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Jesus says, “Do not be afraid” three times in today’s Gospel. It’s a phrase often repeated in Scripture, which tells us two things: the world can be scary, and God is with us always. 

In this passage, Jesus warns the Apostles that they will be treated like Him. They will be rejected, attacked, and even killed because they are His disciples. We can understand their fear. Two thousand years later, I read this and am not concerned that my Catholic faith will cause physical danger for me. Does that mean we have no fear in fully living our faith, in expressing our belief in Jesus Christ? Unfortunately, no. We may still be afraid. 

We might worry about what others will say about us. We can be self-conscious about praying with another person, afraid to ask God for a miraculous healing. We might feel unable to challenge someone when they tell lies about our faith. We can be afraid to volunteer at church or take a leadership role or join a small group. What is it that keeps us from doing all of those things? What are we afraid of? Rejection, ridicule, loss of friends, personal attacks, physical harm, loss of status, a lawsuit. All of those are possible. 

In every case, Jesus tells us, “Do not be afraid.” Don’t be afraid to follow His lead, to obey His commands, to speak in His name, to love others as He loves us. 

We can look at a few modern day examples as models of courage. Harrison Butker was not afraid to share God’s truth about marriage. The Colorado baker was not afraid to stand by his convictions and refuse to create a cake that celebrated something contrary to his faith. Countless pro-life prayer warriors were not afraid to stand outside abortion centers as witnesses to life, even though they risked arrest. All of these people knew the risk they faced and stood firm in their faith. All had courage. 

According to the Catholic Dictionary, courage is defined as bravery in facing difficulties, especially in overcoming the fear of consequences in doing good. As disciples, we are to do good always. Sometimes that means speaking the truth in a room filled with people who don’t believe. Other times it’s trying something new at church. Still other times, it’s inviting your spouse or a family member to pray, read the Bible, or talk about how God is working in your life. 

What would you do if you had more courage? God is calling you to step out of your comfort zone and become the person He created you to be. He wants you to receive the gift of courage from Him so that you can be bold in your faith, whether in your home, your parish, your community, or the world. Pray for the supernatural courage to serve God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. 

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The Word Among Us

Regnum Christi

One Bread, One Body

Evangeli

Living Faith

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Perhaps we can get a little too comfortable with the Gospel these days. Or maybe a better way to say it is we get a little too comfortable with what we think the Gospel says and not what it is actually trying to communicate. I know I have had many moments in my life where I have felt a tug to communicate the Gospel but have been embarrassed or scared. I know I have personally made up all kinds of excuses in my head for why maybe it wasn’t the right time or place. 

We can say things like “I just need to love people where they are at” or “they probably wouldn’t have been open to the message so I will just pray”. Now there is certainly a correct time and way to present the truths of the Gospel. If it comes up at every holiday gathering and causes a rift through the family then maybe it is time to say that you will all agree to disagree and still love each other during the holiday festivities. But more often than not, maybe we shy away from presenting the Good News because we have believed that our personal relationship with God is the only important thing we must maintain and we can just leave the rest up to God. 

But I think the Gospel today is a good reminder that we shouldn’t believe in this false narrative. We are expected to preach the Good News. In fact, we are told that we will be sent like sheep into a den of wolves. While that can be a scary thought, the Gospel also gives us hope. We learn today that we will not have the proper words to speak but that the Spirit will speak for us when we run out of words. 

It may be really intimidating for a lot of us to preach the Gospel, especially when it is uncertain how someone may react. But hope lies in the facts that we do not all have to preach the Gospel the exact same way and that God will give us the proper words in the proper place. 

This takes a little bit of the daunting task off of our shoulders, but at the end of the day, we are still expected to do the task. Personal relationship with Jesus is wonderful, but we weren’t put on this earth just for our own individual edification. We were put here to help others, to call them to conversion, and to share with them the same love the Father has shared with us. As we reflect on these difficult passages from the Gospel today, I invite you, and myself, to really think about ways that we can be a beacon of good news to all those we meet. Maybe the question to ask daily is, How can I get to heaven and bring as many people as possible with me? 

