Divine Intimacy - Lenten Meditations for 2026 - Day 9

What if the one obstacle to holiness isn’t scandalous sin but quiet hesitation—the elegant excuses that slip between intention and action? We open Scripture with Ezekiel’s hard clarity on personal responsibility and the Gospel scene where a marginalized mother refuses to let go until mercy answers. Those readings set a challenge: justice must be lived, and faith must persist, even when it’s uncomfortable.

From there, we dive into Divine Intimacy’s piercing take on imperfections. These aren’t headline-grabbing failures; they are the habitual refusals of “the better act” that charity quietly suggests. We talk candidly about how self-love disguises itself as prudence, how good reasons can become polished delays, and why a life of minimums keeps the soul heavy. Temperament enters the picture too: some of us process before we move, which creates a tiny window where excuses multiply. Rather than shame that wiring, we train it—just like learning fast, safe responses in emergencies.

You’ll hear practical, field-tested ways to make generosity easier and overthinking harder. We share simple pre-commitments that reduce friction—like keeping a set amount of cash for almsgiving, deciding in advance when not to give, and otherwise choosing the more charitable assumption. These small designs of the will help us act before hesitation talks us out of love. Along the way, the Canaanite woman’s grit inspires our own: stay, ask, trust.

If you’re ready to use Lent as a training block for the will, this conversation offers a clear path forward—Scripture for vision, spiritual tradition for diagnosis, and concrete habits for change. Listen, reflect, and then try one pre-commitment this week. If it helps, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who overthinks generosity, and leave a short review to tell us what habit you’re testing next.

Transcript

Mass Readings Introduced

Ezekiel On Justice And Responsibility

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Thursday here in the first week of Lent. We are on day nine of Lent, day nine of our meditations. And uh yesterday was Ember Wednesday, tomorrow's Ember Friday. So got a little bit of respite here between uh between Ember Days for the abstinence and the the fasting. Um so with we will get into our readings today. If you're just joining us, we do the mass readings from the traditional mass for the day, and then we read out of divine intimacy the meditations that it has uh for today as well. I'll throw up an image on screen like I've done, so there's nothing to watch. You just have to listen, listen, and think and meditate upon what's being said. So without further ado, I'll throw up that image and we'll get going. Uh starting with the epistle for today's mass. Okay, the epistle for Thursday of the first week in Lent is from Ezekiel 18, one through nine. And though in those days the word of the Lord came to me, saying, What is the meaning that you use among you this parable as a proverb in the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge. As I live, saith the Lord God, this parable shall be no more to you a proverb in Israel. Behold all souls are mine, as the soul of the father, so the soul of the Son is mine, the soul that sinneth the same shall die. And if a man be just and do judgment and justice, and hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and hath not defiled his neighbor's wife, nor come near to a mo menstruous woman, and hath not wronged any man, but hath restored the pledge to the debtor, hath taken nothing away by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment, hath not lent upon usury, nor taken any increase, hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, and hath executed true judgment between man and man, hath walked in my commandments and kept my judgments to do truth. He is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord Almighty. Now the gospel for Thursday of the first week of Lent is from Matthew fifteen, twenty one through twenty eight. At that time Jesus went forth, and retired into the coast of Tyre in Sidon, and behold a woman of Canaan, who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to him, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David, my daughter is grievously troubled by a devil. Who answered her not a word, and his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. And he answering said, I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel. But she came and adored him, saying, Lord, help me. Who answering said, It is not good to take the bread of the children and to cast it to the dogs. But she said, Yea, Lord, for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. Then Jesus answering said to her, O woman, great is thy faith, be it done to thee as thou wilt. And her daughter was cured from that hour.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Now we switch over to divine intimacy.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Imperfections the presence of God.

