Do you not believe — John 14-10

Of course I don't believe!  How could I?  Plenty of intelligent people don't believe, and they will think I am foolish if I do. Besides, Christians don't seem happier or better than anybody else;sometimes they seem worse.  Most days I am not such a great person, myself.  How could I believe when belief requires accepting myself as a child of God, and accepting that I can and must become better?

But then, how could I not believe?  When I see the sunset over the ocean. When I see ordinary people showing love in astonishing ways.  When I witness death and know that belief itself is life or death.  When I love someone, and wonder where that love comes from, where that person comes from.  When I've been loved by Christ, beyond death.

It finally comes to this: I don't nesessarily understand, but I do believe.  "Believe, that you may understand", says St. Augustine.  There is no other way to understand except through faith, the door by which infinity opens out to us.

Open my heart to faith in you, dear  Lord.

Mary Marrocco

Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. — Matthew 5:16

Who doesn't like a lazy day now and then? You know, the kind where you sleep in, stay in your pajamas all day while you watch bad TV, eat ice cream or popcorn and focus on Y-O-U.

We don't get lazy days when it comes to our faith life. We're constantly presented with wonderful opportunities to use our God-given gifts and treat others the way Jesus would, with love, joy and compassion.  Your smile or service may open the door for a conversion experience for those you encounter.  It can be hard work to keep that light shining all the time, but the rewards are worth it.

Lord, let me remember that working to bring souls to your kingdom is a round-the-clock labor of love.

Melanie Rigney

Jesus said to him, Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? John 14:9

I often see newspaper articles about individuals who were parishioners of a parish where I had been pastor. Usually these articles are on the obituary page.  Often these accounts make me realize I didn't really know these people.  I can remember greeting them at church or even working with them on a committee, but we never shared on a deeper level. Some of their outstanding qualities and at all.

There is a limit about how much one can know about another person.  But there is another person about whom I need to know as much as possible.  That is the Lord Jesus.  Daily I want to deepen this relationship in prayer, Scripture reading, meditation and in doing good works in his name.  After a lifetime I don't want there to be any doubt that I know Jesus and accept him as my Savior.

Lord Jesus, I profess that to know you is to love you.

Fr. James McKarns

Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" —John 20:15

What a surprise Mary Magdelene experienced that morning.  An almost unimaginable, profound surprise.  A life-changing one.  But now the question Jesus asks confronts me.

I have heard the Alleluia again and again, for many years now.  Like you, I know the resurrection narratives well.  But still, I can get swept up with the world's sense of itself and let my life be defined not by the empty tomb, but so many other distractions and illusions that frustrate and bind me to earth.

"Why are you weeping?"  "Whom are you looking for?"

Risen Lord, it is you alone I seek.

Amy Welborn

I say to one, "Go," and he goes. Matthew 8:9

I'm not much like the centurion's servants.  When my Lord says, "Go", I frequently say, "Forget it!"  When he says, "Do this," I protest.  It's not what I'd like to have happen.

St. Augustine described my predicament; knowing we need to follow God's ways in order to be happy, but unable to do it.  The world groans daily in suffering and affliction because we have such trouble following his simple command to "love one another."

Fortunately the Gospel doesn't end with commandments. The predicament ends when Christ walks in.  With a word, he heals the centurion's servant; with a touch, Peter's mother-in-law.  That's the secret.  When I can't love, can't follow, can't find a yes - I don't have to be my own savior.  There's One who waits for me to ask, to receive.  He carries the healing touch that takes away my fever and brings me back to life.

Thank you, Lord, for remaining in me. —Mary Marracco

Then an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, "Get up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route." Acts 8:26

A friend who recently returned to Church after having been alienated for decades explained how his homecoming came about.  It seems a parish in a nearby town ran a newspaper ad inviting all those who had been hurt by the Church to attend a service of healing and reconciliation.  He decided to attend and was so moved by the community and pastor's hospitality and humility that he couldn't help but change his heart and mind.

We probably won't be visited by an angel, but the Holy Spirit continues to inspire us to reach out to those who we consider outsiders and even outcasts. That might very well mean that we must leave our comfort zone and rub shoulders with the rich, the poor, the conservative, the liberal, as well as those of another religion or no religion at all.

Terri Mifek

May it be done unto me according to your word. –Luke 1:38

A class of first graders was performing a Nativity play. As Joseph and Mary knocked at the door of the inn and asked for a room, the innkeeper responded: " Sorry, there is no room at the inn."  But at that moment, that didn't sound right to him, so he changed the script: "Hang on. Don't go away. You can have my room." Mary is our model of saying "yes".  Mary, filled with grace, was always open to God  Just like the "innkeeper"in the story above, she was asked to provide room for Jesus. Her yes changed everything.  In the same way, God - and our world - waits on our yeses.

O God who waits, you wait for our yeses in order to come into the rooms of our lives.  Like Mary, our model of saying "yes", I recommit my life to you. "You can have my room", help me to enlarge it, to make it more and more welcoming to all in your family.

Sr. Janet Schaeffler, O.P.