1st Sunday Lent 2026 - Resistance

As He prepared to begin His public ministry, Jesus Christ was tempted by Satan, and He models to us how we should resist Satan. #Catholic #homily #Scripture #GospelOfTheDay #mercywithteeth Sign up to have podcasts and blog posts emailed to you: https://ift.tt/FV8sY4u Give feedback at https://forms.gle/gGhujv39g43BUxmK6 Readings are found at https://ift.tt/CL1FIGi True Mercy Has Teeth: A Catholic Journey to Forgiveness and Healing is now available on Amazon and other places as listed at www.mercywithteeth.com
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Mercy and St. Peter Damian

Today, on the memorial of Peter Damian, the Church honors a saint who proves that authentic mercy is never sentimental. It is fierce, clear-eyed, and willing to wound in order to heal.

If ever there were a patron for what I call mercy with teeth, it is this 11th-century reformer.

A Church in Crisis

Peter Damian did not live in calm ecclesial times. The 1000s ad were marked by serious moral corruption among clergy: simony (the buying and selling of Church offices), concubinage, and sexual immorality. In some places, religious vows and priestly promises were treated as flexible suggestions rather than sacred promises.

Rather than look away, Peter wrote directly to the pope in a treatise known as the Liber Gomorrhianus (Book of Gomorrah). In it, he addressed sexual sins among clergy with disarming clarity. He did not minimize the evil. He did not excuse it as weakness. He did not hide behind vague language.

He named it.

And he demanded accountability.

Strong Medicine for Sick Souls

Peter Damian recommended firm, even severe, penalties for clerics who violated their vows and promises—especially those who exploited others. He called for removal from ministry in grave cases. He urged real penance, not cosmetic apologies. He insisted that shepherds who wounded the flock should not simply resume leadership as if nothing had happened.

Why so strong?

Because he understood something we often forget: mercy without justice is not mercy. It is indifference dressed up as compassion.

A priest’s vows and promises are not private lifestyle choices. They are public, sacred promises made before God for the sake of souls. When they are violated—particularly in ways that harm the vulnerable—the wound is not merely personal. It is ecclesial. It is spiritual. It is scandal in the deepest biblical sense.

Peter Damian believed that tolerating grave sin in clergy was itself a failure of charity.

Mercy That Refuses to Lie

Modern ears can find Peter Damian’s tone harsh. But beneath his severity was a profound pastoral concern:

• Sin destroys the sinner.
• Sin harms the innocent.
• Sin disfigures the Church.
• And pretending otherwise compounds the damage.

True mercy does not pretend evil is smaller than it is.

True mercy does not prioritize institutional comfort over wounded souls.

True mercy calls the sinner to repentance—even if that repentance includes humiliation, removal, or lifelong penance.

That is not cruelty. That is love that refuses to lie.

The Courage to Purify

It is tempting in every age to avoid conflict “for the good of the Church.” But Peter Damian teaches the opposite: the Church is strengthened, not weakened, by purification.

Holiness requires clarity.

Reform requires courage.

And charity sometimes requires consequences.

In my own work writing about forgiveness and healing, I have often said that authentic mercy has teeth. It does not excuse. It does not enable. It does not call darkness light. It seeks the salvation of the sinner and the protection of the vulnerable at the same time.

Peter Damian understood that protecting the flock is mercy.

Holding shepherds accountable is mercy.

Calling sin by its name is mercy.

A Saint for Our Time

The memorial of St. Peter Damian is not merely historical remembrance. It is a summons.

• For bishops: to shepherd with courage.
• For priests: to live vows and promises with integrity.
• For laity: to demand holiness without hatred.
• For all of us: to accept correction as grace.

The saint who confronted corruption in the 11th century still speaks today.

May we have his clarity.

May we have his courage.

And may we learn that mercy is strongest when it is rooted in truth.

St. Peter Damian, pray for the Church—and teach us how to love her enough to purify her.