From all of us here at Diocesan, God bless!

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Regnum Christi

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Living Faith

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I’ve always been told to be charitable. Sometimes I was charitable because I felt bad, or I just wanted to feel good, and other times I wanted someone to notice that I was being charitable. But the true meaning of charity is doing something because it benefits others and not because it makes me feel a certain way. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to give freely what we’ve received freely. God calls us out of our shell to go beyond what we deem comfortable. “Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep.” This may have sounded a bit extreme at the time given the long distances His Apostles traveled. But that is what God calls us to, the extreme.

There is a Youtube channel called “Yes Theory”, where their main goal is to “Seek Discomfort” by traveling the world and going beyond the social norms to seek out deeper meaning in life. They do things that they wouldn’t do if they followed the normality of society. They do extreme things in the name of experiencing something that the majority of the world never would. They reach out to communities that would otherwise go unnoticed in society.

God asks us to go beyond the social norms, to look beyond the glory and the good feeling of helping others and be truly charitable because it benefits others. Even as Christians, we can seek to be charitable, but get so confused on what that truly means. As I’ve been training to be an EMT, I’ve been learning the meaning of what it means – going into bad situations with an open heart, letting people know that you see them and are there for them, not to be the “hero” or because you feel bad for them. 

That is what God calls us to do, to go into life and see people for who they are, maybe even evangelize to them through our actions, because no matter how small, they go a long way. Even if they aren’t looking for help, or maybe in some cases, are even cursing at the fact that you are there, you can be at peace knowing that God loves them.

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Have you ever experienced God opening up a path for you to make something difficult become a reality? This happened to me a few months ago. I felt God calling me to go on a retreat out of state. Now, belonging to a large circle of Catholic acquaintances, many opportunities for retreats cross my path in any given year. And they are all within driving distance. So why did I feel this consistent nudge to attend this particular retreat all the way on the east coast? It didn’t make any sense. It would mean a plane ticket I couldn’t afford, being away from my husband and kids for three days, missing a day of work without PTO, missing my kids’ basketball games and missing the Superbowl. I just couldn’t do it… could I? 

The short answer is, no, I couldn’t, but God could. Little by little, things kept falling into place. My husband was supportive, the boys’ games were spread out enough that he could take them one at a time, and my football team lost during the playoffs. But what about finances? I kept putting off buying a plane ticket, until the retreat was only two weeks away. It was now or never, trust or doubt. I felt God assuring me that He would take care of it and with one click, it was done. 

A couple days after I got back, my boss called me for a private meeting and told me that since I had done such a good job he was giving me a bonus. Guess what? The amount covered my plane ticket, the day off without pay, and there was even some left over! God always provides!

In today’s first reading, God similarly provided through Joseph. The Lord had revealed to him that there would be a famine, so he stored grain during the years prior so that the Egyptians would not starve. But God’s plan was even greater than that: “In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain, for famine had gripped the whole world.” So Joseph “opened up all the cities that had grain and rationed it”. Those whose bellies grumbled with hunger surely had no idea how they would survive, yet God opened up a path for them and provided for them. 

As the Psalm alludes to, it all comes down to trust. “Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.” God will grant us His mercy, and He greatly desires to, but will do so in accord with how much we trust in Him. We have the free will to decide to trust, or to take things into our own hands. Spoiler alert: doing the latter usually doesn’t end up so well. 

So just as Jesus summons and sends out His Twelve disciples in today’s Gospel, may we trust Him to send us out as well. Whether it be on a retreat halfway across the country or to a needy family in your own parish, He wants to use you to show His mercy to others. Trust me, trusting in Him is the way to go. 