The Canaanite Woman’s Perseverance

SPEAKER_01 4:30

O my God, make me understand how necessary it is for the soul to be pure in order to be united to you who are infinite perfection. Meditation one. While venial sin always consists in a more or less slight transgression of one of God's laws, imperfection is the omission of some good act to which we are not obliged by any law, but one which charity invites us to do. To illustrate, when I am aware of the possibility of performing a better act suited to my state, in accord with my actual capabilities, in harmony with my duties, and for the accomplishment of which I may reasonably believe that I am inspired by the Holy Ghost, I cannot deliberately refuse to do it without actual imperfection. In this case, my refusal to perform a better act cannot be judged to be good, nor can it be justified by the thought that I am free to omit this better action, since no law or commandment obliges me. This would be an abuse of that liberty which was given me by God for the sole purpose of making me capable of adhering to the good uninfluenced by my passions. In fact, in the last analysis, my refusal to perform the better act implies a lack of generosity, motivated by a little selfishness, laziness, meanness, or fondness for my own comfort, all of which are evidently contrary to perfection. Viewed from this angle, it is clear, it is clear that voluntary imperfection can never be conformable to the will of God, and that consequently, like sin, it is contrary to charity which tends to full conformity with the divine will. Hence, it is important for a soul striving for union with God to eliminate from its conduct every voluntary imperfection. In this sense, Saint John of the Cross admonishes us, for the soul to come to unite itself perfectly with God through love and will, it must not intentionally and knowingly consent with the will to imperfections. Furthermore, he teaches that attachment to even one habitual voluntary imperfection suffices to impede the soul not only from divine union, but also from progress and perfection.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Meditation two.

Turning To Divine Intimacy

SPEAKER_01 7:10

If we wish to go into further detail, we can think of other types of imperfection. Let us consider, first of all, the breaking of a law which of itself does not bind us under pain of sin, as is generally the case with the constitutions or statutes of the various religious orders and institutes. In this respect, we must note that if there is no reasonable motive, proportionate and sufficient, to exempt us from one of these laws, these transgressions may easily become venial sins through the absence of a morally good end. Indeed, St. Thomas teaches that a man is always bound to act through a reasonable motive and for a good end. If the end is vish vit videated, interesting word, if the end is viviated, as would be the case, for example, in breaking the rule of silence, of solitude, or of religious modesty through curiosity, through regarding one's own convenience or similar motives, the act becomes sinful. And in general, there will be a question of sins, at least slight ones, such as spiritual sloth, inconstancy, ingratitude, and a certain hardness of heart, which is not sufficiently esteemed the help God gives us to do better. Another form of imperfection is found in a certain lack of completeness in an act which is substantially good, but which is done, for example, with some reluctance, or without putting into it all the goodwill and fervor of spirit which we are capable. Every kind of imperfection, in fact, always comes from a want of effort, energy, and fervor in the spiritual life. It is always selfishness which, in one way or another, takes something away from God to satisfy the ego. We are too calculating, afraid of giving too much, and so selfish, and so selfishness clips our wings and keeps us from reaching full union with God. The colloquy Grant me, I beg you, O my God, a strong, generous charity, capable of destroying my selfishness down to its very roots. Oh, how well I understand that this self-love is the cause of so many of my little infidelities, of so many imperfections and to which I habitually fall, and which I do not take care to correct, under the pretext that they are not sins. These faults, however, are not without importance to a soul consecrated to you and bound to strive for perfection, to a soul called by you to sanctity, and one whom you invite to complete union with yourself? How can I pretend to be united to you infinite perfection if I voluntarily commit so many and such great imperfections in my life? How can my will be entirely conform to yours when I desire and love things that you do not desire and absolutely cannot love? O Lord, I feel the weight of my egoism which drags me down. This self-love would like to possess everything without effort and flees with all its might from fatigue, sacrifice, and complete generous giving. I feel the weight of the flesh which is ever trying to lessen the measure of my giving, which postpones until tomorrow anything that is painful or distasteful, which makes a thousand excuses for avoiding an act of generosity. I know all that, O Lord, and you know better than I the secret compromises of my self love. But you also know that I want to love you with my whole heart, and to give myself entirely to you. You know that my poor desires are sincere, even if they are not efficacious. Give me a real, effectual love, capable of overcoming all the opposition of self love and of demolishing all its plans. You who are infinite charity, consuming fire, kindle in my soul a spark of your love that will destroy and consume my selfishness. If self love is the weight which slows my progress toward you, grant that your love will be a weight still heavier to draw me incessantly to you through a total gift of self, without reserve or limit.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Okay, and there is the reading from Divine Intimacy for the day.

