Catholic Democrats

...Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, & overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure w/ which you measure will in return be measured out to you. (Lk 6: 36-38)

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#Holiness #ChristHaveMercy #OurFather 6/6

Gospel of the Day for Monday of the Second Week of Lent, Luke 6,36-38

Jesus said to his disciples: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.... 5/6

Let us grow in our lived testimony to God’s mercy for us.

Let us pray.

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In our experience, the more we practice mercy, however imperfectly, the easier and the better we do it.

And we're also reminded that we're more likely to be merciful when we strive to see the world with humility and charity. 3/6

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven." Lk 6:36-36

Being merciful is not easy – but we can’t give up on it. 3/6

On the top, a close-up photo of an old-fashioned balance scale – metal bowls hanging from thin wires, with a wooden base and a blurred workshop-like background. At the bottom, an off-white text panel with reddish-brown serif lettering that reads: “FOR THE MEASURE WITH WHICH YOU MEASURE.” Light-blue vertical bars frame the left and right edges.

LENTEN GOSPEL CHALLENGES

The Gospel reading for the Monday of the Second Week of Lent could not be more important for an angry, tribalized society. 1/6

In Christ, we can choose integrity and holiness over “winning,” even when it costs us.

Let us pray. 🙏

#Lent #Holiness #UnityInChrist #FaithBeforePolitics 3/3

If holiness seems like a bridge too far, what about striving to be the “saint next door,” as Pope Francis described? From there, we may find the courage to examine the places where our own designs pull us from God’s – especially where political loyalty pressures us to put party before faith. 2/3

Graphic with a cream background and dark red border displaying an excerpt from 2 Timothy 1:8-9 in dark italic serif font. The text reads: "Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,..." Attribution at the bottom reads: — 2 Timothy 1: 8-9.

LENTEN GOSPEL CHALLENGES

Sunday’s second reading offered some sobering challenges for us: holiness and not our design or desires, but God’s. If that feels overwhelming, the way the Transfiguration overwhelmed Peter, James, and John, perhaps we can meet the call where we are on our journey. 1/3

On the left, on a cream colored background a blue headline that reads “PRAY FOR PEACE” above “Middle East / Iran.” A long, italicized quote attributed to Pope Leo (Angelus, Sunday, March 1, 2026) is below the headline calling for peace through “reasonable, sincere, and responsible dialogue,” warning of a “tragedy of immense proportions,” urging a halt to the “spiral of violence,” and appealing for diplomacy that upholds the well-being of peoples and a peaceful existence founded on justice. On the right, an illustration of Mary as Queen of Peace – wearing a crown, a white robe, and a blue-green mantle with gold trim, holding an olive branch and extending her other hand in a gentle, welcoming gesture.

Please join us in adding our prayers to those of #PopeLeo, the @USCCB, faith leaders, and people of goodwill across our common home – for peace.

Let us pray. 🙏

#Lent #MiddleEastPeace #Diplomacy #QueenOfPeace

Please join us in praying the Our Father – that we may learn to forgive as we ask God to forgive us.

Let us pray. 🙏

#SOTU #SOTU2026 #Holiness #Mercy #UnityInFaith #Forgiveness #OurFather #Lent2026 5/5

The Holy Father reminds us that "words of hatred" must "give way to words of hope and peace." Tonight, may we begin by disarming our own hearts. 🙏

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"If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions." (Mt 6:14-15) 3/5

So, we remind our sisters and brothers on the Left and Right who may be tempted to arm themselves for tonight's State of the Union of today's Gospel. In it Christ teaches his disciples how to pray by reciting what we now call the "Our Father" (Mt 6:9-13). He then adds:

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On the left, a portrait of Pope Leo XIV in a white cassock and pectoral cross, wearing glasses and smiling gently against a dark gray textured background. On the right, a white-text quotation from his 2026 Lenten Message invites people to practice abstinence by refraining from words that offend and hurt others, beginning by “disarming our language,” and striving for kindness and respect “on social media” and “in political debates.” Several key phrases are underlined in red. At the bottom right is the attribution: “2026 Lenten Message, Pope Leo XIV.”

Tonight the nation watches Washington – the #StateOfTheUnionAddress. But the #HolyFather is watching our hearts.

