“Return to me with your whole heart…”
Within the sacred antiquity of our Salvation History, a living history, we are summoned to return to God with our WHOLE hearts.
We are ushered into the liturgical season of Lent. What do these readings offer us for a foundation to spend these 40 days in awareness and in anticipation of the Triduum? The Gospel, Jesus, teaches of fasts, prayers, alms, and repentance. What else do we hear?
This is a holy season as God yearns for us to return, renew, or to repair a relationship with the Holy One. It is a time that reminds us of our mortality as well as the immense love of our Creator. The relationship between creature and Creator is a focal point. What does that relationship look like for each of us? For our world? Of our sinful, mortal selves and global realities?
Where possible, Christians will receive a sign of the cross in ashes on their foreheads. A sign that indicates our mortality, as well as the death of Jesus who died on a cross. As ashes are received on this Wednesday, we may hear the words, Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return, a quote from The Book of Genesis. Or, Repent and believe in the Gospel, adapted from the Gospel of Mark.
I will be leaving soon for Africa for the next couple of months; therefore, I am writing this reflection as we complete the Christmas season. There was Christmas, Divine Gift of love given to us and for us in the person of Jesus who is both human/mortal, and divine/everlasting life! He is God, we are not! Now, the question is how have we lived or currently live our lives in the light of this, in light of the Gospel? In what ways have we walked with Jesus from His birth, through His public life of ministry, with Him in death, and witnessed His resurrection? Have we been faithful to loving God, ourselves, others, and creation, the cosmos?
There is an urgency that the prophet Joel presents. He had a passion to bring people back into right relationship with God. Blow the trumpet, proclaim a fast, call an assembly; gather the people, notify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, etc. His words are for us. There is an urgency in our time for there is much to be restored in our world that is torn apart with wars, displacement of peoples, hunger, quest for power, tyrants, (some who think they are gods), violence, and lack of compassion.
Pope Francis wrote in Laudato Si’, We have to dare to speak of the integrity of human life, of the need to promote and unify all the great values. Once we lose our humility, and become enthralled with the possibility of limitless mastery over everything, we inevitably end up harming society and the environment. #224
There appears a steady decline in humanity as Joel observed of his time, 400 years before Christ. Relationships on many levels, whether they be personal, familial, or global, breaches are to be mended, and life held sacred. It is a time for reconciliation. Restore humanity to its sacred dignity. We can do this with the grace and mercy of God. We can do this because we are the expression of God’s love. Be merciful, God, for we have sinned. –Psalm 51
As I read these readings, I wondered what can I offer that we haven’t already heard, year after year? I offer you the following. A life-line. Reflect upon your relationship with Jesus in reference to the names of God, the Holy One. Pray these names, or qualities of God that are present in our readings beginning today with the words from Joel. He was a man of hope and trust in a faithful God. Pray silently, holding each word or phrase in your hearts. Perhaps this might surface a needed reconciliation with the Grace received to make it happen.
In praying God’s name, we grow closer to our Creator who called us each by name. We know a little bit more about God. We turn our hearts toward God with expediency! Now is the acceptable time! God’s desired urgency for each of us and the global community is to return with total heart and complete love by mending relationships. It is time to restore the balance to creation. Unify all the great values.
Remember the love that Jesus gave in life and death to restore all creation to the right relationship in the sacred bond of the new Covenant. LIFE IS GIVEN. Let us pray first in the Holy Name, JESUS. Now…breathe, relax and be with the God of LIFE.
God, Gracious
God, Merciful
God, Slow to Anger,
God, Rich in Kindness
God, Just and Relenting
God, Giver of Blessings
God, Forgiving
God, Compassion
God, Steadfast Spirit
God, Joy of Salvation. AMEN
Candice Tucci, OSF
Born in Buffalo, NY, I grew up in a cultural and ethnic diverse environment. My life as a Franciscan Sister has been a profound spiritual journey. Like Francis of Assisi who called himself, “pilgrim and stranger,” this too is a metaphor for my own life.
A trained spiritual director, with a BFA, and MA degree in Religious Studies/Spirituality focusing on the integration of the arts, spirituality and social justice, prepared me to live this Gospel life of prayer and service. First on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, and eventually in Tanzania, East Africa. My journey led me to ministry in higher education at various universities. February 2025, I retired from Creighton University after 10 years as Chaplain for the College of Nursing.
Prior to retirement, I was elected to serve on the General Council of my Congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity. March, 2025, I moved to Rome, IT where I currently reside. Serving in this leadership role provides incredible opportunities to serve as a woman religious in the Catholic Church at this time in history. Settled in Rome, I am happy and ready to contribute again to Daily Reflections. May we hold each other reverently in this Sacred Space.