Ash Wednesday 2026 - Receive

As we begin Lent, we call to mind that the righteous deeds we do may be done for wrong reasons, and we will receive what we are looking for. Let us seek the Lord. #Catholic #homily #Scripture #GospelOfTheDay #mercywithteeth Sign up to have podcasts and blog posts emailed to you: https://ift.tt/zerBy8v Give feedback at https://forms.gle/gGhujv39g43BUxmK6 Readings are found at https://ift.tt/OFxR0s3 True Mercy Has Teeth: A Catholic Journey to Forgiveness and Healing is now available on Amazon and other places as listed at www.mercywithteeth.com
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6th Sunday Ordinary 2026 - Raised

Jesus teaches that our behavior must be higher than the scribes and pharisees, and that following the commandments is more than the letter of the Law, but raised. With His grace, we can avoid sin. #Catholic #homily #Scripture #GospelOfTheDay #mercywithteeth Sign up to have podcasts and blog posts emailed to you: https://ift.tt/IEi6FUm Give feedback at https://forms.gle/gGhujv39g43BUxmK6 Readings are found at https://ift.tt/Q28TiEs True Mercy Has Teeth: A Catholic Journey to Forgiveness and Healing is now available on Amazon and other places as listed at www.mercywithteeth.com
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5th Sunday Ordinary Time 2026 - Essential

Our Lord Jesus continues with His Sermon on the Mount, telling His disciples they are salt and light. These are not insignificant things, but rather essential for life. #Catholic #homily #Scripture #GospelOfTheDay #mercywithteeth Sign up to have podcasts and blog posts emailed to you: https://ift.tt/WbEoTzS Give feedback at https://forms.gle/gGhujv39g43BUxmK6 Readings are found at https://ift.tt/lvejs7p True Mercy Has Teeth: A Catholic Journey to Forgiveness and Healing is now available on Amazon and other places as listed at www.mercywithteeth.com
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Reflection on the Japanese Martyrs

Today is the feast of St. Paul Miki and Companions — 26 men of varying ages: Franciscan and Jesuit priests, catechists, and laymen. They were crucified in 1597 for the crime of being Catholic in a Japan that, at the time, was violently opposed to outside influence — especially the Catholic faith.

The foreign missionaries left behind knew it was only a matter of time before they, too, would be discovered. Anyone wise in the ways of the world would have sought escape, saved their own life, or denied the faith.

They did not.

Before the missionaries were martyred or expelled, they did something extraordinary: they prepared the faithful for a Church without clergy. They told them, one day men will come claiming to be ministers — here is how you will know the true Church.

They gave them three signs to watch for:

    • A priest who was not married

    • Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

    • Union with the Pope in Rome

Generations passed. Children were baptized by grandparents. Prayers were whispered — distorted, half-forgotten — yet guarded like treasure.

For more than 250 years, Japan had no Catholic priests.

When Japan reopened in the 1800s, villagers quietly approached a French priest and asked:

    “Are you married?”

    “Do you honor Santa Maria?”

    “Are you united to the Pope of Rome?”

When he answered correctly, they said:

    “Our hearts are the same as yours.”

After centuries in hiding, the faith endured — not sentimental, not soft, but rooted, costly, and recognizable.

That story has been on my heart today as an example of mercy.

Because real mercy isn’t vague.

It puts others first, seeking their good.

It isn’t whatever survives cultural pressure.

It has edges, marks, and a memory.

True mercy clings to truth — even when truth must be whispered in the dark.

4th Sunday Ordinary Time 2026 - Meek

Jesus Christ begins His Sermon on the Mount with a radical invitation to see the world in a new way - this is the meaning of metanoia. He especially invites us to meekness, a quality that these times so desperately need. #Catholic #homily #Scripture #GospelOfTheDay #mercywithteeth Sign up to have podcasts and blog posts emailed to you: https://ift.tt/htIOWnB Give feedback at https://forms.gle/gGhujv39g43BUxmK6 Readings are found at https://ift.tt/Hc1JQFm True Mercy Has Teeth: A Catholic Journey to Forgiveness and Healing is now available on Amazon and other places as listed at www.mercywithteeth.com
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