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The Word Among Us

Regnum Christi

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Evangeli

Living Faith

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Jesus is doing what Jesus does: curing the sick and preaching the Good News to eager crowds. He is touching people, healing people, freeing people. While the Pharisees reject Him and accuse Him of being in league with the devil, the throngs of people long for His healing presence; they are “troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” And Jesus’ loving heart is “moved with pity for them.” His love longs to shepherd them into the fullness of life, into truth and beauty and goodness, forever.

This aching love of Jesus to heal and free every single person drives Him to all the towns and villages, to teach in their synagogues and proclaim the Good News, and cure “every disease and illness.” There is always more to do, more people to reach, and His time is short.

He reminds His disciples that the people have a deep need, more vast than they can fill, so they must pray for laborers to continue this work. The Church is to be the way this work continues, the continuous presence of Christ the Good Shepherd to His troubled sheep, to all the nations until the end of time. Through the Church, the work of salvation continues through the Sacraments, which are Christ’s way of remaining with us. Through them He touches us and heals us and frees us and draws us into the Family of God, from the very beginning of our life in Christ until the last moments of our lives on this earth. And these Sacraments are ordinarily administered to us through the ministerial priesthood, those chosen and called to be laborers for the harvest in the particular way of Holy Orders.

“The harvest is abundant,” and we must pray for laborers for the harvest – for vocations to the priesthood to continue the work of salvation Jesus entrusted to His Church. But we must not forget that we are all called to work in the Vineyard of the Lord by virtue of our Baptism, when we are cleansed of Original Sin, reborn of water and the Spirit, and then anointed into the Body of the risen Christ, anointed into His mission as priest, prophet, and king. Our baptismal grace calls each of us to the very work of Christ, each laboring for the Kingdom according to our vocation and state in life.

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The Word Among Us

Regnum Christi

One Bread, One Body

Evangeli

Living Faith

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The faith of the hemorrhaging woman is astounding! Having exhausted all her medical options, she seeks assistance from the Divine Physician. Her faith, Jesus will later tell her, is what made her well. Her courage to reach out for healing became the remedy for her chronic ailment.

Jesus allows us to reach out to Him for healing, for help, for abundant graces — to reach out and touch His heart with our acts of faith and love. After nearly twenty years in Catholic ministry, I have witnessed how few people realize how precious they are to the Lord. Whatever our reasons may be, we tend to be unaware of the deep, abiding love Jesus has for us. Saint Paul writes, “But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8), proving that God’s love for us is never conditioned on our perfection. 

While the woman’s faith is attributed to her recovery, I want to emphasize that faith never guarantees automatic healing, nor does a lack of healing indicate insufficient faith or that someone didn’t pray enough. God’s plan is beyond our understanding, and His purpose is not merely to provide temporary solutions, as any earthly healing would only be fleeting. Instead, He desires for us to be with Him in heaven for eternity. 

Jesus looks around to identify who had touched Him (Lk 8:45). Courage, maybe fueled by desperation, moved the hemorrhaging woman to seek Jesus’ help. Moved by her faith, He then seeks her out. The Apostles assume Jesus is trying to figure out the source of a physical touch, but I can’t help but wonder if He’s asking a deeper question, too: “Who has touched My heart with your trust, hope, courage, and faith?” Perhaps desperation drove her, but regardless of the reason, she found the courage to take a leap of faith and reach out.

What do I need to reach out to Jesus for? What fear or doubt holds me back from doing so? Even though I know He welcomes it, I still worry about reaching out to Jesus. I struggle with this crazy belief that I only get so many prayers answered in my life. Yet the truth is that Jesus is not a genie in a bottle; there’s no limit to His love, mercy, and desire to assist me. Even if He does not answer in the way I think He should, He will never leave a prayer unanswered. I know I certainly have found myself in situations where I suffered far longer than I needed to out of stubbornness or ignorance. If I would just reach out to Him in faith, I would be able to go in peace, just as Jesus instructed the woman in today’s Gospel.

