Pentecost 2026 - Ordinary

As we celebrate Pentecost, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, we call to mind that the Holy Spirit is not just active in the big ways, but in may subtle ordinary ways, bringing healing and unite to division. #Catholic #homily #Scripture #GospelOfTheDay #mercywithteeth Sign up to have podcasts and blog posts emailed to you: https://ift.tt/Tr4YIJ9 Give feedback at https://forms.gle/gGhujv39g43BUxmK6 Readings are found at https://ift.tt/0s6rmSI 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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St. Rita of Cascia and the Strength of Mercy

Today the Church honors Rita of Cascia, a woman whose life is often reduced to a collection of inspiring images: a rose in winter, a thorn from Christ’s crown, and the title “Saint of Impossible Causes.”

Yet beneath those beautiful symbols is a woman who lived one of the most difficult forms of mercy imaginable.

If there is a saint who demonstrates the central message of True Mercy Has Teeth, St. Rita is certainly among them.

Mercy Is Not the Same as Passivity

Many people hear Rita’s story and imagine a gentle woman who simply endured suffering. The truth is far more powerful.

Born in 14th-century Italy, Rita was married against her wishes to a man known for his violent temper. Her husband was involved in family feuds and lived a life marked by anger and conflict. Rita endured years of hardship within her marriage.

Yet she did not respond to violence with violence.

Nor did she excuse her husband’s behavior.

Instead, she persevered in prayer, truth, and fidelity. Through her witness, her husband eventually experienced a profound conversion before his death.

That distinction matters.

Mercy is not pretending evil does not exist. Mercy is choosing love while refusing to surrender to evil.

Too often we confuse mercy with enabling. Rita did not enable sin. She confronted it with holiness.

The Hardest Prayer of a Mother

After her husband’s death, Rita faced another tragedy. Her two sons became consumed with thoughts of revenge against those responsible for their father’s murder.

The culture around them considered vengeance honorable.

Rita knew better.

She understood that if her sons followed that path, they would lose not only their lives but potentially their souls.

Tradition tells us that she prayed they would be spared from committing mortal sin, even if that meant God would call them home first.

Modern readers can struggle with this prayer, but it reveals something profound.

Rita was thinking eternally.

She loved her sons too much to sacrifice their souls for temporary satisfaction.

This is mercy with teeth.

Mercy that chooses eternal salvation over immediate comfort.

Mercy that loves enough to say no.

Mercy that rejects revenge.

Forgiveness Without Illusions

One of the greatest misunderstandings about forgiveness is the belief that it requires us to deny the seriousness of what happened.

St. Rita’s life teaches the opposite.

Her husband was murdered.

Her family suffered.

Her future was shattered.

Nothing about her circumstances was fair.

Yet she refused to let hatred become her identity.

Forgiveness did not erase the injustice.

Forgiveness did not declare evil to be good.

Forgiveness did not mean there were no consequences.

Forgiveness meant that she entrusted judgment to God rather than allowing bitterness to consume her heart.

In True Mercy Has Teeth, I write that forgiveness is not the surrender of justice. It is the surrender of vengeance.

Rita understood that distinction deeply.

Mercy and Conversion

After the deaths of her husband and sons, Rita sought entrance into a convent. Even there, obstacles stood in her way because of the ongoing feud between families.

According to tradition, she eventually helped bring reconciliation between the rival families before being admitted.

Notice the pattern throughout her life:

• She sought conversion, not victory.
• She pursued reconciliation, not revenge.
• She desired holiness, not vindication.
• She trusted God, even when circumstances seemed impossible.

This is why she became known as the patroness of impossible causes.

Not because she possessed magical solutions.

But because she believed that God’s grace could transform hearts that appeared beyond hope.

A Saint for Our Time

We live in an age of outrage.

Social media rewards vengeance.

Politics rewards tribalism.

Personal conflicts often become permanent divisions.

St. Rita offers another way.

She reminds us that mercy is not weakness.

It takes far more strength to forgive than to retaliate.

It takes far more courage to seek reconciliation than to deepen division.

It takes far more faith to entrust justice to God than to seize it for ourselves.

Mercy That Bears Fruit

The rose associated with St. Rita is a fitting symbol.

Roses grow among thorns.

Their beauty emerges from a plant that can wound.

So too with mercy.

Authentic mercy is beautiful, but it is not soft sentimentality.

It has thorns.

It confronts sin.

It calls for conversion.

It demands forgiveness.

It seeks reconciliation.

And ultimately, it bears the fragrance of Christ.

As we celebrate St. Rita today, perhaps the impossible cause God places before us is not some external problem but a wounded relationship, a lingering resentment, or a person we have quietly given up on.

St. Rita’s life reminds us that God’s grace specializes in what seems impossible.

And that true mercy—the kind that has teeth—can transform even the hardest hearts.

St. Rita of Cascia, patroness of impossible causes, pray for us. Teach us to forgive without denying the truth, to love without enabling sin, and to trust that God’s mercy is powerful enough to accomplish what we cannot.

