Jesus, our risen Lord, offers us hope, he offers us love, he offers us mercy, and that love, as our Holy Father says, has triumphed over sin and death, and it can triumph over any sufferings, disappointments or misunderstandings in our lives that may have distanced ourselves and others from Christ.
Our faith in the Risen Christ in such times of sorrow offers us the confident hope that death shall not have the last word.
Death has no power over you and me if we enter into his life in his Church.
The mission of the Church is to help people encounter the Lord, letting them know that every person on this planet is capable of a relationship with God, a life-giving relationship.
Just as the right balance of exercise, sleep and eating creates a healthy rhythm and strengthens our bodies, so too do regular prayer, fasting and almsgiving strengthen our souls.
Without prayer, which opens us to the mystery of God, our lives will lack sense and direction. Without this connection to the vine (Jn 15:1-7), our lives will wither and be barren.
We might think that what we do in our daily lives is insignificant, but the smallest thing might be what sets another on the road to being a saint.
If you are burdened with pain, fear, contempt, loneliness or fear of death, you will find great strength in knowing that God himself has freely endured such evils and that he fully understands us when we invoke Him in our trials.
Those who are not medical professionals can be instruments of Christ the Healer and help bring about that healing of the heart by carrying out the corporal work of mercy of visiting the sick, and the spiritual work of mercy of comforting the afflicted and praying for the living and the dead.
…God delights not in the death of sinners – He is a God of Life. He offers the mercy of His life-giving water to mankind while taking justice upon Himself on the Cross.
The Magi who came seeking the newborn King were wise because they were authentic searchers for truth. They were not closed-in on themselves, but were open to revelation and divine calls…And after their joyous encounter with the Christ, their lives were changed, they could not proceed on the same road by which they had come.
Our faith cannot simply remain a private, personal act to be exercised only on Sunday; we are called to live it every day and have it permeate every sector of our lives.
We must resolve and pray to be where God wants us to be, to do what He wants us to do, to trust in His Providence, seeking and cooperating with His grace, conducting ourselves always in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ, and allowing His light to shine through us before others to the glory of God.
One of our challenges in the New Evangelization is to help people to see the connection between the love they naturally seek and the Lord.
With the rocks and weeds removed from our own lives, we can more effectively spread the seed and obtain a more plentiful harvest.
