At Mass on Sunday morning, the entrance hymn was “Precious Lord, Take my Hand.”  It’s usually impossible for me to hear the whole song without crying.  The song always makes me think of funerals, and now brings me right back to my dad’s funeral, as it is one of the songs that the choir sang.  So, unsurprisingly, as Mass began, not long into the song, tears filled my eyes and started streaming down my face.  One of my first thoughts was, “Hopefully no one in the pews around me notices.”  Then, when we got to the Gospel, it happened to be the passage that contains the shortest, yet one of the most powerful lines in scripture, “And Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

This short, very profound sentence speaks volumes about who Jesus is.  Fully human and fully divine, He experienced all of the emotions that we experience.  Whatever we feel, He has felt too.  And this means that we are never alone.  Hearing the Gospel at mass after my experience during the opening song  was a sort of consolation that when tears come, it’s okay to embrace the emotion, because that’s what Jesus did.

God is not some far off and distant being who is indifferent to our lives.  But rather, God is a compassionate  and loving Father who wants to be close to each one of us.  Our God is a God who is here with us right now in this very moment and always.  And that is the amazing and beautiful reality of who He is.

Maybe you are going through something difficult right now or you have a family member or friend who is facing something challenging and it’s hard to see them suffer.  Maybe you just feel alone or discouraged.  In these times, it can be easy to ask where God is and think he is far away.  The world is filled with pain, sorrow, grief, and suffering.  Turn on the news for five minutes and you will see heart-wrenching stories of the day’s events.  We live in an imperfect world, filled with broken people, including each one of us.  But no matter what, we can still find joy because it is in the brokenness of our humanity that we are led to Jesus, the one who alone heals us and gives us peace.
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Jesus cares for each one of us so deeply.  Our burdens are His burdens that He helps us to carry.  May you always remember just how close He is.  Know that tears are okay, even when you’re at Mass on a Sunday morning, because even Jesus wept.

If you’ve ever been hiking, you know that hiking trails have roots, rocks, uneven surfaces, branches and other obstacles that can get in the way. As I was hiking a few days ago, I continually looked ahead and focused on the ground so that I didn’t stumble or fall. Our lives as Christians are the same way.

There are distractions, temptations, and rocky areas. In the world around us, there are so many things that can be obstacles in our journeys, making it challenging to live lives of faithfulness and discipleship. It is important to stay focused on Jesus as we walk along the path, because if we don’t it will be much easier for us to trip and fall and to follow the ways of the world. When we turn our gaze away from Christ, He is looking upon us with love, ready to help us get back up and continue on the path towards Him.

Oftentimes when hiking, you get to a point where there are arrows pointing towards the different trails. You have to decide which direction to go and which trail to take to get to the right place. In our lives, there are many times where we find ourselves standing at a crossroads. Students going off to college have to decide if they are going to continue to practice their faith and choose Christ. They have to decide what kind of friends to hang out with and what kinds of activities to do on the weekend. Young adults finding a job have to decide what they are being called to do and how they will serve God, in whatever positions they find themselves working in. After that, we are continually faced with decisions, big and small, about which way to go in order to live out our faith as best as we can. Will we take the path toward the world or toward Christ?

Life is rocky and filled with obstacles and uneven surfaces. There are many different paths we can take. May we all keep our eyes focused on Jesus each day and choose the path that takes us closer to Him.

As I sat in adoration over the weekend, in a temporary chapel that was very cozy and very peaceful, I felt as if I could’ve stayed there for hours.  Something that was put on my heart over and over in that time was, “it is in this place where you will never experience rejection, persecution, ridicule, or misunderstanding.  But, you cannot stay in these spaces forever.  You must go out into the world, taking the graces from these times as strength and encouragement for the daily journey and to those who do not have faith.”

There was a question that kept coming back to me as I sat before Jesus.  “How can I be your disciple without experiencing rejection?”  Jesus was rejected by the world because of the way He lived.  And if we are trying to live like Him, we too will be rejected by the world.  These experiences are necessary for us to unite ourselves to Christ more fully.  

How will we ever be able to experience the glory of the resurrection without the knowledge of suffering?  To be a disciple is to share in the cross and to walk where He walked, experiencing rejection and ridicule at times.  If we are truly living out our faith, the world will hate us.  We all want to stay in those places hidden from the world, that are safe and secure, the places that we are loved well and understood.  We want to remain in those environments, moments, and experiences where our faith is not questioned or mocked.  But the reality is that we must go and keep walking through the world, ready to share the love of Christ with all we meet, including those who are hostile to our faith.

