‘After my sheep are in the fold, I will lay my body across the opening. No sheep will step over me and no wolf can get in without getting past me first.’ ‘Those who enter by me will be saved.’

We too are on the journey to Emmaus. We are all searching and hoping and praying for things to change in our lives.

Someone has said that “faith is a series of doubts vanquished by love.” Jesus is dying to love you. And he has come back to life to assure you of the same.

Because God has raised Jesus to life, we can now have a new relationship of intimacy with God. Because Jesus has forgiven our sins on the cross, we can now know our holy God and call him Abba, Father.

Two processions entered into Jerusalem today. One representing Caesar and the machine of war; the other representing the Prince of Peace. One representing the palm branch of power and one representing the olive branch of peace. The question we must ask ourselves today is what procession am I in? Am I metaphorically carrying an olive branch or a palm branch?

Being in relationship with Jesus means facing death and grief with him and learning that still, in spite of the death and the dryness and the finality of the door at the entrance to the tomb of our hopes, he is still life.

While most of us have not undergone a transformation as significant as the man in today’s gospel, we have each been changed by our relationship with Jesus.

How is it then that we are to live by faith despite our sins? Thankfully, because of the gift of mercy and salvation that comes to us through the living waters of Jesus Christ.

We may want to run away from the darkness out of fear of the unknown and that is all the more reason why we shouldn’t run, but sit

Notice how the perspective changes as you lay flat and gaze up. So much is revealed as we float, float in the ocean of divine love, from which we were born and to which we will return.

As we move into Lent, this tension seems essential; holding on while letting go…

Choose God. Choose to let go. Choose life! And let your song sing, so that those who are still caged can hear it and hold fast to the hope that they too will find freedom.

Letting ourselves, our emotions, desires, pains, and inner lives be seen and recognized by an other graces us to live more fully and honestly.

Living into the spirit of the Beatitudes with a commitment to simplicity, hopefulness, and compassion is something that we can all do. In big and small ways, each and every day.

I pray that we might, like Jesus, have the courage to go out into the world and boldly proclaim the Good News of God, trusting in the unending light and love of God

What are you seeking? What motivates you? What is it that you really need, not just on the surface, but deep down into the core of your being? What are you looking for?

Come and adore the One who has called us by name, who has marked us as His own through baptism

The word.

The word was.

The word was with God

The word was God.

The mystery of Bethlehem is that wherever you are in your journey of faith, Jesus is waiting to be born in the stable of your heart and the glory of God’s light is waiting to dawn in your life.