My name is Sarah and I want to tell you about the day I broke the rules.  I’m almost 30 years old now, an old woman.  Remember that in my village very few people live to be 40.  I was raised in a devout Jewish household, my mother Anna spent her days caring for the family, keeping the prescriptions of the law.  My father Eli was a good man, and hard working too.  He was a builder of boats.  To understand my life and what happened to me on that day I reached out for Jesus you need to understand that my culture is all about belonging.  We belong to one another and our participation in the community is what gives life meaning and sense.  This is what has been revealed by God, Blessed be He! I belong to God’s special people, the Chosen People.  I belong to a village outside of Capernaum.  I belong to the family of Eli and Anna.  I belong to my husband Jacob.  In this belonging resides my identity; for my community I give thanks to God, Blessed Be He! I feel this belonging now, but I didn’t always.

When I went through the change from being a girl to being a woman, I began to experience the normal monthly cycle.  I was so excited to join the world of the women in their special time.  I began to learn about our unique role to bring life into the world.  Normally we would be “set apart” for a few days and then after a time of waiting return to the community and to the life of prayer and worship.  I always had long, difficult menses which rendered me weak and unable to work, but it wasn't until I was trying to have children that the problem became untenable.  My cycle never seemed to end.  Because of my illness I was forced to be separated from the community, to be isolated for weeks and weeks, then for months.  The months became years and I began to despair for my life.  The doctors couldn’t help me, the priests at the synagogue disdained me, and my friends avoided me.  I, who had such a need to belong, was “put out” as a result of our sacred teachings.

I began to question the very foundations of what made us clean and unclean………I questioned why something so natural, so important would make us ritually impure.  I felt like a terrible outcast, alienated from the people I loved; all of us were under the judgment of the purity laws and the rules of the priests that kept us apart and kept us fearful of one another.

Then about 4 years ago people in the village began to talk about the man they call Jesus of Nazareth.  They said he was healing the sick.  They said he did not seem to be concerned with the purity laws.  He touched a leper and made him whole.  He would eat without the proscribed ablutions before the meal.  In the territory of the Gerasenes he cast out demons from a man who all thought was lost.  I began to feel the pull that perhaps he could do something for me.  Maybe he could do for me what no doctor could do, no priest could do, no offering could do, no ritual bathing in the mikveh could do.  One day, not long after he healed the man who had a demon, I heard that he was near Capernaum.  I went there.

The law said that I wasn’t supposed to touch anyone lest they be rendered impure.  I’m not sure what came over me.  I saw Jesus and was just drawn to him.  I kept thinking, “If I could just touch his clothing I shall be cured.”  I wanted desperately to belong again, to be accepted by my family and those I loved.  I ached for my exile to end finally.  So I pushed through the crowd and I came up behind him and I touched his cloak.  I knew instantly that I was whole, cured, finally, at last! In that same moment Jesus stopped in his tracks, turned around and said “Who has touched my clothes?”  I was terrified!  It also seemed to me like a silly question because people were surrounding him clamoring for him, reaching and touching him.  I stepped toward him and sank to my knees, trembling, yes, fearful, yes, but more than that, grateful, thankful, sobbing for I knew in that moment that I was healed.  I belonged once again to the community.

But now, my family was larger.  I belonged to the family he called the Kingdom of God.  Our Beloved Community transcends the narrow confines of our human families, wonderful though they might be.  I realized I belonged to Abba Father’s family, His Father of whom he spoke who is our father too.  I belonged to Love itself, a love beyond narrow human judgments.  I belonged to a God who loves us clean and unclean, sick or healthy, sinner or holy one.  There is no distinction for God.  God wants us to live and to love and to not let anything get in the way of that.  This was the lesson I learned on that day when I broke the rules and reached out and touched Jesus.

Whatever is ailing you, there is a power that will make you whole.  I met that power in Jesus and you can too.  If you feel like an outcast you have a home in the family of God that Jesus announces.  You have to take the initiative to touch the power.  Jesus bridges the barriers that we have set up on this earth.  Jesus will heal, will unite.  Reach out and grab hold of his cloak.

One of our choirs sang the song Jacob’s Ladder on Good Friday.
The song refers to a dream the patriarch Jacob had when he saw a stairway, with its top reaching to the heavens and God’s messengers were going up and down on it….. and the Lord said know that I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go and bring you back to this land.

