Faithful Witness: Imago Dei-Dignity, Solidarity, Belonging February 25, 2026

Week Two of Lent: Carrying the Light Down the Mountain

This Second Sunday of Lent brings us up the mountain with Jesus, where His glory shines before the disciples. It’s a moment of beauty and peace — but Jesus, Peter, James and John can’t stay at the top of the mountain. Jesus leads them back down, into the valley, among people who are anxious, weary, forgotten and yearning for love.

Lent invites us to do the same: to go to prayer not to escape the world, but to see it more clearly — and then to carry God’s light back into it.

This Lenten journey is shaped by three ancient practices — prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. And the lens of The Basilica Imago Dei Ministry grounds our focus in three Gospel values: dignity, solidarity, and belonging. These are not spiritual checkboxes, but rather pathways for love and justice in community.

Seeing with God’s Eyes (Dignity)

To affirm dignity is to fully recognize that everyone bears God’s image.
When we pray, let’s ask for eyes that see as Christ sees: the migrant, the unhoused, the incarcerated, those who feel invisible — all radiant with the light of the Creator.

Pray this week:
Lord, help me to see with Your eyes today. Help me to see your Son in all people.

Reflection questions:

  • Who do I struggle to see eye-to-eye with?
  • What about my perspectives, values or beliefs cause me to struggle to connect?
  • Where might I be more similar to that person than I thought?
  • When I interact with others who are unfamiliar to me, what makes me uncomfortable and why? How can I recognize and identify my discomfort and biases in order to move past them, so that I can see others more clearly?

Action:

  • Learn one new story.
  • Meet someone with openness.
  • Read or listen to content about people or cultures that are unfamiliar to you – seek deeper understanding. Dignity grows when we move beyond labels and toward relationships.
  • Consider volunteering for an organization that serves vulnerable people. Create opportunities for yourself through your actions to better understand the full Body of Christ.

Standing With, Not Just For (Solidarity)

Fasting is about making space.

When we release distractions, comforts, or self-focus, we make space in our minds and hearts which allows us to become more aware of others’ struggles.

To make space in our hearts by letting go of what isolates us, consider fasting from:

  • Indifference
  • Busyness
  • Distraction
  • Media that stirs division

Let fasting be a bridge that connects you with others.

Pray this week:

Jesus, help me fast from the things that move me farther from Your heart.

Reflection Questions:

  • What keeps me from standing truly with others — especially those who can’t “opt out” of hardship?
  • Do I have fears or hesitations in standing with others? If so, where do those come from?

Action:

  • Join a parish justice effort, advocate for the vulnerable, or support an Imago Dei initiative. Standing together transforms both self and society.
  • Replace isolating ideas/habits that you are “fasting” from with something that connects you. Spend quality time with others, read more, make a friend – whatever works best for you.

Making Room at the Table (Belonging)

Almsgiving isn’t charity that flows down; it’s love that flows outward.
Our giving builds community — a place where no one stands alone.

Simple ways to practice belonging:

  • Welcome a new face at Mass
  • Check in on someone who is isolated
  • Volunteer with a ministry that serves many different groups
  • Give generously to build bridges of hope

Pray this week:

Lord, guide my thoughts, my words and my heart that I might be your instrument of charity and belonging.

Reflection questions:

  • Where might my time, talent, or treasure help someone feel at home?
  • What makes me feel like I belong in a community? In what ways (big and small) might I endeavor to create that for others?
  • How well do I listen? Do I listen with my whole heart? How might I become more charitable in listening to those around me and understanding what makes them feel like they belong? 

Walking Together

We may long to stay on the mountaintop, but love calls us down to do the hard work of being Christ’s light in the world.


If we pray with open eyes, fast with open hearts, and give with open hands, we will become that light of Christ—in our parish, city, and country.

Let’s carry the light down the mountain together.

A Lenten Prayer

Lord Jesus,
Open my eyes to see Your image,
My heart to stand with others,
And my hands to help create belonging.
May I carry Your light wherever I go,

never allowing it to be hidden under a bushel.

Grant me the courage to love as you do.

Amen.