Divine Intimacy - Lenten Meditations for 2026 - Day 10

Ready for a reset that goes deeper than giving up dessert? We take Ember Friday as a clarifying lens on Lent: why the season spans 46 calendar days, how abstinence and fasting work today, and why these practices still matter for real conversion. Then we open Ezekiel 18 and John 5 to trace a through line from personal responsibility to healing grace, where God’s mercy moves first and then asks us to walk in it with resolve.

We walk through Ezekiel’s stark promise and warning—turn and live, turn away and lose what you had—not to spark argument, but to recover urgency. At the pool of Bethesda we meet a man frozen for thirty-eight years until Jesus cuts through the inertia with a question and a command. That moment becomes a template: receive the gift, carry it forward, and “sin no more.” From there we turn practical with the daily examination of conscience, not as a guilt checklist but as a skillful search for motives and the dominant fault—pride, sloth, or self-love—that powers many small falls. We show how to fight roots with opposite virtues, how to teach the examen to kids in simple steps, and how small, steady course corrections build perseverance.

Along the way we unpack the differences between the traditional and new liturgical calendars, why Ember Days focus prayer on priests and vocations, and the U.S. history behind partial abstinence on Ember Saturday. The thread that binds it all: grace is a gift meant to be walked with. If you’ve been looking for a concrete way to align desire, habit, and hope, this episode offers a map you can start using tonight.

If this helped you see Lent with fresh eyes, follow the show, share it with a friend who could use a nudge, and leave a quick review with your biggest takeaway. Your notes help others rise and walk too.

Transcript

Setting The Scene For Ember Friday

How Lent Actually Counts Days

Fasting, Abstinence, And Ember Practices

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Good morning, everyone. And welcome to our tenth day of Lent. Today is Ember Friday here in Lent. And uh you might be telling yourself, Oh, ten days. That means we're gonna be like a quarter of the way through Lent. But I got some bad news for you. No. No, ten is not a quarter of the 40 days of Lent. And now you might be asking yourself, why? Why? Why is ten not one quarter of 40? And it's because the 40 days of Lent don't count the Sundays to get to that 40. So there's actually 46 days within Lent. So you are 10 days after after today, you will be 10 days through the 46 days of the 40 days of Lent. So if you're just hearing this for the first time, I apologize for bursting that little bubble. But regardless, today is day 10. It is Ember Friday. It is um if you if you are following just the current practices of the church, it is a day of abstinence from meat, so do not eat meat today. If you practice Ember Days, today then is also a day of fasting. So fast and abstain from meat. Um pray for your priests, pray for priestly vocations today as an Ember Day. And without further ado, we'll get into what we're gonna read. We will read the um the readings from Mass. Let me just see here. A Wednesday for Ember Wednesday, they snuck in a lesson and an epistle. Today looks like we just have an epistle with the gospel. So we'll do the readings, the traditional readings from Mass. Uh, and then we'll go into the readings and meditations from Divine Intimacy for today. Yesterday, someone in the comments asked why the read why one of the readings was from Ezekiel instead of Esther uh Esther. Esther. Um, because that was uh the reading from the new the the new lectionary, the new calendar, the new mass. Uh so once again, just to explain divine intimacy as it was originally written, was written around the traditional calendar, the traditional liturgical calendar. Um there are versions of it that have been kind of cut apart and pieced back together to somewhat fit the new calendar, but the original, as it was written, was written around the traditional liturgical calendar. Um the mass readings I do are from the traditional liturgical calendar, so they will differ. Not always, especially during Lent. They do tend to line up uh more often than not, or more often than usual, I should say. But they do they they can differ from the readings in the new mass. Just so you know.

Traditional Vs New Liturgical Calendars

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Anyways, without further ado, I'll put up an image on screen and we'll get going here. So the epistle for Ember Friday within Lend is Ezekiel eighteen twenty through twenty eight.

Epistle From Ezekiel Explained

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Thus saith the Lord God, the soul that sinneth, the same shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son. The justice of the just shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked do penance for all his sins with which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment and justice, living he shall live and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done, and his justice which he hath wrought he shall live. Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices which he hath done shall not be remembered, and the provocation by which he hath provocated, and in a sin which he hath committed, in them he shall die. And you have said, The way of the Lord is not right. Hear ye therefore, O house of Israel, is it my way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just turneth away from his justice and committeth iniquity, he shall die therein, and the justice that he hath wrought he shall die. And when the wickedeth when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment and justice, he shall save his soul alive, because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

He shall surely live and not die, saith the Lord Almighty.

