A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench.
He will faithfully bring forth justice. (Isaiah 42:3)
January 13, 2026
Hello Everyone –
You might recall the immortal words of Kermit the Frog: “It’s not easy being green!”
Whether he realized it or not, the green frog spoke a profound truth at least to those who are at all serious about living out their Catholic faith in the ordinariness of their daily lives.
What do I mean?
The learnings, revelations and opportunities for spiritual encounter that were offered us while being violet/purple (the season of Advent) and white (the feasts of Christmas, Holy Family, Epiphany and Baptism of the Lord) now catapult us into this time we call “ordinary.” And yet in light of what we have experienced since last November, what can truly be ordinarily green?
Now is the time for us to allow those transformative moments of grace that we were privileged to receive from God to shape how we live out our days until we don the color that Ash Wednesday and Lent will bring (February 18).
In one of his homilies, St. Oscar Romero, the slain archbishop, spoke the following:
Dear Christians, we are all the new creation. The world will not be renewed without us. We are responsible for the renovation of the world. Since the day of his Resurrection, Christ’s Kingdom has been in the midst of humanity. The Kingdom of God is already being built on this earth. To preach a church with only the hope of an afterlife is to falsify the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom that Christ preached and established is precisely that creation of his breath. It is made up of those pilgrims who traverse the earth with the responsibility of transforming history into the Kingdom of God. We do not aspire to temporal power. Rather, in the face of the abuses and undesirability of this power, these pilgrims look to the church, which has the great responsibility to sanctify all human institutions. The Church need not do away with power or money in order to rid the world of idols. The Church only needs hearts converted to Christ, purified like clean vessels so that the new life Christ initiated might descend upon them.
Kermit was definitely right — it’s not easy!
As I do for you, please pray for me,
Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee
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