I just got back from an incredible camping trip in Montana. One thing that was so amazing about this trip is that in order to go to this camping site, we had to go into this narrow valley. And in this narrow valley, we couldn’t use our phones at all and we knew that.
We were willing to give up our phones, our social media, everything, in order to go to this beautiful campsite. Jesus in the gospel today, he says, “I’m the narrow gate. Enter and strive through the narrow gate. The narrow gate being me.” There are things that are weighing you down. Sins, temptations, addictions, unhealthy relationships. So many things that we have to get rid of from our lives in order to get into that narrow gate who is Jesus. My invitation for all of us today is just like the college kids and I entered into this narrow valley, get rid of anything that could connect us to the world. What are we willing to give up to be in the beautiful heart of Jesus? Get rid of the stuff that’s not from him.
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True Love Costs Something
Remember when Hiccup loses his leg in “How to Train Your Dragon”? It’s an emotional rollercoaster. The love that Hiccup has for his family and Toothless leads to him sacrificing one of his legs. Hiccup’s love costs something, and the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus, is very clear: it is easy to love when it’s easy to love, but real, true, authentic, Christ-centered love costs something. Are we just loving Jesus when it’s easy when…
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Fulfilled Hopes and Fears
Christmas may be over, but this Sunday’s Gospel echoes a familiar line from O Little Town of Bethlehem: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”
Jesus reminds us that He is the fulfillment of every hope and every fear, from the past and the present, from every heart and every place. Nothing we carry is outside of His ability to meet and redeem.
The question is simple but challenging: Are we allowing Jesus to enter into all of it? Even in Ordinary Time, He is the One who sets everything right.
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Unoffendable
A Google review was left for me on my old parish’s website, and the Google Review said I avoid his masses. I should have been up in arms by it, trying to defend myself, but I was just sad, but I wasn’t offended. In the first reading for this Sunday, the apostles are called to go out and proclaim the good news to the world, and if they are rejected or persecuted, they shake the dust from their feet, not becoming…
