Pray with the Pope Reflection - January 2026

Fr. Edmund Lo, SJ

Friday, January 9, 2026

My brothers and sisters: For the month of January, our Holy Father asks us to pray that our praying with the Word of God be nourishment for our lives and a source of hope in our communities, helping us to build a more fraternal and missionary Church.

We feed our minds and hearts with plenty of things that do not satisfy us and leave us feeling empty and wanting. Why feed ourselves with spiritual empty calories? God feeds us himself to satisfy the hunger of our hearts.

When we go to Mass, we are being fed. He feeds us with his own body and blood in the Holy Eucharist, and he nourishes us with his Word. The Word of God speaks to us as we are each day and never grows stale. Let us develop a hunger for the Word of God.

We do not need to wait for seven days to be fed by the Word of God. We need to eat daily, and this applies to our spiritual lives as well. Developing a habit of praying with the Word of God is well worth our effort. Carve out about 15 minutes of your time every day and make it into a habit.

This can be done while you have your morning coffee or tea; instead of reading the newspaper or scrolling on your phone, let the Word of God speak to you, feed you and anchor you for the day as you are enjoying your morning beverage. Pairing it up with something that you already do can help to make this habit stick.

If you tend to rush out of your house in the morning, you can treat this message as an invitation to slow down and hear the voice of the One who loves you. May God bless you today.