Do It Jesus’ Way

Wed., February 11, 2026 – Fifth Week of Ordinary Time – Year A, Cycle 2
1 Kings 10:1–10, Psalm 37:5–6, 30–31, 39–40, Mark 7:14–23

“Your word, O Lord, is truth: consecrate us in the truth.” John 17:17

This request, this prayer to God in our Gospel acclamation today, expresses the desire of every human heart: consecrated, made holy, by Jesus, in Him, with Him, and through Him. Whether we fully understand it or not, that’s the life we all seek. It’s who God made us to be, foretold by the Prophet Ezekiel when he said, “I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your impurities.” Ezekiel 37:26–29. God indeed has given us a new spirit and a new heart by sending His Son, Jesus, to be our Lord and Savior, and by the sanctifying grace of the Sacraments Jesus gave us through His Church, we truly can be consecrated, made holy in the truth of God.

As Christians, and especially as Catholic Christians, we know this, but often, instead of embracing God’s truth and focusing our lives on growing in His holiness, we allow the lies of the enemy to enter our hearts and minds, and we pick and eat our own forbidden fruit, just like Adam and Eve. The devil knows our weaknesses. He knows that his success in tempting our first parents to sin placed the weakness of concupiscence in our hearts. He uses this weakness, this tendency to sin, to separate us from God and bring us closer to him.

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks of this and makes an analogy about things that defile in a way the Jews He was speaking to could understand. As Jews, they observed strict dietary rules and believed that not obeying these rules would make a person unclean, meaning unholy. Jesus explained to them, as He does to us today, that it’s not things from the outside that defile. They might influence us, but the evil that rises within our hearts, that leads us to evil thoughts of unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, and all other sin, is already within us. Jesus said, “All these evils come from within, and they defile.” So, the question is, if we know we have the potential for evil within us, how do we live our lives according to the teachings of Jesus? How do we avoid sin and become consecrated in the truth?

When Jesus was on trial, Pilate questioned Him, asking, “Then you are a King?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a King. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”

Pilate may not have known what truth is, but we do. Truth is not just a word or a thing; truth is a Person, and His name is Jesus. Jesus clearly made this known when He said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 18:37–38. So how can we become holy, consecrated in the truth?

This can only be done by building a strong personal relationship with the Truth, Jesus Christ, and the path to doing this is found in and through the Church He started, the Catholic Church, a Church He built on the foundation of the Apostles and of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium, or teaching authority, that He gave to His Church.

Am I saying that the Church is the only way to build a strong relationship with Jesus and grow in holiness? To be honest, I’m not that smart, I’m not that knowledgeable, and it’s never a good idea to put a limit on the love and mercy of God. However, I can say with absolute certainty that Jesus gave us the Church as the “ordinary” way for us to find and follow Him, to make Him the most important person in our lives. But it would be sinful for me to say that God can’t provide other “extraordinary” ways to give His love and mercy to those who, by no fault of their own, have never been introduced to Jesus and His Church.

From a practical point of view, I once heard a story that put it in a way that even I could understand. Two men were talking about their life of faith in Jesus and going to heaven to be with God for eternity when they died. One man said, “I don’t need the Church to know Jesus and grow in holiness. I look at it like that song from back in the seventies: ‘Me and Jesus got our own thing going. Me and Jesus got it all worked out. Me and Jesus got our own thing going. We don’t need anybody to tell us what it's all about." The other man, disagreeing, looked at his friend and said, “You know, brother, you might be right. We may not need the Church to know Jesus, build a strong relationship with Him, and live with Him for eternity in heaven when we die, but you know what? You don’t necessarily need an airplane or a ship to travel from California to Hawaii, but, brother, it’s gonna be a long, hard swim, so why don’t we just do it Jesus’ way?”

“Your word, O Lord, is truth: consecrate us in the truth.”

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, which commemorates the first apparition of the Blessed Mother to St. Bernadette in 1858 at Lourdes, France. This feast honors Mary’s appearance as a beautiful young lady who revealed a miraculous spring to St. Bernadette and requested that a chapel be built there. It highlights Mary’s role as our Mediatrix and her Immaculate Conception, since she revealed herself to Bernadette as “the Immaculate Conception.” Today, millions of people are drawn to the waters of the grotto in Lourdes, seeking both physical and spiritual healing.

Like those who make pilgrimage to Lourdes, desiring the healing power of Jesus through the intercession of His Blessed Mother, may we turn to her as well in our time of need, remembering and obeying her instructions to the servants at the wedding at Cana when she said, “Do whatever He tells you.”

Amen!