Monthly Archives: February 2026

Are we deaf and mute?.Reflection for marriages. Mark 7 :31-37

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From the Gospel according to Mark 7:31–37

Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,into the district of the Decapolis.And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him.He took him off by himself away from the crowd.He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue;then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,”Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)And immediately the man’s ears were opened,his speech impediment was removed,and he spoke plainly.He ordered them not to tell anyone.But the more he ordered them not to,the more they proclaimed it.They were exceedingly astonished and they said,”He has done all things well.He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak”
The Gospel of the Lord

Are we deaf and mute?

How important it was that this person was willing to go where Jesus was, allowing himself to be led by his friends. First, he had to recognize that he could not hear. Then, he had to let others guide him. And finally—and most importantly—he had to trust in Jesus. That trust is what allowed the Lord to work the miracle, restoring his hearing and his speech. Spouses, let us come together into His presence, and He will work miracles in our marriage and in our family.

Applied to married life

Paul: Mary, are you okay? You’ve been very quiet since we left Mass.
Mary: If you don’t mind, I’ll share it with you tonight during our couple prayer. I’m really moved—I’ve had a beautiful experience.
Paul: Wow, I can’t wait to hear it.
Mary: Thank you, love, for being so understanding and for waiting until tonight.
(That night, during their couple prayer)
Paul and Mary: Holy Spirit, come into our hearts each day…
Paul: We place ourselves in the Lord’s presence…Mary: (after a moment of silence) Paul, I want to share with you what happened to me this morning. Before going to Mass, I was doing an examination of conscience because I felt I needed to go to confession. When we arrived at church, I went to greet the Lord in the tabernacle, and He shed light on a very old sin—something from long before my conversion. It was as if He said to me, “Ephphatha.” Suddenly, I remembered something very painful I had done years ago, something I hadn’t thought about in a long time. I felt frozen. But just then, you took my hand and squeezed it, and that gave me the strength to stand up and kneel in the confessional. There, I experienced God’s mercy in such a beautiful way—He forgave my brokenness… Even now, thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. And yes, it was a serious sin.
Paul: Mary, you are so beautiful. What you shared reminds me of Saint Paul’s words to the Romans: “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” Blessed and praised be the Lord! Thank you for trusting me with this. I love you so much, Mary.

Mother,

What a precious gift the sacrament of confession is. Grant me the grace to receive it often, after making a sincere examination of conscience. Blessed and praised be the Lord for His great mercy!

Always present. Reflection for Marriages Mark 7:24-30

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From the Gospel according to Mark 7:24–30

Jesus went to the district of Tyre.He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,but he could not escape notice.Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.She came and fell at his feet.The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth,and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.For it is not right to take the food of the childrenand throw it to the dogs.”She replied and said to him,“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go.The demon has gone out of your daughter.”When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bedand the demon gone.

The Gospel of the Lord

Always Present

At times it may seem as though the Lord goes unnoticed, or that He is absent in certain moments. We may even question Him, wondering how He can allow certain situations. But in reality, that isn’t so. When we feel this way, what is really happening is that we struggle to accept or understand God’s will. The Lord is always present, at our side—even in the moments when we would rather He weren’t. He is far more attentive to us than we can imagine. Yet we tend to remember Him only when we realize we cannot manage on our own or when we simply do not understand what is happening.

How different things become when we seek God at all times—in what we do and in what we fail to do, in the good and in the difficult—living with an awareness of His true presence in everything. Sometimes we seek Him to give thanks; other times to ask for forgiveness. God is always beside us, but we do not perceive Him unless we are willing to. We have been given complete freedom to accept Him or not. He reveals Himself in many ways—and it always depends on us.

Applied to married Life:

Valeria:Eduard, have you noticed how wonderful it feels to be around Andrea and David? The way they speak to each other, the way they look at one another, the tenderness in how they treat each other—and so many little details you can’t help but notice when you’re with them.

Eduard: Yes, Valeria, of course I’ve noticed. It’s impossible not to. So different from us—we’re always trying to see who comes out on top.

Valeria: You can tell they truly have God at the center of their lives and their marriage. They seek Him in everything, accept His will, and live it out by reflecting Him in their love.

