Jubilee Year of Saint Francis on the 800th Anniversary of His Death
January is the month dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus
January 18-25: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity "There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling"
At the Name of Jesus, every knee should bend.
PRAY FOR US.
JESUS, BRIGHTNESS OF ETERNAL LIGHT,
HAVE MERCY ON US.
JESUS, INFINITE GOODNESS,
HAVE MERCY ON US.
JESUS, MOST POWERFUL,
HAVE MERCY ON US.
Dear faithful readers, welcome to January, the month dedicated to the Most Holy Name of Jesus, and entry into the calendar year 2026. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, have mercy on us. However, let us not be hasty about leaving the Christmas Season behind. May we keep on celebrating Christmas until February 2, when we commemorate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. also called Candlemas. When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord ... The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon Him (Luke 2:22, 40).
And we kick off the new calendar year on January 1 with the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, a fitting way to get things started, under the protective veil of Our Lady, the Holy Mother of God. At the same time, January 1 is the World Day of Peace with the theme “Peace be with you all: Towards an ‘unarmed and disarming’ peace.”
Wisdom from above is first of all innocent. It is also peaceable, lenient, docile, rich in sympathy and the kindly deeds that are its fruits, impartial and sincere. The harvest of justice is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.
(James 3:17-18)
We have the option to celebrate (and who wouldn't) the Most Holy Name of Jesus on January 3. Jesus, Son of Justice, have mercy on us. On Sunday, January 4, we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord, so let us come with gifts to adore the Lord. After a week of "Days after Epiphany," we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Sunday, January 11. On Monday, January 12, we enter the First Week of Ordinary Time. And then there is the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children on January 22. On Sunday, January 25, we celebrate the Sunday of the Word of God, a celebration instituted by Pope Francis, a day devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the word of God. In between these times, there are several heavy hitter saints to commemorate, for example, Saint Cnut the Duke, a Martyr! So get ready folks, it is another busy month, especially with the commemoration of The Translation of the Black Nazarene, an image enshrined in the Church at Quiapo, Philippines and the Feast of Santo Nino. And lastly, if you haven’t picked up your copy of the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict in some time, now is the time to pick it up and start again with the Prologue to commence the first of three read throughs for 2026. If we keep to daily reading of and reflection on the Holy Rule, by the end of January we will have made it all the way to Chapter 7, "Humility," verse 34. Listen then, with the ear of your heart.
It occurred to me the other morning that together, united as we are in faith and prayer, we could consider two New Year's resolutions. First, how about making friends with a saint this year, or some other person you admire, like a pope or spiritual writer. Read things first, if available, written by him or her. Then things written about him or her. And if the person wrote letters, read some of them. I will spend the year becoming better friends with Saint Therese of Lisieux, "The Little Flower." In fact, I am already busy with her Story of a Soul, and a marvelous book by Ida Friederike Gorres, The Hidden Face: A Study of St. Therese of Lisieux. Who will your friend be this year? Or who is it that you want to become better friends with?
Second, you might make friends with a psalm. As Cardinal Basil Hume (1923-1999) of happy memory once said, "look for friends among the psalms ... mull over [one of them] during mental prayer ... make it your friend." Are there particular words from the psalmist that sing to you? Then how about memorizing the psalm ... there are 365 days to practice. A favorite psalm of mine, one that has been a favorite since childhood, is Psalm 127, especially the first verse: Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it. In the home where I was raised, there was a framed print of Psalm 127:1 that hung in the breezeway, a place that pretty much anyone who came to our house passed. The words of the psalmist were formative not only for our family, but for countless friends and neighbors too. More recently, Psalm 70 has had a sweet melody, melody sung in perfect pitch.
It is you, O Lord, who are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, since my youth.
On you have I leaned from my birth,
from my mother's womb you have been my help,
My hope has always been in you.
(Psalm 70:5-6)
Now with our voices. The first is one of my favorites from Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a voice that is fitting for this month dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus.
Write what you will, I shall not relish it unless it tells of Jesus. Talk or argue about what you will, I shall not relish it if you exclude the name of Jesus. Jesus to me is honey in the mouth, music in the ear, a song in the heart.
Again, it is medicine. Does one of us feel sad? Let the name of Jesus come into his heart, from there let it spring to his mouth, so that shining like the dawn it may dispel all darkness and make a cloudless sky. Does someone fall into sin? Does his despair even urge him to suicide? Let him invoke this life-giving name and his will to live will once be renewed ...