In a very real way, this the journey we have been on since Ash Wednesday, climbing Jacob’s ladder, coming to know the Lord, going up and down between heaven and earth.  Today the Lord Jesus wants to confirm us in our path.  Jesus, with the Father, sends the Holy Spirit to empower us.

We are climbing Jacob’s ladder
Brother have you met my Jesus?
If you love him, why not serve him?

The Holy Spirit

Consecrates us.  Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit

Liberates us. The Spirit of truth sent from the Father, will set us free, guide us to all truth.  Perfect love casts out all fear.  The truth shall set you free! E.g. the day I realized drinking wasn’t a good thing for me.

Inspires WOW!!  Our DRE Julie Dresser talks about animating her 18 month old twin grandchildren by looking at them and saying with intensity WOW!  God is amazed with us and the Spirit helps us be amazed by the world around us.  They were amazed and astounded in Acts 2

Moves us to a new place
God takes us out of the works of the flesh and helps us to live the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  The works of the flesh are obvious, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry.  The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace…….

Brings us together. 1 Spirit, many gifts.  To each the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.

Put it all together and it means that we have been consecrated, liberated, inspired, moved and brought together.  C-L-I-M-B Together we are climbing, ascending the ladder of grace, and the Holy Spirit is here to help us.

So:

If you accept anew that you have been consecrated by the Holy Spirit in your confirmation say “Amen!”
If you want the liberation, the salvation that Jesus brings, say “I do!”
If you accept the inspiration that Jesus will provide for you today say “Come Holy Spirit!”
If you are ready to enjoy the richness of a deepening spiritual life, say “Wow!”

Jesus used the images of the day when he was teaching the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.  It’s like a net that a fisherman tossed into the sea.  It is like a batch of dough into which a woman put some leaven.  A farmer went out to sow and some of the seed fell on rocky ground.  These were all images very accessible to the Judean heart.  So today, what would Jesus do to communicate his message?

I know, he’d get out his cell phone, and text!  I’m betting that Jesus would get his message out in whatever way he could, and nowadays that might just involve texting, or perhaps twittering.

For those of you who, like me, don’t have much familiarity with texting, it is what you do with a cell phone and instead of speaking into the phone, you type in a message.  The advantage is that you can text while in the car, text while in a meeting, text while taking an exam (not approved).  And there is a short cut language that is used by texts—there are several choices, actually.
If something is funny: LOL  Laugh out loud
When you’re done:  TTYL  Talk to you later or
BRB  be right back

What would Jesus text?  WWJD?  WWJT?  It would be something about love.  If Jesus was texting today’s gospel all he would have to write is  LOA, Love one another.  Jesus uses the word love frequently in John’s gospel.  He calls the disciples to remain in him, to stay connected to him, to bask in his love, just as he basks in the Father’s love and the Father’s love covers everything that he does.  Because He shines on all we do, Jesus knows that His love will flow through us to others.  LOA

That is the job of the Holy Spirit, to keep the love flowing, keep the good news flowing.  We become its messengers.

So teens, as you are keeping in touch through the day, and when someone starts gossiping or putting someone down, that’s the time to let Jesus’ love shine.  Remind your friends, LOA, love one another.  Hopefully they won’t LOL or say TTYL.

When we are tempted to make fun of the crazy driver in front of us, or yell at them, or cut them off, let Christ’s compassion guide our response—maybe that person is having the worst day of their lives, we really don’t know—and LOA, love one another.

When we are feeling down on ourselves hear this most basic message that Jesus shares with the world, I love you more than you can ever imagine.

Easter is about receiving God’s communication of Love.  As we get the message from Jesus, we can share the Good news with one another.

Pope John Paul II canonized St. Faustina in 2000, and I have to confess that I haven’t studied the devotion to Divine Mercy extensively.  You might say that I have been a “doubting Thomas,” not that I have doubted the fact of God’s Divine Mercy, but rather that I have wondered about this devotion’s relationship to the Second Sunday of Easter.  But over the past few years my understanding has increased as I have reflected on life’s ability to be merci-less to us, and our need to experience the mercy that God has to offer in Christ.