Gospel At Bethesda: Healing And Warning

SPEAKER_01 6:19

I'm just gonna cut in here real quick. Usually this waits till the end, but I might forget this. Boy, it sure does sound to me like we are saved by both faith and works, doesn't it, guys? Sure does sound to me like uh the the the just guy who was just and then turned away from justice. Sounds like once saved was not always saved as far as he goes. Boy, I think I think the Protestants need to reread this one. Anyway, sorry, I'll go back to the gospel now. Okay, gospel for Emperor Friday within Lent here. The gospel is from John chapter 5, 1 through 15. At that time there was a festival day of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem a pond called Probottica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered, waiting for the moving of the water, and an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond, and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water was made whole of what whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity, him when Jesus had seen laying, lying, and knew that he had been now a long time, he saith to him, Wilt thou be made whole? The infirm man answered him, Sir I have no man, when the water is troubled to put me into the pond. For was I am coming, another goeth down before me. Jesus saith to him, Arise, take up thy bed and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and he took up his bed and walked. And it was the Sabbath that day. The Jews therefore said to him that he was that the Jews therefore said to him that was healed, It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed. He answered them. He that made me whole, he said to me, Take up thy bed and walk. They asked him therefore, Who is that man who said to thee, Take up thy bed and walk? But he who was healed knew not who it was. For Jesus went aside from the multitude standing in the place. Afterwards Jesus findeth him in the temple and said to him, Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee. The man went his way and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Okay, and now we move on to divine intimacy here for today. Examination of conscience presence of God.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

O Lord, cast a ray of light on my soul, so that I may be able to see myself as you see me and as you judge me. Meditation one. To ensure an orderly and progressive growth in the spiritual life, we must know ourselves. We have to consider our sins, our weak points, our evil tendencies, as well as the progress we have already made, the favorable results we have attained, and our inclinations to good. This knowledge of our interior state is obtained through an examination of conscience. The examine considered in this way becomes one of the most important exercises of the spiritual life, since its object is to help the soul to rid itself of everything that must that might obstruct or delay its journey to God, to stimulate it to quicken its pace toward Him. Just as we cannot wage war with an unknown enemy or make conquest of an unknown region, in the same way it is impossible to fight the evil in ourselves if we have not previously identified it. We can never attain sanctity if we have not looked for an efficacious means of acquiring it. In other words, the examination of conscience attains its end when the soul who has faithfully practiced this exercise can say to itself, these are the inclinations which with which with sorry these are the inclinations inclinations which I must watch more carefully to avoid falling into sin. These the weak points which I must strengthen, these are the virtues that I must I must practice most of all. In this way the soul will be able to formulate practical, firm resolutions which will then become the special subject of its subsequent examinations. It is clear that we must first recognize and combat any tendencies which could lead us to mortal sin. But then those that could bring us to venial sin or to simple voluntary imperfections must be similarly treated. Everything that constitutes a deliberate fault must be progressively and energetically rooted out of the soul which aspires to divine union.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Meditation two.

Rooting Out The Dominant Fault

Practicing Daily Examination With Kids

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Instead of trying to seek out all the faults it has committed, the soul living an interior life, one we assume to be free by now from mortal sin, should fix its attention on the degrees to which its faults have been voluntarily, even in the case of slight imperfections. Because it is these deliberate faults that present the greatest obstacle to spiritual progress into union with God. The soul must carefully investigate the cause of and the motive for these failures. It must realize that while its exterior faults are of various kinds, faults against charity, for example, or patience or obedience or sincerity, all of them nevertheless have one and the same cause, one common root, which may be, for example, pride or sloth. It is precisely against this root of our sins and imperfections that we must direct our efforts, not simply to lessen it by mortification, but rather to fight it directly by the increase of the opposite virtues in ourselves. In other words, we must struggle against our dominant passion or fault. This is very important, for by aiming to destroy the evil at its root, we eliminate at the same time many actual faults. When the soul has reached the point where it no longer has to reproach itself for deliberate faults and imperfections, it should turn its attention to those failures of surprise or inadvertence from which it has not yet succeeded in freeing itself, in spite of its sincere and often renewed resolutions. In these cases, the soul, besides continuing the struggle against the root of its faults, will find it very useful to continue to continually reinforce its firm purpose to overcome self. The more determined the soul is to correct its faults, the less voluntary will those be which escape it. They grow slighter and slighter, and are often only the residue or the purely natural movement of habits once contracted, but now detested. Another important point that must not be overlooked in the examination of conscience is the remembrance of our duty to sustain and guard the desire for sanctity and to enliven our determination to do always what is more pleasing to God, most pleasing to God. Here is the heart of the spiritual life, of generosity. It is also an excellent method to examine ourselves from God's point of view instead of our own, to ask ourselves if God is pleased with us and how he might judge our conduct The Colloquy. O God of my soul, what am I in your presence? Have my acts ever been free from faults, my words, my will? But you, O Lord, are good, and your right hand is merciful. O physician of my soul, show me the fruits of my avowal. I confess because the admission of my miseries awakens my heart and keeps it from slumber. But even while saying I am incapable of doing good, my soul awakes again in the love of your mercy and the sweetness of your grace, by which every sick soul feels strong and becomes aware of its weakness. I shall love you, O Lord, and return thanks to you, and exalt your name because you have pardoned so many of my guilty acts. If my sins have melted away like ice, it is the work of your grace and mercy. All the evil that I have not committed was likewise the work of your grace. Was there any sin that I could not have committed? I who have loved evil with so light a heart? I confess that all my sins have been forgiven, both those that I committed as well as those that with your help I did not commit. O my God, you who by one single act of your will created light, and light was made. Speak again your all powerful creative word, Fiatulux, and light will be created in my soul, and in your light I shall be able to see myself as I really am in your sight. But light is not enough for me, who am so weak and cowardly. I need strength, O Lord, I need a strong, resolute will to hate evil in all its forms, to have a horror of myself love, my pride, my sloth, to renew and strengthen my resolution to overcome myself for love of you. Yes, Lord, with your help I wish to conquer myself, not for the vain satisfaction of thinking that I am doing better, but solely to give you pleasure, to avoid even the smallest thing that displeases you, to grow in your love, to enter into closer union with you. O my God, infinite perfection, envelope and penetrate my soul with the reflection of your holiness, and just as the sun illumines, purifies, and makes the earth fruitful with its rays, illumine, purify, and sanctify my whole being. Teach me to look at myself with your eyes, to know myself as you know me, to consider my miseries in the light of your infinite perfections, to open my soul to your purifying, sanctifying light.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Okay.