If we are really living out our faith, we will experience resistance from the world around us, because our lives will not look like everyone else’s.  We will not blend in.  The life of a Christian is marked by joy, humility, generosity, patience, and more.  These fruits and virtues are what will help us when we are being challenged or questioned.  The more we fill ourselves up with prayer, time in adoration, the sacraments, retreats, and other community experiences, the easier it will be to take those experiences to our daily lives and live out our faith. 
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Sitting in adoration, I experienced the security and comfort of being in the presence of the One who knows us and understands us better than anyone else.  Spending time before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the one place where we are loved perfectly.  May we all step out of the chapel to bring our faith to the world around us, knowing that Jesus is with us always.  And may we be delivered from the desire of being approved. 

One of the best qualities about my sister Abbey is her ability to tell it like it is.  She is usually straightforward and bold. When she was in confirmation class, she told her own classmates that they should be going to mass weekly and that there were no reasons or excuses for them not to be attending, especially seeing as they were preparing to receive the sacrament of confirmation.  Since then, she has gone to speak to a few of the confirmation classes the last few years and has told them the same thing.  She wasn’t scared about how the students would react or worried about offending them.  I admire her ability to be bold in sharing the truth about faith and I think this approach needs to be used more often.

Our society has become really soft, especially when it comes to the important stuff.  The overall message of our culture is to not say or do certain things because someone might be offended or their feelings might be hurt.  And it seems as if this mindset has seeped into some people in the church as well.  But the real harm is in the truth being left unsaid.

Jesus spoke the truth calmly and with conviction.  This offended some.  But He didn’t back down or soften His teachings.  So why should we?  Anytime Jesus spoke, especially on difficult topics, it was with love.  We are called to do the same thing.  We need to share the truth always, and do it with compassion, love, and humility.  If we really love the people around us, we will not cover up or soften the truths of our faith.

We don’t need a faith that is soft and nice.  We need a faith that is bold and forthright.  Are we willing to say the hard things?  Watering down our faith doesn’t help bring anyone closer to Jesus.  In fact, it probably pushes them in the other direction, or leads them to a false idea of Christianity and a progressive mindset.  It leads to people thinking certain aspects of our faith are open to interpretation or that they are a matter of opinion.
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Everyone is at a different point in their faith journeys.  And that is perfectly acceptable.  We all have a lot more to learn and a lot of room for growth.  But we cannot sit back and pretend that all is well as long as people are “nice” and “good.”  As people of faith, we know we are called to more.  Jesus didn’t die on the cross because he was a “nice and good person.”  He went against the grain and spoke the truth in love.  He asks us to do the same.  May we all be straightforward and bold in sharing the truth of our faith with the people around us.

Over the weekend as I was sitting in adoration, one question that kept coming to mind during prayer was, “Jesus, how can I enter into the desert with you this Lent?”  With the arrival of the season of Lent, maybe you too are praying about and reflecting on this question.  This year more than ever, I want to be more intentional about how I live these 40 days.  I want to listen to how Jesus is calling me to be more disciplined and faithful.

Thinking about the desert, the first images that come to mind are of a barren, dry, desolate landscape where there are not many living things.  The desert is so different from the environment we live in.  And maybe that is one of the reasons why it is so important for us to follow Jesus into this space.  To enter into the desert is to enter into a different way of living.  It is to strip our lives of the worldly pleasures that are distracting us and to detach ourselves from the comforts that keep us from growing closer to Christ.  It is to change our routines and habits in order to experience a real conversion of heart.  This penitential season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving asks us to make small sacrifices and practice self-discipline. 

What things in our lives are preventing us from growing in our relationship with Jesus?  What areas of our lives are dead because of sin and need to be brought back to life?  What parts of our faith are dry and need to be watered and replenished?  It is the dryness and emptiness of this spiritual desert where we rediscover our thirst for God and recognize that He alone can satisfy us in the hunger we have.

So how do we actually enter into the desert in a way that will bear fruit in our spiritual lives and help us to properly prepare to celebrate the resurrection at Easter?  How do we pray and reflect in a way that will allow us to experience conversion and be transformed?  It will likely look a little different for each of us. 
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No matter what your Lenten plans are or how you hope to grow spiritually, remember that everything Jesus experienced throughout the 40 days in the desert was out of a deep love for you.  How will you respond to that love this season?  Will you enter into the desert to walk with Jesus?  May you have a blessed and fruitful Lent that helps you to become more like Him.

