Say Yes to Holiness Newsletter #354
Inspiration for the week of February 16, 2026
Welcome to the latest edition of the weekly Say Yes to Holiness newsletter—designed to help inspire, encourage and accompany you on the path towards holiness.
In two days, the holy season of Lent begins with the celebration of Ash Wednesday.
Interestingly, Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation, yet attendance at Mass on this day is at its highest!
Why?
Because we all are longing to become better.
We want change. We desire metanoia.
But the hard part is making it happen, isn’t it?
The Church in her wisdom knows this and wants to help us become better people, so she reminds us of the tools we need to attain what we desire—prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
It is up to us to choose whether or not to embrace them.
To do as Jesus instructed us in the Gospel yesterday to let “your Yes to mean Yes” and “your No to mean No.”
So, this week’s Food for the Head, Heart, Hands and Feet will seek to inspire, encourage and accompany you so that “your yes means yes and your no means no” as we prepare to embark upon the holy season of Lent during our journey towards holiness…
Food for the Head
“The right understanding of things is a necessary step in the way of perfection. The hunger and thirst after justice—after improvements—needs direction; the beginning of wisdom—the yearning and will to be holy—must be orderly; the growth in the knowledge and love of God—the giving of the mind and heart to God—have marks that show the way. To follow these, there must be a thought of spiritual need, a meditation on what has been acquired, a looking backward on the reasons and causes of failure or success, a searching anew for the means to avoid the mistakes of the past, while new courage, fresh resolve, and reborn yearning urge the soul to ascend the mountaintops where perfection waits.” --Fr James F. McElhone, CSC, Rooting Out Hidden Faults: How the Particular Examen Conquers Sin, p.31
This quote by Father James McElhone is from the book he wrote that I will be using as the basis of the Say Yes to Holiness Lenten Online Retreat. Each day of Lent (excluding Sundays) we will be focusing upon how we can make the practice of the particular Examen an effective tool to combat our predominant sins in our spiritual lives. (If you want to participate, just keep an eye out for an email starting tomorrow).
Father James is spot on about the need for us to come to a right understanding of things is a necessary step in the way of perfection because we must go about our journey towards holiness in an orderly way. If we simply try to bring about justice without God’s help, then we will make the same mistakes we have made in the past. But with God’s help, we will be able to ascend to the mountaintops where perfection waits.
This is the opportunity provided to us by the season of Lent. It is up to us whether we will say yes or no. The choice is ours.
So, what will your answer be?
This week, resolve to have your yes mean yes and enter into the fullness of the Lenten season.
Food for the Heart
"Much that is true of human relationships is also true of our relationship with God. Human relationships of friendship or marriage need time, attention, and care for them to continue and to grow. The same is true of our relationship with God. We have been called to union but we need to respond. As we turn to God in conversion or in a deeper awakening, besides turning away from deliberate sin—which deforms the soul, blocks the relationship and offends the Person who has sacrificed His life for us—we need to positively build the relationship by paying attention to the One who loves us. Prayer is at root simply paying attention to God.” —Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire, p. 121
As Ralph Martin observes so well, all relationships, especially our relationship with God needs time, attention, and care so it can continue and grow. And just like other relationships, we ned to deal with any issues or problems that may come up in our relationships. As Ralph Martin says so succinctly, “…we need ot respond.”
If you have been distracted lately, or getting a little lax in your time with the Lord, Lent is the absolutely perfect time to resolve those “blocks” and strive to enter into a deeper awakening and pay greater attention to God.
Prayer is one of the three practices the Church encourages us to embrace during Lent, and as Ralph Martin points out, prayer is at root simply paying attention to God. So, perhaps a good Lenten resolution might be to resolve to spend at least 15-20 minutes a day paying attention to God?
When we resolve to pay attention to God, then He helps is turn away from deliberate sin and build a deeper relationship with the Person who sacrificed His life for us.
This week, resolve to pay attention to God as you begin the Lenten season.
Food for the Hands
"Throughout Sacred Scripture, we find that when God’s people fast, the power of their prayers is increased, especially when they are engaged in spiritual warfare. In the Old Testament, the Lord told Isaiah that a fast properly undertaken would ‘loose the bonds of wickedness … undo the thongs of the yoke …let the oppressed go free’ (Is. 58:6) … In the New Testament, we find that Jesus fasted for forty days and nights in the wilderness in preparation for His battle with Satan, who came to tempt Him (see Lk 4:1-2) … If prayer is a spiritual weapon, fasting is the spiritual whetstone on which it is sharpened. It’s the spiritual muscle that, when exercised regularly, strengthens the thrust of that weapon to pierce the Enemy and drive him away.”—Paul Thigpen, Manual for Spiritual Warfare, p. 42
Fasting is the another practice of the Lenten season that the Church encourages us to practice. This is done formally with the directive to fast on both Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and each of the Fridays of Lent, including Good Friday.