Eduard: Honestly, we could try to do the same. What’s the difference between them and us? Only that we resist accepting that God is within us—and instead we try to control each other.
Valeria: You’re right, Eduard. Let’s try. We already know the solution isn’t about being right, but about trusting in the Lord and remembering that He is within us.

Eduard: And what better way to start than by asking for your forgiveness? Forgive me, my dear Valeria. I’ve been selfish—pushing my own opinions, refusing to admit my weaknesses, pretending to be strong at the cost of hurting you.

Valeria:Thank you, Eduard. You are a gift, and I could not see It.  I’ve acted as though you had to serve me in everything, as though things always had to be done my way. Forgive me for not recognizing the good man you are.

Eduard: And you are truly amazing—the most wonderful wife in the world.

Valeria:Let’s give this our all. Now that we’ve managed to cast pride out of our love, how about we begin by going to Mass together and thanking God for our marriage?

Mother:

Help us always to keep your Son present through our spouse.

Blessed be God.

Pay attention! Reflection for marriages. Mark 7:14-23

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From the Gospel according to Mark 7:14–23

Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”
When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything
that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?”
(Thus he declared all foods clean.)
“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”

The Gospel of the Lord


Pay attention!

How good the Lord is, who enlightens us through this Gospel and shows us where to fix our gaze. So often we go through life with the bad habit of looking outside ourselves for the cause—or the culprits—of our troubles: “If my husband would change…,” “it’s my boss…,” “this rebellious child drives me crazy,” “it’s their fault…,” “if only they hadn’t said that…” Without realizing it, we end up placing the source of our uneasiness, our reactions, and our lack of love in something or someone outside of us.
Today the Lord comes to show us where to look. Pay attention, spouses! It is easy to focus on the other person’s faults or on external circumstances and overlook what is happening in our own hearts. I may never say a harsh word to my husband, yet judge him inwardly. And that is where the seed of evil begins to grow in my heart. It may seem small, but both good and evil always begin small—a tiny seed that eventually grows. So, pay attention to the heart! What am I thinking? What do I desire? What are my intentions? The cup may look beautiful and clean on the outside, but inside, dirt may already be taking root.


Applied to married life:

(After praying with this Gospel, Peter and Cristina share their reflections.)
Cristina: Do you know what I realized, Peter? Yesterday when you got home from work, I spoke to you harshly and made a rude gesture. That led to silence and distance between us until this morning. It’s true that I was exhausted—from work at the office and from spending the whole afternoon with the kids… But I’ve realized that it wasn’t the tiredness that created the distance. Tiredness made things harder, yes, but what truly broke our communion was the indifference and anger that came from my heart.
Peter: Yeah… I’ve realized something too. I’ve been helping the new colleague who just joined the office. On the surface, my intention seemed good, but deep down I was trying to make a good impression—showing off my knowledge and wanting others to see me as generous, kind, a good guy. In the end, I wasn’t helping purely out of love; vanity crept in.
Cristina: I think becoming aware of this is a grace from God. I want to stay attentive to what comes out of my heart when something bothers me or doesn’t go the way I want.
Peter: This helps me recognize my own misery, so I can place it in the Lord’s hands and let Him change my heart. How much we need Him!
Cristina: Let’s thank God for showing us the truth of our hearts—and tomorrow, let’s go to confession. What do you think?

Mother,

help us not to make excuses, but to humbly acknowledge our weakness with a contrite and humble heart. Blessed and praised be forever!

What is your gorban?Reflection for marriage. Mark 7:1-13

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From the Gospel according to Mark 7:1-13

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
(For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.) So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”
He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
He went on to say,
“How well you have set aside the commandment of Godv in order to uphold your tradition! For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother,
and Whoever curses father or mother shall die. Yet you say, ‘If someone says to father or mother,
“Any support you might have had from me is qorban”‘ (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.”

The Gospel of the Lord

What is your gorban?