In the gospel today, Jesus appears to the disciples who are confused and afraid.  He shows them his hands and his side and he invites Thomas, Do not be unbelieving, but believe. Jesus invites his disciples to trust in his mercy and receive his resurrection life.
And this is hopeful because indeed life can be merci-less.

The image of Divine Mercy shows rays of light emanating from the heart of Christ, reminiscent of the blood and water that flowed from Christ’s side when his side was pierced with a lance on Calvary.  Christ invites us to experience his mercy through the sacraments of the church with full confidence that no matter what has happened, no matter what sin we have been involved in, no matter what sort of a betrayal we have been a part of, his mercy will envelop us.

Perhaps we have been wounded by an unfaithful or abusive spouse.
Maybe we find ourselves struggling with a debilitating or terminal illness.
We may feel the past wounds received from the verbal lashing of a misguided teacher or coach.

Jesus stands before us today with open arms and says to us, “I understand.  I have experienced your sorrow and then some.  I will heal you and make you whole.”  As St. Faustina’s diary relates, “I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. …. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. (Diary of Sr. Faustina, 699) Jesus invites us all to profess, “Jesus I trust in you.”

Last Palm Sunday, one of our 3 year old parishioners was not able to attend mass because he had strep throat.  When the family returned home with their palm branches the little boy asked, “What are those for?”  His mom replied, “Oh, people held these up when Jesus walked by.”
Exasperated as only three year olds can be, he said, “Wouldn’t you know it.  The one Sunday I don’t go, and Jesus shows up!”

We’re grateful to have back in our assembly some of our parishioners who winter in Florida.  I’m reminded of the story of the couple that had plans to travel to Florida for the winter but the wife had to stay back an extra day.  The husband went on ahead to open up their beach house.  Upon his arrival he promptly sent his wife an e-mail.  Unfortunately, he keyed in the wrong address and his e-mail inadvertently went to another woman, a woman whose spouse had just died.  His email read:
“Honey, I have reached my final destination.  I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
p.s. Yes, it is quite warm down here.

8 year old Jacob loves baseball.  He was playing baseball in his yard, tossing up the ball and hitting it.  “This is the world famous slugger up at the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded.  His team is down by 3 runs. A home run will win the championship.  It’s the windup, and the pitch.”  He swings and misses.  “The best hitter of all time is here to save the day.  If he can connect his team will win the championship.”  He swings and misses.  Strike two!  “Two strikes, bottom of the ninth, the world’s greatest hitter is at the plate.  Here comes the pitch.”  He misses a third time.  Long pause.  “The world’s greatest pitcher has struck out the side!!!!”

Change your paradigm.   That’s what Easter says.  Easter reminds us that the foundation for our lives is the mystery of God’s never ending love.  As humans, we tend to base our hope on what we know and see and prove.  Logically we build our lives around what we can see: houses, investment plans, schools for the children.  Easter Sunday says there is more!  Easter reveals a divine mystery that is both outside our ability to understand and at the same time more present to us than we are present to ourselves.  Easter Sunday invites us to ground our lives not in our finite human selves, but rather in the promise that God holds for these human frames, the life of resurrection.  God invites us not to be rooted in the limited nature of human existence but rather to see our human lives as the seed that is sown to blossom into a new way of existing.  The new way is called the Kingdom of God.  Easter calls us to look for the “new thing” that God is doing in Jesus, the judge of the living and the dead.

So when our ordinary life is being dismantled all around us, we have a sacred tradition in which to place our hope.  We celebrate rituals that are 15 centuries old because they are on to something.  Sometimes the answers seem old fashioned—there is a reason for that:  they grasp the mystery, they point the way for our lives.

So when the familiar is taken from us, we hear the ancient testimony of life given by our ancestors in faith.  Christ lives and we will live as well!  We can believe that our deceased loved ones have entered this new life ahead of us.  The covenant community that God creates on Easter is a community that is not limited by space and time.

When loss, unemployment, betrayal come our way, God gives us compassion in Christ and promises resurrection for every cross.

Friends, let us believe in the foundation that is our Catholic faith.  Let the Easter revelation guide our lives today and each day.  The transience of life in the USA can find a firm foundation in Jesus.  The questions of life are answered in Christ.  Let us join him on the way of faith, for he is risen, he is alive, he is present among us.  Alleluia!