A few days ago, February 10th, was the feast day of St. José Sánchez del Río.  Reading his story, I’m always struck by what this saint experienced for his love of Jesus.  There were many efforts by others to make him renounce his faith and in each opportunity to do so, he stood strong.  He endured immense torture and suffered greatly, as he refused to deny his faith in Christ.  The one part that stands out the most is the fact that he was just 14 years old when he was martyred.  The depth of faith he had at such a young age is something that should inspire us all in our own faith.  As this saint, and many others demonstrate, age should never be an obstacle to having great faith.
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A lot of times, I hear members of the church and parents say things like, “they will come back to the church later” or “they will start practicing their faith once they are older and have a family.”  While these kinds of thoughts and sentiments are likely well-meaning and come from a place of hope, they do not encourage the importance of faith in young people.  These thoughts and statements make the claim that having faith doesn’t really matter until one is older and at a different point in life.  This could not be further from the truth.

People sometimes say things like faith can be prioritized once sports are over, once extracurricular activities are done, once school is finished, once there is more time,once someone figures out who they are, or once they are established as an adult in the real world.  But having faith and taking opportunities to grow in it in the midst of all these events is vital.  Faith must be the foundation for whatever point someone is going through, and not an afterthought for a later time.

The idea that the church doesn’t need young people and that young people don’t need faith and the church is a lie.  No matter what age we are, each and every one of us are called to follow Jesus and live a life of faith and discipleship.  That will look different throughout various stages and parts of life, but we all have the ability to be part of a faith community to support and pray for each other, inspire each other and learn from each other, and grow closer to Jesus.  We are all called to be saints, regardless of how young or old we are.

Someone’s age should not be an obstacle to being a powerful witness of faith.  St. José Sánchez del Río, along with countless other young saints, have inspiring stories that are an example of great courage, deep faith, and a strong love for Christ.  May their lives inspire in us a deeper faith and greater love for Jesus.

I came across a statistic a few days ago that said 52% of Americans report feeling lonely.  I’m not sure how accurate this study was or what kinds of questions the participants were asked, but either way, it caught my attention.  In a world that is so busy and filled with almost constant activity and in a time where we are so connected through the use of technology and social media, how can so many people feel alone?

No matter how many friends we have, how many people we are surrounded by, or how great our families are, we have all probably felt lonely at least one time or another.  Maybe it was in high school or college and you experienced feelings of loneliness when you weren’t invited to do something.  Maybe in the workplace, you felt like you couldn’t connect to any of your co-workers.  Maybe it was on a random weeknight or weekend sitting at home and you felt like you didn’t belong or that people were too busy for you.  If not any of those experiences, surely, you’ve been in situations where the people around you didn’t share your faith and you felt like it was you against the world.  As painful as the experience of loneliness can be, it is a part of the human condition.

Even Jesus experienced loneliness.  In the Garden of Gethsemane and on His journey to the cross, He felt abandoned and alone during the most intense and difficult moments.  And in these moments, he cried out to God the Father.  In His agony, He showed us how to endure the loneliness we will experience in our own lives.  Jesus suffered the ultimate loneliness and made the greatest sacrifice so that our times of loneliness could be filled by His love and presence. 

​Jesus will not always take away our feelings of loneliness.  But He will walk through them with us.  He wants to comfort us and fill us up with the love that only He can give.  He promises to be “with us always” (Matthew 28:20).  We will feel lonely at times but we must remember that we are never truly alone.

When we experience loneliness, it is the perfect time to place ourselves before Jesus and ask Him to speak into the broken and hurting places.  Ask Jesus who you are to Him and ask Him to reveal His heart to you.  Eucharistic adoration is a great place to listen.

We are often tempted to fill the empty parts of our hearts and lives with everything but the One who we’re made for.  When we feel lonely and it seems like nothing is satisfying this ache we have, we must remember the words of St. Augustine, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

In this past weekend’s Gospel, Jesus calls his first disciples.  He calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John.  One line in the scripture passage says “and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him” (Matthew 4:22).  When hearing this Gospel at mass, there was one word that I was struck by: “immediately.”  These disciples did not wait to follow Jesus.  They heard His call and responded right away.  And that’s what we are all called to do if we want to be disciples; follow Him immediately. 

There is no better moment to follow Jesus than every present moment we are in.  He calls each and every one of us to be His disciples and follow Him.  Sometimes, we might tell ourselves that we’re not ready to fully commit.  Maybe we sometimes say that we will say “yes” to following Jesus in a little while or at a later time; once we are a bit older and wiser or once we have it all figured out.  We may have excuses or allow things in our lives to become barriers.  We might say that we will follow Jesus once we get that job, meet certain people, travel to that specific place, or accomplish certain goals.