What Imperfections Really Are

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Yeah, so um so obviously, as Catholics, we all know about mortal sin. We all know about venial sin. But I think a lot of us um haven't spent a lot of time count like examining our imperfections, thinking about imperfections. Um you know, it's not even really something that you know I I'm a cradle Catholic and I was actually uh I mean, even though I was raised in the novus ordo, I was raised with a pretty, you know, um I was raised pretty well in terms of uh in terms of catechesis. I got a pretty good catechesis, uh, as far as like the novus ordo goes. Um much better than than many many of the other cradle Catholics that I know. Uh but we never talked about imperfections growing up, um, as opposed to you know just mortal and venial sin. So but um the the one part that really stuck out to me through uh throughout this was um it says here where is it I feel the weight of the flesh which is ever trying to lessen the measure of my giving, which postpones until tomorrow anything that is painful or distasteful, which makes a thousand excuses for avoiding an act of generosity. Maybe it's just me, maybe this is just a me thing, maybe not, but maybe it is.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

But I am really, really good at finding any possible excuse to like do an act of like uh corporal mercy. Um really good at it, you know.

Habitual Imperfections And Attachments

Self-Love Versus Generous Charity

Personal Temperament And Response

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Uh and I can just give some examples, and I don't even know if they're necessarily examples that I'm taking out of memory or just coming up with hypothetically, but um passing someone on the street, you know, ask begging for money, asking for money, panhandling, whatever you want to call it. Uh I know that if I were to walk or drive by someone doing that, I could come up with half a dozen excuses off the top of my head why I shouldn't give them money, why it's really what's best for them, you know. It and a lot of a lot of them can be valid sometimes. Um but am I doing am I or those excuses or those reasons, as I would call them then, popping into my head truly out of a desire to do what is best for them, or to why, you know, truly out of a desire to do what is best for for everyone involved, or are they popping into my head out of desire to make excuses for me to not go out of my way to to do something for another person? Um you know, the same is true if uh, and I can't think of any situations, like any memories of actual situations in my head, but um when when something happens, some weird event, or or or you know, when something happens that where it requires the help of someone else, um let's say you're in public and someone starts choking, something like that, or someone seems to be having a medical issue, things of that nature. There are people that are are high responders to where they cannot help but but act, even if they really don't know what they're doing, and then there are people that are low responders that that will sit back and wait for someone else to respond first, um, for whatever reason. And generally speaking, I tend personally tend to be um a low responder for the most part. Um maybe it's my temperament, you know, maybe it's probably somewhat related to the same reason why like when Anthony and I are doing a show, Anthony can can go off off the top of his head for well, as we just recently saw, an hour, um, easily. And even when he gives me time to, you know, when he gives me a space to respond, like I I need to take in everything, process it, and then decide how I want to respond. Um that's just part of my my temperament, part of my nature. Um, which is why it takes it takes me a little bit longer to respond to Anthony than it does, you know, him to respond to a lack of no response. Because he's got the oppriment temp, the opposite temperament to nature. Um but when it comes to uh you know events and not just conversations, I'm I'm the same way. I need to to take everything in and process it before I'm able to formulate a response. And it takes me a lot of um uh training to overcome that nature and kind of give myself the muscle memory of responding to certain things. So, for instance, many of you know I'm I I'm into firearms, um, and I and so you know, as someone who carries one to defend myself and defend my family, knowing that I am kind of that low responder, I need to, I I I have had to train myself to respond quickly against my nature in the event of a danger, right? But because of anyways, because of of me being that kind of low res low responder, when when there is something that presents itself to where someone needs help, because I I my nature is to take that time to to take everything in and process it, I have a lot