Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Tuesday of the Eighth week in Ordinary Time
Mark 10:28-31
Listen to the whole reading — MP3
First reading
1 Peter 1:10-16
Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, pointed to, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them. To them it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you, they ministered these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into. Therefore prepare your minds for action, be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ— as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance, but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”
Responsorial psalm
Psalms 98:1,1-2,2-3
Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand, and his holy arm, have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation. He has openly shown his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his loving kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. He has remembered his loving kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Burst out and sing for joy, yes, sing praises!
Gospel
Mark 10:28-31
Peter began to tell him, “Behold, we have left all, and have followed you.” Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last first.”
Lectio
There is a quiet thread running through today's readings about the patience of hope. The prophets searched and longed, Peter tells us, straining toward a grace they would not live to see fulfilled in themselves. They served not their own moment but ours, content to plant what others would harvest. This is a strange and humbling kind of faithfulness—to labor for a goodness that arrives after you, to trust that your small obedience matters in a story far larger than your own lifetime. And the Psalm answers that long waiting with a burst of song: the salvation they yearned for has indeed been made known, openly, to all the ends of the earth.
Then Peter—the same Peter who once searched alongside the prophets in his own way—speaks aloud the anxious arithmetic of the heart: "We have left all and followed you." There is something tender in his needing to say it, to be reassured that the leaving was worth it. Jesus does not scold his bookkeeping. He answers it with extravagance—a hundredfold, now, in this life—but he slips in two unsettling words: "with persecutions." The harvest is real, but it is not what we picture. The new family, the new belonging, comes woven through with hardship. And the last line dismantles all our ranking: the first will be last. Even our sacrifices, it seems, must be held loosely, lest they become a new way of claiming our place.
To be holy, as our first reading urges, is finally to set our hope *fully* on the grace yet to come—not half-resting in what we have already given up, not measuring our discipleship against others. It is to keep singing the new song even before the morning fully breaks.
Where in your life are you quietly keeping Peter's ledger—reminding God, and perhaps yourself, of all you have left behind, and waiting for the reassurance that it mattered?
Jesus promises the hundredfold comes "with persecutions"—what cost are you secretly hoping to avoid, even as you long for the blessing that can only come through it?
Saint of the day
St. Philip Neri, Priest (1515-1595) - Memorial
Ora reads this aloud, every morning, free. Ora