(Bernard of Clairvaux, 1050-1193, On the Song of Songs, 15:III, 6-IV, 7)
And from The Little Flower ...
Jesus deigned to teach me this mystery. He set before me the book of nature; I understood how all the flowers He has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the Lily do not take away the perfume of the violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wild flowers.
And so it is in the world of souls, Jesus' garden. He willed to create great souls comparable to Lilies and roses, but He has created smaller ones and these must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God's glances when He looks down at His feet. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be.
(Saint Therese of Lisieux, 1873-1897, Story of a Soul, Manuscript A, Ch. I)
And finally, we hear from our holy father Saint Benedict, from his Holy Rule, all words to inspire and encourage us as we enter a new year, a new beginning ...
First of all, every time you begin a good work, you must pray to God to bring it to perfection.
(Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue 4)
Let us get up then, at long last, for the Scriptures rouse us when they say: It is high time for us to arise from sleep (Romans 13:11). Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God and our ears to the voice from heaven that every day calls out this charge: If you hear His voice today, do not harden your hearts (Psalm 94:8).
(Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue 8-9)
But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love.
(Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue 49)
Your way of acting should be different from the world's way;
the love of Christ must come before all else.
(Rule of Saint Benedict, 4:20-21)
Place your hope in God alone.
(Rule of Saint Benedict, 4:41)
God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).
(Rule of Saint Benedict, 5:16)
In a flood of words you will not avoid sin (Proverbs 10:19) ... The tongue holds the key to life and death (Proverbs 18:21) ... We absolutely condemn in all places any vulgarity and gossip and talk leading to laughter, and we do not permit a disciple to engage in words of that kind.
(Rule of Saint Benedict, 6:4-5, 8)
I have not come to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me (John 6:38).
(Rule of Saint Benedict, 7:32)
For all the saints, pray for us!
SAINTS BASIL THE GREAT AND GREGORY NAZIANZEN,
SAINT APOLIINARIS,
SAINT ANGELA OF FOLIGNO,
SAINT GREGORY OF NYSSA,
SAINT SAVA,
SAINTS MAUR AND PLACID,
SAINT ITA,
SAINT REMIGIUS, REMY OR REMI,
SAINT FURSA OR FURSEY,
SAINT JOSEPH VAZ,
SAINT ANTHONY, ABBOT,
OUR LADY OF ARABIA,
SAINT WULSTAN,
SAINT FAOLAN,
SAINT HENRY OF UPPSALA,
THE JESUIT MARTYRS OF THE REFORMATION,
BLESSED ANDREW PESCHIARA OP,
POPE SAINT FABIAN, MARTYR,
SAINT SEBASTIAN, MARTYR,
BLESSED CYPRIAN MICHAEL TANSI,
SAINT PAUL OF THEBES,
BLESSED ANGELO PAOLI,
SAINT AGNES, VIRGIN, MARTYR,
SAINT PUBLIUS,
POPE SAINT MARCELLUS,
BLESSED ANTHONY DELLA CHIESA OP,
SAINT VINCENT, DEACON, MARTYR,
BLESSED HENRY SUSO OP,
SAINT MARIANNE COPE,
SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES, BISHOP,
SAINTS TIMOTHY AND TITUS,
SAINTS ROBERT, ALBERIC, AND STEPHEN,
SAINT ANGELA MERICI, VIRGIN,
SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, PRIEST, DOCTOR,
SAINT JOHN BOSCO, PRIEST,
SAINT HYACINTHA OF MARISCOTTI,
BLESSED ANN OF THE ANGELES MONTEAGUDO OP,
BLESSED GONSALVO OF AMARANTE OP,
BLESSED BERNARD SCAMMACCA OP,
SAINT AELRED OF RIEVAULX,
SAINT MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS OP,
SAINT BENET (BENEDICT) BISCOP,
SAINT PAUL,
BLESSED EDWARD OLDCORNE,
SAINT HENRY DE OSSO,
BLESSED MARCOLINO OF FORLI OP,
BLESSED ARCHANGELA GIRLANI,
BLESSED VILLANA DE' BOTTI,
SAINT GILDAS THE WISE,
SAINT AEDAN OF FERNS,
SAINT ALBAN ROE,
SAINT THOMAS GREEN,
VENERABLE MARY WARD,
PRAY FOR US.
JESUS, CROWN OF ALL SAINTS,
HAVE MERCY ON US.
This month's photo: On heaven and on earth.
© Gertrude Feick 2026