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Regnum Christi

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Evangeli

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Imagine being one of these seventy-two disciples. The twelve Apostles had been sent out on a similar mission (Luke 9:1-6.) Their lives had already changed dramatically. Each had given up everything to follow Jesus. They saw in Christ the fulfillment of the promise made to their people, and they longed to be with Him. Then, things changed when the Twelve were called to go out into the world and show the power and authority that Christ had given to them. The students became teachers, and word of the Messiah spread.

In today’s Gospel, things are changing again. The call of the Twelve is becoming the call of the seventy-two because “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Though these disciples are not given the full authority that the Twelve received in their mission, Jesus appoints dozens of those who have come to believe in Him to go and get other places ready to receive Him. His instructions echo those he had given His Apostles. He essentially instructed them, “Go into towns with nothing, stay with whoever welcomes you, eat whatever they feed you. Tell them about Me, so they are ready to receive Me.”

What must they have felt? Unsure, incapable, unworthy? But like the Twelve, they went. Humbly, they trusted in Jesus, and they went on their mission. And they were successful. 

While he was still with them, Jesus, the perfect teacher, had given the Twelve, and then the Seventy-Two, a taste of what they would be called to do with the Holy Spirit when He was gone. 

When the disciples returned rejoicing, He taught them again. They were understandably amazed and delighted by what they had been able to do in Jesus’ name, but we hear Christ’s call again to humility: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Our Pope and our Bishops follow a direct line of succession from those first twelve Apostles. Peter was eventually handed the keys of the Kingdom, and that call to teach and spread the truth of the Gospel has been carried forth ever since by our leadership. From the start, though, they were not expected to do it alone. Those who were given the gift of faith were also called to help spread the word. 

If you are reading this today, then somewhere along the way, you heard the Gospel, and you have come to know the Messiah. Your heart has been touched, and your life has been changed. Now, humbly trusting in the One who called you, you are asked to go out into the world and make the way for Jesus to reach new hearts. How? Speak up, invite, and love completely, remembering that any heart touched is done through you, not by you. What a privilege it is to be that instrument. Doing so, you won’t have to imagine being one of the seventy-two anymore; you will be among them.

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The Word Among Us

Regnum Christi

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Evangeli

Living Faith

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We like to cling to our traditions. We tend to gripe over changes to things we are used to. “But this is the way we always have done it,” is a line that has come up in numerous event planning meetings I have been a part of. As a result, people try to keep their favorite parts of the old way of doing things and shove it into the new way. Usually, it doesn’t fit. You can sense that it is forced, this clinging to the past rather than embracing the new way forward. The new way can’t be as effective when people aren’t ready to let go of what was.

In today’s Gospel, the disciples of John question Jesus as to why He and His disciples aren’t fasting like they do. Jesus explains that they will fast in the future, but for right now, something is different and the old way doesn’t work. Jesus makes everything new. He changes the way we view the world. He changes the way we love others. He changes the way we respond to God’s will. He shows us how to be vulnerable, how to suffer, how to enter into new life and how to go out and serve others. 

To know Jesus means you are changed, and once you are changed, you must choose. Do you choose to cling to the old or do you choose to step out into the new? Peter and Andrew chose to step out into the new. They left their nets and their boats–the old way of life–in order to make space for a new way of life, a life of preaching and healing and teaching and loving.

If you try to listen to the Gospel while also avoiding making any changes to align your life with the Gospel, you are going to be living in constant tension. This can cause shame or guilt which can lead to bitterness toward the Gospel, when it should be bearing fruit in your life. This is the bursting or the tearing Jesus refers to when what you know is right and how you are living are at odds with each other.

Jesus makes it clear in the Gospel that we need to make our hearts new in order to receive the message of the Gospel, in order to receive what He wants to pour into us. We also need to know what we are ready to apply to our lives. Sometimes we want to implement something as soon as we hear it, but it needs time to be “pre-shrunk” in order to fit where it needs to be applied to our life. 