The events of that first Good Friday probably happened very quickly.  As far as the apostles were concerned they were just going to celebrate the annual Passover with their amazing teacher.  Yes, they knew there was some friction between Jesus and the authorities, but that was normal.  So when he was arrested on that chilly spring night it must have seemed like a dream.  And then, how quickly it all unfolded.  Accusations.  A night of waiting and denial.  Then a trial.  A death sentence?!  Next thing they knew their leader was hauling a cross to a rocky hilltop and then it was over.  Just like that.  Everything ended, suddenly, their hopes, their dreams, even common sense…..gone.

Isn’t that the way life is, though?  We wake up one day thinking it will be a normal day, just trying to get through the day.  Then our child gets sick with something we don’t understand.  The phone rings and we learn that we or someone we love has a terminal illness.  We listen to a friend as they share the serious burdens of their heart.  We hear of the death of a loved one or a friend.    Our life perspective changes in an instant.  What felt so sure is revealed as illusory.  We are pushed into a new way of viewing the world, where what we thought was permanent is no more.

The mystery of Good Friday is that Truth and Life are rooted in a reality that is beyond this impermanent life we live.  Jesus shows us that the only way to this Truth is to give over our human selves so that we can know God’s face in Jesus.  Jesus on the cross teaches us that is has to be this way.  It cannot be otherwise.  It has never been otherwise.  Over time life takes away what we thought would always be, our children, our spouse, our dreams.  God wants to bring us to what indeed lasts for ever, His love for us poured out in Jesus, His care, His presence.

The tempter wants us to give up, to not believe.  Jesus’ definitive act of self giving on the cross is our guarantee against the snares of the devil.  The snares of the devil that try to convince us that this is all there is.  The lies of the devil that tell us that sacrifice is not necessary.  The temptations of Satan that would have us give up when life is calling us to deeper sacrifice.  In the person of Jesus we get God’s final answer.  Life goes on.  There is permanence in love.  Our letting go is necessary so we can be grasped fully by God.

On Tuesday at the Mass of Chrism all the priests did a Renewal of Commitment to Priestly Service. We were asked by the archbishop

• Are you resolved to unite yourself more closely to Christ?
• To become more like Christ by sacrificing ambition and pleasure?
• Resolved to be faithful ministers of the mysteries of God and teach for the well being of the people?

We said yes, a yes spoken in hope and trust that God will provide the grace to follow His call.

For me Lent has been an opportunity to reflect on my response to God’s invitation, better yet God’s call, to live in this covenant relationship.  As a priest I have been blessed with many privileges and I am called to many responsibilities.  I praise God for the gift of serving you in the community of the church.  This is my vocation.  I say yes to God’s invitation to live in a covenant relationship through my life as a priest.

We hear the ancient roots of our vocations as disciples in today’s scriptures.  Exodus recalls how God kept his covenant so long ago when he rescued a chosen people from bondage in Egypt.  We hear how God’s care for the human family became incarnate in the person of Jesus who brings God’s promise of life to every human heart at the Last Supper.  Take and eat, take and drink.  This is my body given for you. Then Jesus bids us to serve one another if we want to understand the full meaning of the sacred meal of Eucharist.  We become the mystery of Eucharist as we serve in the Liturgy of everyday life.

Tonight we all renew the covenant that was entered into on our behalf at our baptism.  We say yes again as we receive the gift of Christ’s Body and Blood in Eucharist.  We stir into flame the gift that was given to us when we were confirmed.  We rededicate ourselves to active participation in the life of the church in the world.  Our God has willed this communion we share tonight, our God has created this communion, our God will sustain it until we all share in this mystery for ever and ever.

One of the first lessons you learn in Junior Life Savings is that it is difficult, if not impossible to swim with your clothes on.  They have you jump in the pool with shoes and socks and pants and shirts so that you can experience this.  You quickly learn that you want to strip off the wet clothing, your shoes, so that you can save your own life, and the life of anyone else.  This is great image of what Jesus speaks of in the gospel.  If we want to save our lives, we need to be like the seed that sheds its outer layer, its husk, so as to bring forth the shoot.