of time, and you know, it's really seconds, um, but it's a lot of time for uh for my imperfections to throw up a ton of excuses and reasons, you know, why I shouldn't go out of my way to help someone. Um, whether it's someone asking for money, um, or someone just clearly in some sort of distress or need, you know, that I don't know. Um I've always just found it easy to come up with reasons and excuses why it's really best not to go out of my way to be generous and charitable towards others. And it's and just like how I've had to train myself to respond to dangers quickly, I've also had to train myself out of these imperfections. Um well now, my daughter who woke up early this morning is calling me, so let me pause this and I'll be right back. I don't know why they just played. Sorry, guys. Uh sometimes when I that we have the pause button here to pause the recording, and then it then shows as the play button to restart the recording, and sometimes when it restarts recording, it thinks we're restarting the show and plays the intro. Sorry about that, anyways. Um as I was saying, I I've had to kind of train myself um to respond to things quickly so that I cannot come up with a ton of reasons and excuses. Um for instance, uh now this is hard to do for for every situation, right? Because many situations are unique, so it's hard to like train yourself to be able to respond to them quicker than you would normally to to avoid coming up with excuses, but but you can do it with more common ones. Um one thing I've I've done uh to make it easier to respond to say someone you know who is asking for uh you know money, for instance, um is I I just make sure I always carry an amount of cash on me that I can at that time afford to give to someone or to lose, or you know, just an amount of cash on an amount of cash that is negligible in a sense, right? So whether it's five dollars, ten dollars, twenty dollars, hundred dollars, whatever, at that time, I I'd like to have an amount of cash on me that I know I can give to someone and and not not miss in a sense, right? Um You know, in in a lot a lot of people will will say giving money to someone asking for money or panhandling or or whatever on the streets isn't smart. It isn't, you know, it's not going to help them. They're just going to use it for alcohol, drugs, whatever. And these are all the reasons and excuses I would come up to not do it. You know, come up come up with the that's what would pop into my head to not do it. And yeah, many of those are probably true. And I'm not saying if you see someone shooting up on the street as they panhandling, no, you probably shouldn't give that person money. If you see someone who is uh drunk and intoxicated on the street begging for money, no, you probably shouldn't give that person money. But if you don't actually like see evidence right in front of you that they're gonna misuse that money, I I and I'm not saying those of you I'm not saying anyone who doesn't give money because of those reasons is committing a sin or anything like that. But I just know I've had to make the conscious decision for myself, for my own imperfections, to to just make the most charitable assumption for for people like that. If I am not seeing any direct evidence that they're gonna go and immediately misuse that money. So I keep an amount of cash on me that that I can afford to give at any time. So that way when I see someone asking for it, I can just reach into my wallet, grab it, and give it to them before I come up with a myriad of reasons as to why I shouldn't. Um you could call me a sucker if you want, so be it. Um but I'm I'm I'm doing it more for myself. I'm doing it to train myself out of those imperfections, out of those those things, those you know, the the weight of the flesh that causes that makes it so easy to come up with good reasons what to as to why you shouldn't do things. And that's just me personally. And everyone's different, so you have your own imperfections, your your own excuses. You come up for uh avoiding your own acts of generosity, and you got to figure out what those are and what you need to do to overcome them. And Lent is a great time for it, uh, as we are all supposed to be, you know, supposed to be praying more, supposed to be giving more alms, all these things that we're supposed to do during Lent. Uh, Lent is a great time to really inspect your imperfections and figure out a good way to begin to overcome them. But, anyways, that's all I have for you. Um, today sorry about that little intro popping in. I'm not gonna edit it out. I could edit it out, but that would add probably 45 minutes more work all said and done, and I don't have time before work. So that's gonna stay in here. Sorry, guys. Um, but anyways, thank you all. I hope you have a great Thursday today. Um, tomorrow is Ember Friday, so prepare for that and have a great day.