to playing Gregorian Chant on our drive to church. I thought, “Well, I’m doing what’s prescribed and probably more than the average Catholic!”
But this is a devil’s trap.
If we, as the faithful, believe the Eucharist to be “the source and summit” of the Christian life—a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, a pledge of future glory, and where the mind is filled with grace (CCC 1324-1327)—then why not do more? If this is what we anticipate every time we go to Mass, why not prepare grandly?
DAY 27 – DEEP, STILL WATERS
The virtue of the day spoke to me the most in this reading. It’s fortitude, described as “a moral virtue that ensures firmness in the face of difficulties and obstacles, and consistency in the pursuit of holiness. Deep, still waters in the soul are the gift of fortitude.”
The day after Andrew had a seizure, Matthew, Andrew, and I drove out to pick up takeout—I didn’t feel like cooking. As I sat in the backseat, staring at Andrew, the shock of what had happened lingered. I turned to Matthew and said, “There’s something very strange about what happened yesterday, from a spiritual level…”
While Andrew was convulsing, I was visibly shaken, my cries loud and strong. But inside, a feeling of peace and clarity washed over me, a feeling that seemed almost unbelievable given my outward panic and alarm. It felt exactly like fortitude was described: “deep, still waters in the soul.”
On Day 25, we talked about Eucharistic Miracles and visible signs of Christ’s Real Presence. Reflecting on the virtue of fortitude, I now see it as a Eucharistic miracle—a virtue emerging when I needed it most.
DAY 28 – FOUNDATION
Before my reflection today, I want to take a detour from the introductory story for Day 28, which recounts the builders of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. As I was reading, the image of the 2019 fire immediately came to mind. It was catastrophic, and I remember anxiously checking the news for updates by the hour. After the fire was extinguished, they promised to rebuild the cathedral in five years. Originally, it took almost 200 years to build. Five years later, after reading today’s reflection, I looked up the current state of Notre Dame and found it was still not fully rebuilt. Undoubtedly, the Covid Pandemic interrupted the reconstruction efforts. There’s scaffolding everywhere, enough to ruin a tourist photo. But no one can deny that the architecture is a marvelous work of art that will stand the test of time.
Now onto my reflection, which is a very unique one. Describing the motivations for investing resources into building Notre Dame, an architectural pinnacle more visited than the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, the book reads, “aesthetics and architecture, legacy and vanity, ego and pride.”
After reading this exact line, I replaced “Notre Dame” in my mind with “home.”
Some people build a home for show and structure (aesthetics and architecture), for self-interests (legacy and vanity), or for self-validation (ego and pride). But a home built with these motivations will not stand the test of time like the Notre Dame Cathedral. A small ember could consume it in seconds. But a home built in faith, with Jesus living within, will endure. Like the magnificent cathedral, if a fire breaks out, it will be rebuilt. If people see it, they will marvel at the beauty and goodness of the Lord.
Let’s build a faithful home… a home of virtues.
DAY 29 – DON’T DO NOTHING
Last year, Matthew and I watched The Screwtape Letters in the theater with Fr. Joseph. Matthew read the book once. Father had read it multiple times. I had never read it—I’ve never read any of C.S. Lewis, really.
But I was missing out. Screwtape Letters is…how should I describe it…cunningly explosive. It’s ironic, satiric, psychological, and just plain effective. If you’re guilty of a sin touched on by the “affectionate uncle” Screwtape, it makes you burn inside.
One of the most disturbing for me was the line about the safest road to hell: Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
Screwtape describes, “Anything or nothing is sufficient to attract [a man’s] wandering attention…Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man’s best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind…”
Distractions and doing “Nothing” creep into my days so subtly. It’s when I realize I’ve watched an hour’s worth of nothingness on YouTube. It’s when I spend an hour playing like a maniac on my Chess.com app, only to realize I’ve fallen 90 ranking points from where I started – not for the love of the game but to just numb the mind. It’s when I fill my task list with random things without mentioning the Eucharist or any spiritual activity.