Jesus points to the fact that just as a seed sheds its husk and is cracked open, killed if you will, so will our spiritual life be.  Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies, it produces much fruit. We are invited to let go of that which we cling to—our very self-- so that we can cling to God.
It is the only way to get inside the mystery that God has revealed in Christ.

St. Paul expresses it this way.  Though he was in the form of God, he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped.  Rather, he emptied himself….(Phil 2.11) It’s about emptying, giving over ourselves.  Our human resources will be used up in the process.  The end is glorious.  Jesus was “super exalted.”  We too will know the “eternal weight of glory.”  But to be able to swim in God’s grace we have to let go of the clothing of our outer self.

The paschal mystery is that slowly but surely God is stripping away all that is not Him so that we can know Him.  We often can’t see him through the fears that cover us.  Slowly but surely God is taking from us whatever it is that keeps Him from us.  Moment by life moment God is introducing to the mystery that we will only finally discover ourselves in God.  Decision by decision God is dismantling that false self that believes it controls the world.  God wants to bring us to our True Self, the Self made in the image and likeness of God.

Do we like this diminishment?  Of course not!  It feels contrary to our nature.  Yet saints and holy ones seem to understand it as a necessary step.  In a recent newsletter to my brother priests in Jesus Caritas I included a quote from Blessed Charles de Foucauld, who was terribly hard on himself through fasting and prayer.  At the age of 45 he said “To see myself go downhill is a great consolation to me.”  Several priests have written to me saying that they resonate with that quote, as they see themselves “go downhill” later in life.

Charles was referring to the reality that we rightly are consumed by life, used up if you will.  The grace of the spirit makes this self-offering holy. 
Mom’s give up the youthful vitality in the demanding self offering of mothering and gain the beauty of grace and experience and compassion..
Dad’s wear themselves out by working day in and day out, evenings too to provide for their family and they shine in their family.
The elderly feel the burden of the years and at the same moment shine with wisdom and compassion.  They are the ones who can name beauty where we aren’t able to see it.

Lent invites us to give up the illusions about our lives.  Accept God’s grace as it strips away what is not God.  Open our hearts to experience anew the ocean of God’s grace calling us home, calling us to wholeness.

When I kneel in front of a casket and look upon the body of someone who has died, my first thought is “Where did they go?”  I don’t really doubt that they have gone somewhere; the person who I knew to be real and alive and vital in this life is clearly not there.  My core instinct tells me that somehow their life continues.  Even though there seems to be a wall between this world and the next world, my gut tells me that the same Mystery who brings us into existence brings us to another type of existence when we die.  But I’d sure like some proof!  Instead, Jesus gives us signs that point the way for us and he calls us to faith.

We hear about these signs in the Gospel according to John.  Chapter 2 through 11 in St. John’s gospel has been called the Book of Signs, because in these chapters Jesus has given 7 signs, or 7 indications of who he is as God’s Son.  First he changes the water into wine at the wedding at Cana, thus indicating he will replace the ceremonial temple washings with true worship.  Next he cures an official’s son with the phrase You may go, your son will live (4.50) to show that his Word is life giving.  For sign #3 he cures a paralytic at the pool of Bethesda and shows what it means to be Living Water.  Next he multiplies bread to feed the multitudes as the Bread of Life.  For sign #5 he walks on the water to reveal that he is the New Exodus, leading all people to God’s promises.  Last week we heard of his 6th sign, giving sight to the man born blind; he shows himself to be the Light of the World.  Today is his seventh and final sign.  Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the Life, raises Lazarus as a token of the real life that he will give to all in the resurrection of the just.

We have this testimony, handed on to us who live 100 generations later.  Our scriptures tell us how our ancestors in faith experienced Christ as healer, as Savior, as God, as continuously alive.  Their testimony calls us to believe as well, to follow Jesus who is Way, Truth and Life, not just for ancient peoples past, but for all, for us, for you, for me.  Jesus wants to draw all of us into the life of God, and he continues to make himself known in his church.  That’s why we’re here today, to come to faith.  We don’t have the same experience of Jesus that the first disciples had, but a new one.  We have each other!

The amazing thing is that when we gather as church, we are a sacrament, a living sign of Christ.  We, the baptized, are living stones, the signs that provide proof for the world that God is alive and well.  As we live Christ’s message, Christ is revealed anew.

