The Gospel according to Mark (28:8-15)

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce the news to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened. The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say,
‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.

Opening Prayer: Here I am, Lord. I come to hear your Gospel and live it out in my life. Please be with me on my journey today, and shepherd me through my fears so I can experience your joy.

Encountering Christ: This Gospel reminds me of times when we lied to someone and regretted it. Or even worse, we were caught lying and we tried to cover it up by paying out money or a promise. You hear about things like this all over the media how there’s some accusation about someone rich and powerful, then the next thing you know it’s somehow swept away. Yes, we are all sinners but it is being able to identify these faults of ours in order to perfect our mission that Christ has asked of us.

This Gospel reading falls into two very distinct parts, each part standing in contrast to the other. The first part is full of the Joy of Easter. Having heard the message from the empty tomb that Jesus is risen, the women are filled with awe and great joy. Their joy is deepened when the risen Lord himself meets them and commissions them to share the good news, the gospel, with Jesus’ brothers and sisters, his disciples. We have a sense of a joy that is ever expanding, beyond the circle of the women, to the wider circle of the disciples, and beyond them to that much wider circle of all those who will become the Lord’s disciples. We all belong in that wider circle and we are invited to taste the joy of the good news of Easter this Easter Monday. On a side note, don’t you find it’s interesting that women are the substance to this parable? 

The second part of the gospel reading has a much more somber tone. There is a conspiracy to suppress the good news of Easter by spreading a false story, that Jesus’ body was, in reality, stolen. Just as money had been used to procure Jesus’ betrayal; it is used again to promote this lie. The second half of this gospel reading reminds us that there are always forces at work to suppress the Easter story, because this story is so significant and so much depends on it. Easter placed God’s seal of approval on all that Jesus said and did. In raising Jesus from the dead, God raised up all that Jesus stood for. To suppress the Easter story is to suppress the whole story of Jesus from his conception to his death. We are all asked to keep bearing witness to the Easter story even in the face of those who try to suppress it. We are to keep bearing witness to all that Jesus stood for, to his attitudes and values and we are to keep announcing God’s power to transform all our tombs into places of new life.

Some forms of sin can more easily be admitted, especially sins of weakness. When one is weak and falls, it may not be always easy to overcome that sin in the future, but it is easier to acknowledge it as sin when it is caused by human weakness. But a sin of weakness is much different than a sin of obstinate pride. Obstinate pride is not only hard to overcome, it’s hard to admit. It’s hard to admit our sin when it is based on our obstinacy and pride. As a result, this type of sin often leads to other sins such as ongoing deception, manipulation and anger. This is illustrated by these chief priests and elders. But if you can humble yourself and admit your sin when it comes from your pride, that humility can have a powerful and transformative effect upon your life.

After all the miracles and powerful preaching of Jesus, you would think that the chief priests and elders would have believed. But they didn’t. And then, after hearing the testimony of these soldiers, you would think they would have fallen on their knees, repented of their hardness of hearts, and come to believe. But they didn’t. They doubled down in their sin and added sin upon sin.

Closing Prayer: My Jesus, I am honored and humbled to be one of your brethren. Sometimes I forget that I am a child of God and fall into fear and despair. Help me to call on you to be at my side when I am afraid. Help me to praise you when I am joyful. Help me to always live with dignity and love as a child of our Father.

Action of the Day: I will examine my fears and bring them to you to shepherd me through them.

The Gospel according to John (John18:1-19:42)

Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered. Judas his betrayer also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?” They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.” He said to them, “I AM.” Judas his betrayer was also with them. When he said to them, “I AM, “they turned away and fell to the ground. So he again asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” They said, “Jesus the Nazorean.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I AM. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill what he had said, “I have not lost any of those you gave me.” Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its scabbard. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?” So the band of soldiers, the tribune, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus, bound him, and brought him to Annas first. He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews that it was better that one man should die rather than the people. Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Now the other disciple was known to the high priest, and he entered the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus. But Peter stood at the gate outside. So the other disciple, the acquaintance of the high priest, went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in. Then the maid who was the gatekeeper said to Peter, “You are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire that they had made, because it was cold, and were warming themselves. Peter was also standing there keeping warm. The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his doctrine. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken publicly to the world. I have always taught in a synagogue or in the temple area where all the Jews gather, and in secret I have said nothing. Why ask me? Ask those who heard me what I said to them. They know what I said.” When he had said this, one of the temple guards standing there struck Jesus and said, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?” Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. Now Simon Peter was standing there keeping warm. And they said to him, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” Again Peter denied it. And immediately the cock crowed. Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was morning. And they themselves did not enter the praetorium, in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?” They answered and said to him, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” At this, Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” The Jews answered him, “We do not have the right to execute anyone,“ in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled that he said indicating the kind of death he would die. So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.” So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” When he had said this, he again went out to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at Passover. Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Not this one but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a revolutionary. Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck him repeatedly. Once more Pilate went out and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And he said to them, “Behold, the man!” When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” Now when Pilate heard this statement, he became even more afraid, and went back into the praetorium and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” Jesus did not answer him. So Pilate said to him, “Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above. For this reason the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” Consequently, Pilate tried to release him; but the Jews cried out, “If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out and seated him on the judge’s bench in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your king!” They cried out, “Take him away, take him away!  Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.” Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that he said, ‘I am the King of the Jews’.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier. They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down. So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be,” in order that the passage of Scripture might be fulfilled that says: They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots. This is what the soldiers did. Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and that they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe. For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: Not a bone of it will be broken. And again another passage says: They will look upon him whom they have pierced. After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by.