However, when we renew our hearts, when we seek healing for our wounds, when we follow God’s will for our life rather than our own, then we can receive Jesus’ healing love and mercy. 

Let us constantly seek to be renewed in the life of Christ so that we can always be open and ready to receive Him.

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The Word Among Us

Regnum Christi

One Bread, One Body

Evangeli

Living Faith

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I have noticed in my time in ministry and as I have been trying to follow Jesus for a while now, that there is a trap laid before the feet of a weathered Christian. When I was younger, I misunderstood this trap. I thought that people used religion as a weapon in order to establish a culture they were comfortable with. Now I understand a bit more, especially now that I have dealt with these temptations from time to time.

Jesus proclaims to us today, “Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” After working for years with Jesus to put an end to sin in my life and live a full one, I have begun to experience the temptation of self-righteousness. I feel that I struggle the most with this temptation when my outlook is focused on accomplishments in the spiritual life. It is my experience that my temptation to self-righteousness is rooted in self-reliance. As I have grown, I have taken more pride in being able to provide for my family, and in my accomplishments and goals. 

In other words, my desire for a good life seeps into my view of my spiritual life. By doing this, I sacrifice my mindset that life and every good thing in it is a gift. I forget that my ability to not sin is a gift. It is in my forgetfulness and my desire to protect the ideals I have set for myself that I give myself the freedom to judge, set standards for other people that I do not know, and burn myself out striving for the gift of Heaven which is impossible for a human being to earn. It is a gift from the Father who loves us enough to send His only Son to die for us.

Look at how the Pharisees treated those Jesus was trying to heal. They were rude and looked at the tax collectors and prostitutes as if they were insignificant and dirty. Their defensive attitudes of trying to establish themselves as important in God’s eyes brought them to an attitude of judgment and cruel words. I find that it is when I overextend the standards that I have set for myself to others, and compare others to that standard, that I act like a Pharisee. 

It is my prayer for myself and you that we can seek the living mercy of Jesus and not what makes us feel secure. I would like to challenge you to reflect and allow the Holy Spirit to gently open your eyes to those who you treat as the Pharisees did the tax collectors and prostitutes and ask for mercy. If you are on the flip side of this and feel that there are many in the Church who judge you, my challenge for you is to lock eyes with Jesus and let Him heal you. May Jesus bless us all with clean hearts.

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The Word Among Us

Regnum Christi

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Today’s Gospel from John emphasizes peace and the Holy Spirit abiding within us. Christ’s first word following His death is “Peace”. I do not find that I am a naturally peaceful person. I tend to get easily distracted and upset by life not being “fair”, or agitated when things do not go exactly as I had planned. I am flawed. Yet so much greater than this is that I am also loved. Above all else, Christ has laid down his life for me. I owe it to Him to do my best to try to find inner peace. It is often a battle. My mind races at night, dwelling on what might go wrong. Yet, by listening to the Word of God as I fall asleep, I am calmed and reminded of who I really am. I am a child of God, who belongs to Him, and that is more than enough.

We may not always know where we belong or how each passing moment might unfold. While I may not be at peace of my own accord, with God’s grace, He will remain in me as a source of peace through the Holy Spirit. He will help me find the way.  The Holy Spirit resides in each of us, guiding us, so that in each passing moment we can become more like Christ. Pope Benedict XVI explained, “Every person carries within himself, a project of God, a personal vocation, a personal idea of God, on what he is required to do in history to build his Church, a living temple of his presence.” (Pastoral Visit to the Parish of St. Felicity and her Children, Martyrs, March 25, 2007) we each have a calling, a reason for why God has created you and me. We have been chosen and should be excited to share God’s glory with all we encounter. As Jesus explained to St Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

“Loving God, please grant me peace of mind and calm my troubled heart. My soul is like a turbulent sea. I can’t seem to find my balance so I stumble and worry constantly. Give me the strength and clarity of mind to find my purpose and walk the path you’ve laid out for me” (Author Unknown).

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