Remember, we’re in the realm of faith here.  Sometime this truth is hidden.  Evidence is hard to uncover.  The nature of the spiritual journey is that we have to pay attention for clues.  But once we’ve tasted even a sip of Christ as Living Water, we’re forever changed.  It’s a tall order to become Christ’s living sign as a community, but with the Holy Spirit, we can do it, we are doing it.

Because our Holy Cross community is a living sign that makes Christ known, we too can have faith.  We can believe in life after death because we’ve felt the love of our church when our loved ones died.  The church brought us Christ in our time of need.  We believe Jesus is the Light of the world because we’ve been enlightened by bible studies and adult education.  We’ve seen the light and sparkle in the eyes of our children as they set out in confidence into the world.  We can believe Jesus is Good Shepherd because we’ve known some good shepherds, coaches who care, loving teachers who sacrifice, compassionate parents who are there for us.  We can turn to Jesus to heal us because we have known the healing hand of doctors and nurses and caregivers.  We can believe Jesus is the Bread of Life because our broken brothers and sisters have fed us with their resources.  This living church, as sign and sacrament, points us to God.  Our community brings us to the place where we can have faith.

Lent calls us to faith, calls us to believe more profoundly.  Look for the signs: a fellow parishioner who helps us out, a young person who gives us hope, the steadfast faith of one of our elderly.  Pay attention!  Jesus is proving his presence in our words and deeds.

I’ve got this thing about potato chips.  I think I got it from my father who calls himself a chipaholic.  Once I get started on chips there’s no stopping me.  I guess it is the salt, and the fat, and the crunch.  The thing is, I’m seldom satisfied by whatever portion of chips I take.  I keep searching for other options to satisfy.  But perhaps the answer is to realize that there is no satisfying this one.  That is the message that comes to us in the gospel.  We cannot satisfy our human needs and longings by ourselves.  Christ will show us how to live a life of contentment in him.

We meet a person in today’s gospel who is searching, even if she doesn’t even know it at first.  The woman we encounter at Jacob’s well is having a difficult time in her life.  She is at the well in the middle of the day, presumably because she doesn’t expect to find anyone there at this time.  The normal time for a woman to be gathering water is in the morning, when women would gather to get water for their daily chores and share the latest tidbits of village news.  Because of her situation, the Samaritan woman is likely a topic at the morning sessions at the well.  Imagine!  Married 5 times!  Living with someone who is not her husband!  No, she travels to the well at noon, in the heat of the day, to avoid the ridicule that would normally come her way.

Looking for a drink she finds Jesus.  Trying to avoid the tangle of personal relationships, she begins a meaningful relationship with Jesus.  We watch her opening up to faith in Jesus as she discovers who this person is.  First she calls him sir:  “Sir, you don’t have a bucket and this well is deep.”   Later she acknowledges “I can see you are a prophet.”  Finally she says, “Could this perhaps be the Messiah?”  Her heart is gradually opened and she begins to recognize Christ, the living water that comes into the world.

Like this woman from Samaria we too are looking for meaning in our lives.  Her solution was to look for peace of mind through a new relationship, 5 times over, and that still wasn’t the answer for her.  Maybe for us it is 5 cars that we think will make us happy.  Or 5 pairs of shoes, or 5 new homes.  Some of us think that the 5th beer will have the answer, or the bottom of the 5th whiskey will hold the key.  Others look to that 5th hour on the internet when finally all my longings will be satisfied.  Well friends, phones and cars and shoes and homes and whiskeys and beers and adult sites will not satisfy us.  Jesus is here to tell us that only he is able to quench the thirst of human living.  Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life will provide meaning for our lives.

This Lent we rededicate ourselves to follow Christ’s way of self-sacrifice.  Let’s fast and welcome that hungry feeling that most of the world feels most of the time.  We redouble our efforts to learn the truth as it has been expressed in our Church’s teaching through the centuries.  This Lent Christ is teaching us to pray in Spirit and in truth.  We come to find out that life lived in obedience to God’s covenant is more joyful, more fulfilling, more fun than we ever thought possible.  We’ll discover that we are still able to do what we need to do, and do it better!

As we pray, fast and give alms, Christ shows us how to live.  The way is before us, the truth awaits us.  Let us enter the fullness of life in Jesus Christ!