I'm back - grateful for the time with my son, and grateful to be back with you this morning. It was almost a full week away from the news, and a fuller one for the world. Let's catch up.

God tells Ezekiel that his wife will die suddenly - "the delight of your eyes" - and commands him not to mourn publicly. That evening, she died. Ezekiel did as he was told: no tears shown, no lament, a sign to a people who needed to see grief held differently than they expected. Then the Gospel: a rich young man asks Jesus what he must do to be perfect. "Go, sell what you have and give to the poor... then come, follow me." He went away sad, for he had many possessions. Sudden loss borne without collapse. A possession too heavy to release. Both readings are about what we hold onto and what we're asked to let go of.

The deeper reflection on today's readings - and a daily prayer for your household - is waiting in the & Altar app and at andaltar.com. More after the news.

📰 Quick Hits

1. Bishop Paprocki Sues Illinois Over Assisted Suicide Law - and the Deadline Is Three Weeks Away

While I was gone, our own Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Illinois, joined by the Lutheran Care Center in Altamont and four Illinois physicians, seeking to block the state's "End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act" before it takes effect September 12. The law would require doctors to discuss assisted suicide with terminally ill patients and refer them to providers who will prescribe lethal medication - and would require religiously affiliated hospitals to allow their own employees to promote assisted suicide on premises, without discipline. The suit argues this violates religious liberty and free speech under the First and 14th Amendments. Bishop Paprocki said Catholic healthcare exists to advance "the healing work of Christ" and to "affirm the God-given dignity of every human life." Dr. Mary Keen, one of the physicians in the suit, put it plainly: "As a doctor, I have a responsibility to meet my patients' existential pain with loving accompaniment, not with abandonment."

Faith Lens for the Home: This is our bishop, in our state and courts, defending a conviction the whole Church holds: that no one - not a doctor, not a nurse, not a Catholic hospital - should be forced to participate in ending a life, however compassionate the framing. Ask your family: "What does it mean to accompany someone in suffering rather than end their suffering by ending them? What is the difference?" Pray for Bishop Paprocki, for the four doctors, and for the Lutheran Care Center as September 12 approaches.

2. Five Dead in Rural Michigan - Pray for Missaukee County

While I was away, a series of shootings across three locations in Missaukee County, Michigan left five people dead - including a teenage boy - before the suspect, 39-year-old Chad Hickman, was found dead in a wooded area. A 13-year-old girl survived being shot four times at the first scene and was able to identify the shooter. The motive remains under investigation. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said simply: "My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the Missaukee community." It happened the same day the Church buried a 108-year-old monk who spent 79 years praying for the people who exiled him - a reminder of how differently a single day can hold both immense faithfulness and immense loss.

Faith Lens for the Home: A rural county most of us had never heard of is now grieving five people, including a child. Ask your family: "How do we pray for a tragedy in a place we've never been, for people whose names we may never fully know?" Pray for the 13-year-old girl who survived and for the families burying their dead this week.

3. The Iran Ceasefire Expired Today - No Clear Next Step

The 60-day ceasefire between Washington and Tehran expired today with no agreement in place. On Friday, President Trump said Iran was "being very badly defeated" and floated declaring the Strait of Hormuz "a territory of the United States." Iran's response: America must "accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in delusions." Meanwhile, sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln - deployed in the Middle East for nine months without a port call - are reportedly dealing with food shortages, plumbing failures, and multiple attempts by crew members to go overboard; the Navy acknowledges supply issues but denies any rise in mental health incidents. The USS George Washington is en route to relieve them. This war has now run nearly six months with no resolution in sight.

Faith Lens for the Home: Nine months without a port call. A ceasefire that expired with nothing to replace it. Ask your family: "What does it cost the people actually fighting a war - not just diplomatically, but in their bodies and minds - when it drags on this long?" Pray tonight for the sailors of the USS Lincoln, for the ceasefire negotiators, and for every family on every side still waiting for this to end.

⛪ Family Saint Spotlight

The Queenship of Mary - Continuing the Octave of the Assumption

This past Saturday, August 15, the Church celebrated the Assumption of Mary - body and soul into heaven, the fullness of what awaits every faithful soul. Father Tony Stevens, rector of the only Church-approved Marian apparition site in the United States, reflected this week that the Assumption affirms something easy to forget: "The human body matters." Mary's body was not left behind or discarded - it was taken up entirely, dignified, whole. The feast points forward to what the rich young man in today's Gospel could not yet see: that what we release for God's sake is not lost, but transformed and returned to us more fully than we gave it.

Ask at dinner: "Mary's whole self - body and soul - was taken into heaven. What does that teach us about how God sees our bodies, right now, not just in the next life?"

✋ One Simple Action

Pray tonight for Bishop Paprocki and the Illinois lawsuit, for the Missaukee County community, and for the sailors of the USS Lincoln. Then ask God the rich young man's own question honestly: what do I still need to let go of? Sit with the answer. Don't walk away sad. Come, and follow.

📚 Read More

• Bishop Paprocki sues Illinois over assisted suicide law: Catholic World Report (https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/08/12/springfield-bishop-thomas-paprocki-joins-doctors-nursing-home-in-suit-against-illinois-suicide-law/) and EWTN News (https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/springfield-bishop-thomas-paprocki-joins-doctors-nursing-home-in-suit-against-illinois-suicide) and Aleteia (https://aleteia.org/2026/08/15/bishop-doctors-sue-illinois-to-block-assisted-suicide-law/)
• Missaukee County, Michigan shootings: ABC News (https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/5-killed-suspect-dead-incident-michigan-135660329) and ClickOnDetroit (https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2026/08/14/6-dead-one-critically-injured-in-missaukee-county-shooting-suspect-found-dead/)
• Iran ceasefire expires; USS Lincoln deployment: Politico (https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/14/u-s-iran-ceasefire-set-to-expire-with-talks-at-a-standstill-01038275)

Ezekiel lost the delight of his eyes and was told to bear it without collapsing. A young man was asked to release what he held most tightly and walked away sad. A bishop in our own diocese is standing in federal court for the dignity of the dying. A rural Michigan county is burying five people this week. A ship full of sailors hasn't seen land in nine months. Whatever you are holding onto too tightly this Monday - bring it to him. He is asking, gently: come, and follow.