Pope Leo calls us this Lent to "disarm our language" – especially "in political debates" and "on social media." 🙏

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Mindful that Jesus walks in the desert for us, let us pray that we may accompany one another in solidarity as we seek to build the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. 🙏

#Lent #Lent2026 #AshWednesday #AmbassadorsForChrist #LentenJourney #LentenConversion #Holiness #UnityInChrist 6/6

...If that sounds like an overreaching expectation, then perhaps we can think of our holiness more in line with what #PopeFrancis described as the holiness of “the saint next door.” 5/6

Our charge is to reconcile ourselves – and help reconcile our sisters and brothers – to God.

Leo suggests that our method can be found in the footsteps of “the ancient and contemporary martyrs… the admirable witnesses to the faith.”... 4/6

In his homily, he calls us to repentance not only of our individual hearts, but of social structures and institutions in which sin has become embedded.

We have been recruited, once again, to serve in Christ’s diplomatic corps. 3/6

So, as ambassadors, we do not serve in private.

In his Lenten message, he urges us to disarm our language in our families, our communities, and even in our public debates. 2/6

A desert landscape at dawn with a forked dirt road stretching into low hills under a pale sky. On the left, overlaid text reads: “We are ambassadors for Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:20.” On the right, overlaid text reads: “Conversion is always both personal and public. Pope Leo XIV, Ash Wednesday 2026 Homily.”

Ambassadors for Christ 🙏

Yesterday Paul re-commissioned us as “ambassadors for Christ,” as he does every year at this time.

Lent calls us inward – to prayer, reflection, repentance, and conversion.

This year, #PopeLeo presses further. Conversion is never only personal. It is also public. 1/6

Let us take that step together as sisters & brothers in Christ, with the intention to grow closer to God this #Lent and, in doing so, closer to one another.

Let us pray that we may embrace this Lenten journey as the blessing it is. 🙏

#AshWednesday #Lent2026 #RepentAndBelieve #PrayFastGiveAlms 2/2

Ash Wednesday graphic with a white background and deep violet side borders. At the top, in purple serif text, it reads “Ash Wednesday and Lenten Blessings.” In the center is a black ash cross with brushstroke texture. Beneath the cross, in italic text, it reads “Repent, and believe in the Gospel. – Mark 1:15.” At the bottom, in purple capital letters, it says “Let Us Pray, Fast and Give Alms.”

We begin our Lenten journey today. 🙏

Some of us are more experienced in what this season asks of us than others. But no matter where we are spiritually, we all begin with three things in common:

We are children of God.

We are sinners.

We must take the same first step. 1/2

Join us in this work. Let us pray – and then act. 🙏

#PresidentsDay #UnityInTruth #ImperfectVirtue #CommonGood #CatholicSocialTeaching #CatholicTwitter 6/6

This President’s Day, we recommit ourselves – or commit for the first time – to truth within our faith and truth within the public square. Not perfection, but faithfulness. Not tribal loyalty, but formed conscience. 5/6

For Catholics, truth is not partisan or optional. God is truth and love. And Christ tells us plainly: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

In a tribalized age, faith does not offer a party platform – it offers a moral horizon against which every platform must be judged. 4/6

What ultimately links Washington and Lincoln is not perfection, but a striving toward truth, shaped by developing virtue – “I cannot tell a lie,” and “Honest Abe.” Not political truth as our culture defines it today, but moral truth: truth about dignity, conscience, and the common good. 3/6

But history is not an either/or. We can judge sin honestly without erasing the virtues that still form our national conscience. 2/6

In the center, three men are shown from behind walking together down a sunlit path through a forest of golden autumn trees. The man on the left wears a dark 19th-century coat and a tall stovepipe hat. The man in the center has long hair and wears a simple, light-colored robe reminiscent of a first-century prophet. The man on the right wears an 18th-century blue coat, knee-length riding pants, white stockings, and a white powdered wig tied back in a braided ponytail. Warm light fills the path ahead. At the bottom of the image, tan text reads: “President’s Day: The Moral Witness of Imperfect Truth and Virtue Seeking the Common Good.”

PRESIDENT’S DAY: THE MORAL WITNESS OF IMPERFECT TRUTH AND VIRTUE SEEKING THE COMMON GOOD 🙏

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were not saints.
Both bore grave moral failures – especially regarding slavery. Naming that truth matters. 1/6

Love is not passive. Love is action – steadfast, sacrificial, and rooted in Christ – especially when it carries personal or political cost.

#ValentinesDay #Holiness #UnityInFaith #FaithInPublicLife #AgapeLove #CatholicSocialTeaching #MoralCourage 4/4