Thursday, March 19, 2026
Today is the last day of Ramadan, a holy month in Islamic tradition when Muslims around the world observe fasting, prayer, and reflection in order to grow closer to God.
Remarkably, Lent and Ramadan began on the exact same day this year (February 18).
The two holy periods of fasting only overlap once every three decades or so. It will be 2058 before they even have days in common again, and it will be 2091 before they are likely to start on the exact same day again.
Let us reflect today on the brotherhood of human kind. So many of us have spent the past month doing the same things - living our daily lives, and finding small moments to recall God’s love, God’s mercy, and God’s deep desire to be closer to us.
We are often tempted, by a myriad of sinister voices around us, to believe that we are somehow deeply different from other humans. And yet Jesus tells story after story about Gentiles, about Samaritans - about people of different creeds and different backgrounds. Jesus’s message is clear.
Amid the foggy messages of our cultural moment - and yes, even amid the fog of war - let us return to Jesus’s message. Jesus’s message of God's love resonates throughout humankind.
Our Muslim sisters and brothers will celebrate Eid al-Fitr tonight and into tomorrow. Soon, we will join in their rejoicing, when Jesus rises from the dead.