This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. That means we are in a new church year. Happy New Year, Church. Happy New Year, Pope Francis. Happy New Year to you all. And in this new church year, we have an amazing gospel for this Sunday. It is Jesus saying to us, “Please stay awake. You do not know when the Lord will come.” And so I think a great question to ask is, when your head hits the pillow and you’re going into dreamland, what’s the thing that keeps you up at night? Is it a relationship? Is it your family? Is it work? Is it studies? Is it trying to figure out when the Chicago Bears are actually gonna be good?
And hearing Jesus’ words in this new church year, can we think about him before we go to bed? Can we let the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit be the persons that we think about before we go to bed? And so, what do you think Jesus thought about when he was going to bed at night? What do you think kept him up at night? What do you think he thought about? I think the answer is obvious. He was thinking about you.
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He Raises The Dead
Lazarus was dead and then he wasn’t. That’s the power of Jesus. He raises the dead.
In this Sunday’s Gospel, we’re reminded that this isn’t just a one-time miracle. Through the life of the Church, Jesus continues to bring people from death to life. In the sacraments, especially Confession and the Eucharist, we’re renewed, restored, and made fully alive again.
That’s what it means to be Christian. Not just following rules or being “nice but stepping into a life where grace transforms us, and through us, brings others back to life.
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Living on the Sidelines?
Sometimes, I feel like Guy. If you’ve ever seen the movie, “Free Guy,” you know that Guy is living his life on the sidelines. He doesn’t really think his life is about him. But at one point, Guy realizes that the video game that he is in is his story and that he is the main character. And he gets after it. On this Palm Sunday, we hear the entire story of Jesus’s passion for us. A lot of the time, we feel like we are on the sidelines…
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Good Friday 2024
Okay, so this is a very solemn day, this is a very somber day. It’s Good Friday. If you have the opportunity to go to your Good Friday service at your parish, the first thing that you will see is the priest lying prostrate on the ground. It’s a sign of reverence, it’s a sign of adoration, but it’s also a sign of vulnerability. On Good Friday, Jesus becomes vulnerable…