Besides those two directives, the Church simply encourages us to fast to increase the the power of our prayers, especially when engaged in spiritual warfare. As Paul Thigpen tells us, fasting is the spiritual whetstone upon which prayer is sharpened, and strengthens the thrust of that weapon to pierce the Enemy and drive him away.
This is exactly what we must be attentive as we set about our Lenten journey.
Therefore, it is vital for us to determine how we are going to fast this Lent so it will become of great value to ourselves, as well as to all those around us. Fasting doesn’t only have to do with eating or drinking something. Fasting can also be a behavior (like fasting from speaking critically to others) or perhaps its fasting from an attitude (like fasting from judgmental thoughts of others), or fasting from activities that take you away from spending time with family and friends (like streaming, podcasts, or sports).
Whatever it may be, fast along with prayer to drive the Enemy away and protect yourself and your loved ones.
This week, resolve to adhere to the fasting directives of the Church and to select another behavior, attitude or activity to strengthen your prayer.
Food for the Feet
"He that sacrifices to God his property by alms-deeds, his honor by bearing insults, or his body by mortifications, by fasts and penitential rigours, offers to Him a part of himself and of what belongs to him; but he that sacrifices to God his will, by obedience, gives to Him all that he has, and can say: Lord, having given you my will, I have nothing more to give you.”—St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Sermons of Alphonsus Liquori, p. 191
Almsgiving, or sacrifices, for God and others has tremendous value. As Saint Alphonsus Liquori points out, sacrifice can include all sorts of things—bearing insults or bodily mortifications and doing fasts and penances. But even more importantly is when we sacrifice our will through detachment, obedience and trust.
These attitudes of detachment from outcomes we desire; obedience even in the midst of things we do not like, did not choose, cannot change, or do not understand; and trusting the Lord’s plan even if we can’t see what it is, are all ways that we can offer our will to the Lord.
This is the essence of almsgiving. Not giving money (although nothing wrong with that), but in striving to give of ourselves for love of God and others. So, this Lenten season, choose to do almsgiving that is truly a gift of yourself.
This week, resolve to practice almsgiving through detachment, obedience and trust in God’s will.
Exhortation
”As the pilot of a vessel is tried in the storm; as the wrestler is tried in the ring, the soldier in the battle, and the hero in adversity: so is the Christian tried in temptation.” —St. Basil the Great
Lent isn’t not supposed to be easy.
It’s supposed to challenge and stretch us, just like a pilot of a vessel is tried in a storm, a wrestler in the ring, a soldier in battle, a hero in adversity and a Christian in temptation.
Therefore, we should not be surprised when we will encounter the temptation to abandon the Lenten desert of our resolutions in regards to prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Instead, see any temptations during this holy season as an opportunity to become stronger and a more faithful Christian.
May your Lenten journey be truly blessed and may do WHATEVER IT TAKES to have your yes mean yes and your no mean no every day, so that together we can tell the Master of Death, "NOT TODAY!"
All the best,
Christina
Below are the Latest Happenings In the Say Yes to Holiness Community!
The Lenten Online Retreat begins TOMORROW!!
This retreat will see us reading from the spiritual classic, Rooting Out Hidden Faults: How the Particular Examen Conquers Sin by Father James McElhone, CSC.
This online retreat will include a brief reflection and daily resolution that is designed to help you incorporate the use of a particular examen in your daily life to help you take the next step on our pilgrimage towards holiness. If you are interested, send me a message by clicking below.
PS—The link above will take you to my Substack page, so simply sign up by entering your email, and then send me a message that you desire to be a part of the Lenten Online Retreat.
Guest appearances on the Religion to Reality podcast:
Catholic Podcasting with Paul Fahey, Christina Semmens, and Jose Manuel de Urquidi
Living the Works of Mercy: Bridging Faith and Action
(My comments can be found around the 24 minute mark.)
Guest appearance on the Equipcast Podcast:
"When God Asks, How Do You Answer?: The Power of 'Yes' with Christina Semmens
Posts on the Women of the New Evangelization (WINE) blog in 2025:
Do Not Be Terrified (Nov 16)
Gaining Wisdom of Heart (Sept 9)
Article on Catholic365.com Platform:
We Are All Eucharistic Missionaires!
Latest episode of the Say Yes to Holiness podcast...
Episode #260—”Helping Your Marriage Flourish—1:1 with Katie Zulanas, Executive Director, Couple to Couple League”
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The Say Yes to Holiness YouTube Channel
Episode #258—”Creating Sacred Spaces: The Mission of Grand Coteau—1:1 With Fr Patrick Hough, SJ, Executive Director Grand Coteau Retreats
The Catholic Leadership Puzzle content continues! Here is the latest...
The Catholic Leadership Puzzle is a initiative that shares and discusses content from my upcoming book (also to be named The Catholic Leadership Puzzle) that focuses upon how we each can help to create life-giving communities where we can become the holy men and women that God created us to be.