Following Jesus is hardly ever convenient.  Whenever he calls us to walk with Him more closely, we are probably living life our way and things are going as we planned.  But if we love Him above everything and everyone else in our lives, we will respond and choose to follow him immediately.  We will release our grip on the desires, comforts, pleasures, and priorities we are holding onto that are not of Him.

We may not be called to a dramatic change where we drop everything we are doing and move from where we currently are to a totally different life.  But we are all called to drop certain nets in our lives immediately to choose Jesus and to follow Him more closely.  We all have times when we know Jesus is calling us to do something and we have to decide if we are going to take those  opportunities to do what He is calling us to in those moments.
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May we all follow the example of those first disciples.  My prayer for each and every single one of us is that we would listen to the ways Jesus is calling us to follow Him more closely and that we would respond without hesitation, choosing to walk with Him immediately.

Expectations.  We all have them.  Different aspects of our daily lives naturally have various expectations set up for us.  These include expectations about our jobs, our accomplishments, our behaviors, and the overall way we live our lives.  Expectations are not necessarily bad.  They often help us set standards and allow us to think about the choices we should make.  But if we truly trust God, we must not allow expectations to rule our lives.

To trust in God means more than to simply believe in His existence.  It means to fully give ourselves to Him.  When we trust God completely, we will not obsess about our future plans or worry about what our lives may entail next month, next year, or five years from now.  Our society is continually presenting us with expectations about what we need to accomplish, where we need to go, what items we need to have, and how we should live.  But ultimately, God is in control and He is the only one who knows how our lives will look.  We must look to Him, and not  the world, for guidance on how to live.

To think that we can fully plan our lives and decide what is or isn’t going to happen is of no use.  We often have ideas of how we think our lives should be.  Or, other people have expectations of what our lives should look like.  But when we have these ideas or allow the opinions of others to impact us, this sets us up for disappointment and doubt in the goodness and providence of God.

When we stop setting certain expectations for our lives, we are able to more fully trust that God provides us with what we need.  Our expectations and desires for certain things can cloud our vision of God working in our lives.  And when we fail to see how God is working in our lives, we can lose our trust in Him and question if He is really with us.
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When it comes to living each day, we must open our hands to release any expectations we are clinging to.  We must keep our hands open, ready to receive whatever may come: the gifts God gives us, the suffering He allows, the joys, and challenges.  Trust God completely.  He knows what you need, better than anyone else.

Over the weekend, I worked a TEC (Together Encountering Christ) retreat.  As usual, it was a refreshing experience, working amongst other team members who have a desire to share Jesus with others and grow deeper in their faith.  In his homily at the closing mass on Sunday, the priest, Father Joel, made a statement that stood out to me.  He said, “don’t let anyone steal the joy of the Gospel from you.”  Leaving a retreat and going back to “normal” life, this is a reminder that is so important.

Coming home from retreats can, oftentimes, be difficult.  You go from being in a Christ-centered environment with a community of like-minded individuals to going back into your regular, ordinary routine.  We all have co-workers, friends, classmates, or family members, who either grew up Catholic and don’t want to hear about it anymore, went to Catholic school or religious education for years and believe they know everything there is to know, or have stopped practicing the faith for various reasons.  When we interact with those who have not had the same kinds of faith experiences as us, it can be hard to keep the fire in our hearts alive.  At times, it feels like some of the people around us are trying to diminish the joy of the Gospel and following Jesus.

People can often make us feel many different ways about the faith we have and about the truth we believe in.  If you actively practice your faith, it is likely that you’ve felt lonely, out of place, or different at one time or another.  Maybe you’ve felt like others around you have tried to diminish your faith or dismissed your encounters with Christ.  But we cannot give in to the temptations to become disheartened and to hide our faith.

There is a great deal of joy in knowing the Gospel and truths of our faith and in following Jesus.  If you’ve had a personal encounter with Him at any point, you know this.  You know that living a life of faith and having a relationship with Christ is worth it.  Many times, the people we interact with and the rest of the world will not understand our experiences or our faith.  In fact, they will probably question your faith, shut you down, dismiss you,, or ridicule you.  But Jesus told us they would.
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Whenever you experience Christ in a real and powerful way, let those experiences permeate throughout your life.  Everyone will not understand and it will be hard to persevere.  But keep striving to live out your faith and never let anyone steal the joy of the Gospel from you.