Ember Saturday Norms And Exceptions

Stations Of The Cross And Closing

SPEAKER_01 17:44

There are our readings and meditations for today. And over the the previous three days, you know, we talked about mortal sin, venial sin, um, imperfections and multiple times throughout those three days without knowing what was coming up today. You know, I I brought up um examinations of conscience and just how important they are to to rooting sin out of our lives, into really getting to know ourselves, our faults, um, just how how incredibly important they are. You know, it's it's one thing I've I've I've really been stressing uh with my oldest, my oldest who is seven. Um he's about a year away from from need you know needing to do his first confession here, um, getting ready for first communion. And um, you know, we've talked about how at the end of the day he needs to go through his day and and go through everything he did, and and um, you know, as I I explained it to him, you know, you have to look at at your day, the things you did, the things you said, the things you thought, things you didn't do, the things you should have done. You have to look at all of that um as best you can through the eyes of God. You have to see your day as God would have seen your day. Um you know we uh as fallen humans tend to be very, very, very good at at rationalizing and justifying and excusing our actions, thoughts, and words. So when it when you do an examination of conscience, it's it's it's it's easy to to rationalize away your sins. Um which is why it's so important to to look at your actions uh through uh the eyes of God, to try to see them and try to see yourself as God would see you. And if you're successful, that should be pretty scary, pretty disgusting, right? Um, if if we're honest with ourselves, the most of us, if we're not living saints, um if we see our s if we truly see ourselves as God sees us, um we should be pretty disgusted with ourselves. Right? And that and that's of course God is all loving, all merciful, all you know. Check off the boxes of all your never mind. Um yes, God is all those things. Um but if if every every single littlest venial sin is an infinite offense against an infinitely good God, then if we are honest, we are disgustingly fallen creatures. And we need to to look at our actions as if every single small offense against God is an infinite offense. Um otherwise we will just justify justify all of our actions, you know, as we walk into the gates of hell, as we walk through the door to hell. Um so, anyways, yes, I've been I've been talking this over with with my oldest. Um you know, trying to walk him through through it at at night, you know, go through his day, like I said, go through the things he said, did, thought. Things he didn't do that he should have done. Um, and just make an honest assessment of it. Um and and make a good act of contrition then before bed. Um it's really one of the most important ways to to root sin out of your life and grow in the spiritual life. Uh so that's is all I have for you today. Um don't be surprised if if tomorrow's meditations maybe get released a little later. Being a Saturday, uh if I have the opportunity to get an hour or so more sleep, I might take it. But we'll see. We'll see how that goes. Um so yeah. Ember Friday today, abstain from meat, fast. Tomorrow is Ember Saturday. So um if you practice Ember Days, it's a day of at least partial abstinence, which means uh it would be a day of fasting and at least partial abstinence, which means meat would only be allowed for your main meal, you know, your your your supper. Um but just to point out, the uh those of you who do follow the traditional calendar do practice Ember Days, if you look at a your average traditional calendar, um, you know, of 1962 or even some pre-55, and it shows this, and you know, a lot of them will show the symbol of partial abstinence. Um that the partial abstinence of Ember Days uh only comes from an adult granted to the U.S. in 1949. Um before that, uh well, actually, I mean, up until the new code of canon law under the 1917 code of canon law, member days were full abstinence, and like you said, it in the US, the U.S. got an exception basically in 1949 to allow partial abstinence. But anyway, so regardless, if you practice Ember Days, tomorrow is Ember Saturday. Fast, abstain from meat, pray for your priest, pray for vocations. I hope you have a good day today. Get to Stations of the Cross if you can tonight. Station of the Cross, Way of the Cross, whatever it's called locally in your area.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

It's one of my favorite devotions.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Um, so I highly recommend it. But anyways, have a great uh day, and I will see you tomorrow.