C.S. Lewis asserts that a man can end up in hell without ever committing a capital sin. If he loses himself in distractions, aimlessly drifting through life, doing nothing, and becoming no one, he’s well on the safest path to hell. And just writing that give me chills.
But take hope—today’s reflection offers the remedy to Nothing:
Holiness.
DAY 30 – HOLINESS IS A CHOICE
Pursuing theological and metaphysical truths that stop me in my tracks is always a humbling experience. There are subjects that, no matter how much I read or how long I ponder, I cannot grasp without grace. One such enigma is the coexistence of free will and divine foreknowledge. I have faith that one day, God will reveal this mystery to me. In the meantime, I’ll keep chipping away at this grain of understanding.
The concept of Holy Moments attempts to uncover a piece of this mystery. A Holy Moment is defined as:
“A single moment in which you open yourself to God. You make yourself available to Him. You set aside personal preference and self-interest, and for one moment you do what you prayerfully believe God is calling you to do.”
Imagine a driver cutting you off in traffic, narrowly avoiding a collision. You could respond with anger: cursing under your breath, honking furiously, or even flipping the driver off. Or you could thank God for keeping you safe. God’s will is clear in Romans 12:19: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” Yet, you clearly have the free will to choose your response.
Choosing what God desires us to do is a Holy Moment. It’s what St. Alphonsus Liguori calls Uniformity with God’s Will—conforming one’s will entirely and without reservation to the will of God, not merely passive resignation but an active and loving alignment with whatever God wills, whether it brings joy or suffering.
A Holy Moment is an exercise of free will and an accomplishment of God’s will. In life, the book encourages us to master the moment of decision by choosing even small circumstances to be a Holy Moment.
DAY 31 – HOME OF VIRTUES
Even before we conceived our firstborn Andrew, I was already thinking about the kind of mother I wanted to become and the kind of home I wanted our children to grow up in. God is good, and the graces Matthew and I received in our holy matrimony guided the Holy Spirit to whisper the right answer at the right time.
Build a home of virtues.
Today, the American family is richer than a generation ago. We live in bigger homes, travel more, and display more diplomas on our walls. Yet, why are we not happier? Why are we more dysfunctional? Why do families fall apart, and why are relationships between parents and children more distant, sometimes even estranged? Why is it broken?
Because the devil’s power is strong, and we have allowed it to enter our homes freely, with our doors wide open. We spend more money on things that perish rather than on nurturing the health, character, and faith of our children. We devote more time to entertainment than to truly knowing and relating to our spouse and children. We’ve relegated faith to just one of the many things we do, placing it on the same level as work, play, and recreation.
I may laugh and joke around with Matthew and Andrew. I may be playful, perhaps too much at times. But one thing I take seriously as the homemaker of my family is my role in actively creating a culture in our home that pursues holiness—to build not a house of sticks and straws, but a home of virtues.
The Eucharist is the “divine storehouse filled with every virtue.”
So, perhaps the next time someone asks why we keep sitting in the front pew at Mass with a babbling toddler, I’ll simply respond:
Because we’re building a home of virtues.
DAY 32 – THE NIGHT BEFORE
Day 32 of 33. Wow. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve, buzzing with excitement as if I’m about to receive a huge gift tomorrow. My mind races, searching for the deepest desires in my heart. “Is it this? Is it that?” “Will God reveal something amazing?” “Or maybe—just maybe—He’ll perform some miraculous dot-dot-dot?! No, that’s too much to ask. But wait! We’re talking about God here—anything is possible!”
It’s the day before The Day. So, what do we do? What should we focus on? Instead of stressing like you would before a big event—making sure the party favors, decorations, guest list, music, and food are all perfect—the book wisely suggests doing the exact opposite.
Get to bed early and enjoy a good night’s rest.
And that’s exactly what I’m going to do, while tuning in to hear any whispers from God. Maybe He’s got a pre-game message for me? Who knows!