God does not want cold, mechanical obedience to rules; God wants your heart. “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” And that wounds God, because He did not create us for distance, but for communion. God wants your heart close to His, not your good deeds carried out apart from Him. Holiness is not a race toward outward perfection or a checklist of rules completed; it is God’s invitation to live united to Him in a living, burning relationship of love.
Yet how hard it is for us to realize that this is about loving, not just doing. And so we distort everything: we misorder love, we focus on actions instead of the heart, and we even end up using “the law” as an excuse not to love. In this way, we drift away from God while believing—what a terrible deception—that we are serving Him. But God does not want busy, distant servants; He wants friends. “I no longer call you servants; I call you friends.” He wants intimacy, constant closeness, a heart that rests in Him. He is not interested in service that does not spring from love.
Be attentive, because this same lie easily creeps into marriage. We create our own personal “gorbans,” so pious, so reasonable, so justifiable, that they keep us from truly loving and from building real communion: “The children need me more than you do,” “I have to take care of my parents,” “There’s so much to do at the parish,” “My friend is going through a hard time.” Everything is good. Everything matters. But when everything is always placed ahead of one’s spouse, we fail to build the love of communion we so deeply long for.
In the end, we stop welcoming the heart of the one to whom we gave our own in covenant, and we stop offering our own as well. First love is pushed aside, left to wither, and this painful verdict can be spoken: “This wife, this husband, honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

Applied to married Life.

Robert: Leslie do you love me?
Leslie : Robert, after all these years together, why would you even ask that?
Robert: I know, but tell me…
Leslie: Didn’t I marry you?
Robert: Yes—and I married you—but do you love me?
Leslie:What is this obsession? Don’t we have two children? Don’t I iron your shirts? Don’t I cook for you? Don’t I buy your clothes?
Robert: Yes… but do you love me?

Mother,

teach us to love Jesus the way He longs to be loved.Praised be Jesus and Mary.

 

Give Glory to God. Reflection for marriages. Matthew 5:13-16

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From the Gospel according to Matthew 5:13-16

Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

Give Glory to God

Jesus, how do I do that in my marriage? Can good works be done without the light shining? Can good works be done and still not serve to give Glory to God? Yes, You know they can, my Jesus, because You know my heart. Many times I do things not really trying to love through them, not the way You would do them. In subtle ways, my self-love takes over and I seek myself. Then what seems good is nothing more than using the other person for my own benefit, doing things so I’ll be recognized. And then darkness comes: when I’m not recognized for how “good” I am, I get upset, even if it is only felt as sadness or discomfort in my heart.
But when I let myself be guided by You, when my heart lets itself be burned in the Furnace of Love that is Your Heart and is purified of self-love, then I see that it’s by loving my wife in every circumstance, when she’s well, when she’s not, when she asks for what I like, when she asks for what I don’t, when I give myself in those small details… that’s when You make that Light shine, the Light that comes from Your grace, and it lets us enjoy a small piece of heaven on earth. And our small works give Glory to God the Father, because they have the value of having been done not by us, but through the Son. How much light a marriage like this radiates in the middle of the world, a marriage that lives surrendered into the Lord’s hands. How much joy they carry in their hearts. I want that. And you?

Applied to married life:

Rose: For a while now I’ve been reading a daily Gospel reflection on a website. It’s made for married couples. Most of the time I feel like it’s not for me, like it’s not real.
John: Oh yeah, the Conjugal Love Project one. The dialogue part can be a bit cheesy sometimes, right? And other times it feels a bit too intense for me. It doesn’t always feel very real to me either.
Rose: Yeah… and since I don’t really have that kind of faith, the kind where you actually feel that “Love of God”. It sometimes puts me off. But today I met a couple who give off this peace, this different kind of happiness. The way they look at everyday things, at problems, it’s different. It’s like they reflect a different light, a different kind of joy.
John: Really? And who are they?
Rose: A couple from the parish. They’re in Conjugal Love Proyect. I only spoke with them for a little while, but the light they reflect really impacted me. I want that. I don’t know how they have it, I don’t know what they’ve done, but I promise you, it’s different. They’ve got something.
John: It can’t be that big a deal, can it?
Rose: I promise you, what I saw in them is something I’d love for us to live too. Do you want me to ask them about it next time I see them?
John: Yeah… it wouldn’t hurt to give our marriage a little push.

Mother,

Lead us to the Heart of Jesus, to His Furnace of Love, so that He may purify our hearts and make our works give glory to God.
Praised be the Lord forever!