Ascension 2026 - Friend

Jesus Ascends to heaven, entrusting the mission of making disciples to His disciples, which includes us. Maybe, if we see this task first as introducing others to Jesus Christ our Savior as a friend, the mission is not too difficult. #Catholic #homily #Scripture #GospelOfTheDay #mercywithteeth Sign up to have podcasts and blog posts emailed to you: https://ift.tt/6miOYEj Give feedback at https://forms.gle/gGhujv39g43BUxmK6 Readings are found at https://ift.tt/kgCcNb6 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 Easter 2026 - Hope

The hope mothers and fathers have for their children is only a fraction of the hope that God has for us. We must be ready to give an explanation of our hope. https://ift.tt/29vnElB #Catholic #homily #Scripture #GospelOfTheDay #mercywithteeth Sign up to have podcasts and blog posts emailed to you: https://ift.tt/sGWYCX8 Give feedback at https://forms.gle/gGhujv39g43BUxmK6 Readings are found at https://ift.tt/B5diuVI 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 Easter 2026 - Christian

Jesus proclaims He is the way, the truth, and the life. If we are truly followers of Him, we will accept Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. #Catholic #homily #Scripture #GospelOfTheDay #mercywithteeth Sign up to have podcasts and blog posts emailed to you: https://ift.tt/wM8jdUI Give feedback at https://forms.gle/gGhujv39g43BUxmK6 Readings are found at https://ift.tt/ydBcZnR 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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St. Catherine of Sienna - Fire of Mercy

 

The life of St. Catherine of Siena confronts us with a truth we often resist: real mercy is not timid. It does not whisper when souls are at stake. It speaks—with clarity, urgency, and love that is willing to risk everything.

St. Catherine of Siena shows us mercy with fire—love for Christ and His Church that refused to stay silent in a moment of crisis.

A Church Out of Place

In the 14th century, the papacy was not in Rome. For decades, the popes resided in Avignon, in what is now southern France—a period we now call the Avignon Papacy. What began as a political relocation had become a spiritual and symbolic wound.

Rome stood empty.

The Church’s unity was strained. Its credibility weakened. Its shepherd seemed distant from his flock.

Many recognized the problem. Few were willing to confront it.

St. Catherine was.

A Laywoman Who Spoke Like a Prophet

St. Catherine was of course not a bishop or priest. Nor was she a theologian in the academic sense. She was not a person of institutional authority.

She was a Dominican tertiary. A laywoman. A mystic.

And yet, she wrote boldly to Pope Gregory XI, urging him to return to Rome. Her letters are astonishing—not because they are rebellious, but because they are rooted in profound obedience and love for the Church.

She called him “sweet Christ on earth.”

And then she told him the truth.

She warned against cowardice. She urged him to act with courage. She reminded him of his responsibility before God. She did not flatter him into comfort—she loved him into conversion.

This is the heart of mercy with teeth.

Mercy That Calls to Courage

In True Mercy Has Teeth, I argue that mercy is not the absence of challenge—it is the presence of truth spoken for the sake of salvation.

St. Catherine embodies this.

Her concern was not political strategy. It was the salvation of souls and the integrity of the Church. She saw that hesitation at the highest levels had consequences for everyone.

So she spoke.

Not with bitterness. Not with contempt. But with a kind of holy urgency that refused to let fear have the final word.

And remarkably—he listened.

In 1377, Pope Gregory XI returned the papacy to Rome. St. Catherine’s influence was not the only factor, but it was significant. Her courage helped move history.

The Cost of Loving the Church

St. Catherine’s story did not end in triumphal peace. The years that followed were marked by even greater turmoil, including the Western Schism. She suffered. She labored. She poured herself out for a Church that was, at times, deeply wounded.

But she never withdrew her love.

This is another mark of real mercy: it does not abandon when things get messy.

It stays.

It speaks.

It suffers.

And it hopes.

A Saint for a Wounded Age

It is easy to romanticize saints like St. Catherine—until we realize what her witness demands of us.

• To love the Church enough to speak truth, even upward
• To call leaders to holiness without rejecting their authority
• To refuse both silence and cynicism
• To act, not from outrage, but from charity

St. Catherine shows us that reform in the Church has always come from saints who were willing to risk misunderstanding for the sake of fidelity.

She did not seek power.

She sought holiness—and trusted that truth, spoken in love, could move even the heart of a pope.

Mercy That Burns

St. Catherine of Siena shows us the fire of mercy.

Mercy that burns away cowardice.

Mercy that refuses to let fear dictate decisions.

Mercy that calls the Church back to where she belongs.

Today, her voice still echoes:

“Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”

May we have the courage to live a mercy like that—not comfortable, not passive, but alive with truth and love.

St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us—and teach us how to love the Church enough to call her higher.

4th Sunday Easter 2026 - Voices

As we hear from the Good Shepherd narrative of St. John, Chapter 10, we reflect this weekend on the call of the Good Shepherd. The Lord still speaks to us through the voice of others. #Catholic #homily #Scripture #GospelOfTheDay #mercywithteeth Sign up to have podcasts and blog posts emailed to you: https://ift.tt/ZfYA42P Give feedback at https://forms.gle/gGhujv39g43BUxmK6 Readings are found at https://ift.tt/fpn6vPN 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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