Say Yes to Holiness Newsletter #357
Inspiration for the week of March 9, 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.
Yesterday’s Gospel tells about Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.
During that encounter, Jesus shares how He is the Living Water, and that whomever drinks of the water He gives will never thirst and from that same water will well up a spring of eternal life. From that encounter, the woman (known from tradition as Photina, Photine, or Photini) then immeditately goes and tells everyone she meets to “Come and see a man who told me everything I have done.”
This exchange gives us but a small glimpse of the thirst of our God for each one of us. But especially how He desires for each of us to thirst for Him and to share that thirst with others so they may come to eternal life.
Each Lenten season is an opportunity for us to renew our thirst and to have that thirst quenched so we can then go and share the living water with others. Or, as Mother Olga from the Hallow Lent 40 Challenge more succinctly proposed, “Empty me, fill me, use me.”
Therefore, this week’s Food for the Head, Heart, Hands and Feet will seek tohelp you renew your thirst for the Father, be filled by His Living Water, and then courageous share that water with others like the Samaritan Woman so you may continue to persevere on your Lenten journey on our path towards holiness…
Food for the Head
“The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for: The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God.”-Catechism of the Catholic Church, 27
The Catechism tells us what we know, if we but allow ourselves to stop and reflect upon the reality of our human experience. Each one of us is thirsting for God because He creted us for Himself, and God continues to seek us each and every day of our lives.
Several Catholic theologians and speakers through the centuries have referred to this reality as a “God-sized hole” in our hearts in which one God can fulfill our desire for truth and happiness.
And yet, we go looking for truth and happiness elsewhere, don’t we?
Be it in success, money, relationships, entertainment, or as a fan of sports or any other hobby that distracts us from the reality that we are in Saint Augustine’s famous words, “My heart is restless until it rests in thee, O Lord.”
This Lent, let us commit to seeing the hard truth about ourselves and how it is that we may be seeking happiness in anything other than God, and then resolve to be emptied of that desire, so we may be filled with God Himself who alone will bring us joy.
This week, resolve to see your life as it truly is and whether you are looking for truth and happiness in things and people other than God, and then adjust accordingly.
Food for the Heart
"There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” -Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal describes the “God-sized hole” a bit differently, but it the same.
We must be seeking to fill that God-shaped vacuum only with God because any created thing will not suffice. Instead, we will drink the “water” of those things, but will thirst again—just like Jesus tells the Samaritan woman in His encounter with her.
Amazingly, when Jesus reveals the reality of Photina’s life to her (that she had been looking for happiness in a man and why she had had five husbands already and was currently living with another who was not her husband), Photina does not shy away from this hard truth, but rather asks whether He is the Messiah who has been foretold to tell the people everything. In other words, she is open to being emptied and then seeks to be filled by God Himself.
Are we as open as Photina? Are we seeking to set aside those things that are preventing us from drawing closer to God so we can be filled by Him? Have we gone to confession so we can be emptied of our addictions and preoccupations and worries? Are we setting aside the time necessary to allow Him to fill us? Are we ensuring that we receive the One who loves us in Holy Communion?
This week, resolve to be emptied and filled by God Himself by availing yourself of the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist.
Food for the Hands
"You are rewarded not according to your work or your time, but according to the measure of your love.”—Saint Catherine of Siena
Saint Catherine of Siena tells us how we might be used once we have been emptied and filled.
We are to love.
For the measure of our love will be how we are rewarded.
We will NOT be rewarded according to how much we do, or how much time we spend doing things, but according to how much we love. Love is at the essence of almsgiving and why the Church in her wisdom invites us to practice almsgiving, especially during Lent.
Through almsgiving, we move through the discomfort and disgust we might feel in the face of the poor and needy, and then we come to see all as our brothers and sisters, and eventually, when we love as Jesus loves, we see each person as Jesus. It is Jesus’ arm reached out in need, His story that needs a person to listen to, His hand than needs to be held.
But we must be willing to be present. We must be willing to listen. We must be willing to see as Jesus sees and hears.
When we see the world this way—in love—then we will be used as the Lord desires, and we will also be rewarded beyond measure.
This week, resolve to practice almsgiving by loving those whom the Lord has cross your path as if they are Jesus.
Food for the Feet
"If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” -CS Lewis , Mere Christianity
Author, theologian and scholar C.S. Lewis gives us insight into how we develop an awareness of the reality that we are not made for this world, but for another.
When nothing satisfies, then it is because what satisfies is not here in this time and space. Rather, what satisfies is beyond this time and space.
But how should we respond?
If we have emptied ourselves of disordered desires for things of this world, have allowed ourselves to be filled with the only One who can satisfy, and are allowing ourselves to be used by Him, then there is but one thing remaining.
We must abandon ourselves to His will.
Beautiful models of this practice are given by all the saints throughout history, but none is more profound than our Blessed Mother.
Mary lived in close proximity to Jesus and allowed herself to be emptied of anything other than Him, was filled by Him, and then allowed herself to be used by Him in such a way that we now call her “blessed among women.”
She can teach us how to be emptied, filled and used. Draw near to her, as Saint Pope John Paul II said to do in the “school of Mary” and allow her to teach you through praying the Rosary how we can become one with the God who thirsts for us beyond our imaginings.
This week, resolve to pray the Rosary and allow Mary to teach you how to draw near and become one with God.
Exhortation
”The more we seek God, the more we find Him thirsting for us.”—Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Saint Ignatius reassures us that if we go seeking God, then we will find Him seeking us because He thirsts for us more than we thirst for Him.
This should grant us the courage to look at our lives in reality and be prepared to empty ourselves by setting aside whatever is preventing us from drawing closer to Him.
We should seek to be filled with His Living Water that is available to us, especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist.
We should be encouraged in our almsgiving to continue to seek to love, even when we may be hesitant to do so.
And we should look to Mary and the saints to help us abandon ourselves to God’s will and accompany us on our Lenten journey.
“Empty me, fill me, use me.”
May you do WHATEVER IT TAKES to be filled with Living Water so you may share it with others, so 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 is underway!!
This retreat has 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.
The link above will take you to my Substack page where you can find all the laterst podcast posts for the Lenten Online Retreat. If you are not subscribed yet, I invite you to do for free—or you can make a donation in support of the work associated with this endeavor.
Latest Post on the Women of the New Evangelization (WINE) blog:
Harden Not Our Hearts (Mar 9)
Do Not Be Terrified (Nov 16)
Gaining Wisdom of Heart (Sept 9)
Guest appearance on the Equipcast Podcast:
"When God Asks, How Do You Answer?: The Power of 'Yes' with Christina Semmens
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 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.