Opening Prayer:  Lord, help me to pray well so I can perceive as deeply as St. John did what was happening.

Encountering Christ: We come to the culmination of our Lenten journey and find ourselves at Jesus passion and the greatest expression of love for another that has ever happened.

We are called to emulate Jesus in the carrying of our own cross. The Lord is never far from us and he carries us through our ups and downs in life. We only need to reflect on how much we are loved!

While there is much that can be written today about the passion, I think it best to allow you to simply spend your time reading and re-reading the gospel of the Passion of Christ. It is so powerful that it speaks for itself.

Aren’t we blessed to have a God that loves us so much? In Jesus’ suffering find the love he displays for you and for me….. Amen

Closing Prayer: Lord, today by your grace I will choose to reject something of the world: perhaps recognition, power, comfort, or pleasure. I will make a sacrifice of this so I can accompany you on the cross just a little bit closer.

Action for the Day: Pray, fast and do a work of mercy for someone. Spend time today in prayer looking for the deeper meaning of God’s endless love for us. We will celebrate the Resurrection soon! It is the greatest story ever to happen!

The Gospel according to John (13:1-15)

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

Opening Prayer: Lord, open my heart to hear the whispers of your heart as you pour it out to me during this prayer.

Encountering Christ: It wasn’t until well into my adult life that I finally learned a powerful lesson, you can’t please everyone.  For a people pleaser by nature that was a difficult pill to swallow.  Although I still struggle with this, I am more at peace with pleasing the Lord.

Our current pope, Francis, is no stranger to controversy.  Not necessarily because of what he says or does but often because of what he doesn’t say or do.  I believe he is in a position where he will never please everyone, or even the majority.  But, that doesn’t seem to phase him.  He has always seemed to me to be at peace with pleasing the Lord.

One of my strongest impressions of Pope Francis is when he visited a prison in Rome in 2017 and included inmates in the Holy Thursday liturgy.  He not only washed their feet but also kissed them before moving on to the next person.  The Pope, the highest ranking official in our Catholic church was on his knees washing and kissing the feet of prisoners.  What a lesson!!  Not because he was, as we traditionally do on Holy Thursday, reenacting the loving gesture and lesson Jesus tried to teach his disciples, but because he brought dignity, humility, and charity to those who are considered outcasts.  Not just by the secular world but unfortunately by many people who claim to be followers of Christ.

In today’s gospel we are once again confronted with how to react and respond to the retelling of an act of humility that precedes the ultimate act of complete and total surrender.  The creator of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen, the son of God knelt before his friends and gave them THE example of a servant’s heart.  Before he was to suffer and die for our salvation, on the same occasion he offered his closest friends the bread of life, he humbled himself in order to show them that the gift of himself and of salvation calls us to serve one another.

All of the lessons, all of the time, conversations, prayers, meals, healings, highs and lows they experienced together culminated with the greatest lesson of all.  To follow Jesus is to love without conditions and to serve.  No fanfare, no parades, no accolades, just serve without counting the cost and to rely on his body and blood for the grace to do so.

What I wouldn’t give to be in the room as he washed the feet of a bunch of confused, bewildered, and probably scared men.  What it must have been like to be present when he said and did all these wonderful and beautiful things.

You and I can every time we celebrate mass and receive the Holy Eucharist.  The same Jesus who two thousand plus years ago said and did these amazing things is just as present.  With this sacred meal we are called to serve, especially those who have been pushed away, for whatever reason.

Will you and I accept His invitation to be different, to serve and not count the cost, or will we run and hide like his friends did when he needed them most?  Let’s go to mass, receive the bread of life and never be the same.

Closing Prayer: Lord, may your example of the greatest becoming the least be for us an inspiration that fills our hearts with a fire to serve as you did.  With the grace we receive in your body and the intercession of all of the saints in heaven may we readily follow in your loving and humble footsteps and never be the same. 

Action for the Day: Look for someone who needs their feet washed.  No, not literally, but who needs to feel the love of our Lord through your servant’s heart.  There are countless ways and many who could benefit from an act of grace and humility wrapped in your body, mind, and soul.

Matthew 26:14-25

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, “My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”’” The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” He said in reply, “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, “You have said so.”

Opening Prayer: O God, who willed your Son to submit for our sake to the yoke of the Cross-, so that you might drive from us the power of the enemy, grant us, your servants, to attain the grace of the resurrection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen. 

Encountering Christ: As we celebrate these sacred days, we too, are invited to journey with Jesus through the Paschal mystery of His Passion, death and resurrection, because the appointed time of Jesus is not a series of events in the distant past, though we look back on it once a year during Holy Week. Rather, Jesus invites each of us to walk with Him, so that, we too may die to sin, and rise to live a new life in Him every day. Jesus also experiences the mystery of human betrayal from one of His own disciples, Judas, who hands Him over to those who seek to kill Him for a few pieces of silver.

Judas a Betrayer? The darkness grows deeper as we move closer to the Passion. The sadness is obvious, as we enter into today’s Gospel scene, where Judas says, without sarcasm or self-awareness, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” 

When Jesus said that one of them would betray him, the disciples didn’t all immediately think of Judas. In fact, each one thought it might be himself. Most of the disciples didn’t see Judas as being any different from themselves. Only John seemed to know that Judas was stealing from the common purse, but perhaps he only found out later, after Jesus’ death. The Lord was the only one at the table who knew what was in the hearts of each of his followers. Still today, only Jesus can judge the hearts of men and women.

Could I Betray Jesus? Why did the disciples say, “Surely not me, Lord?” They were all afraid. They had left Jerusalem at one point because it was too dangerous. They had gone to Jericho for a while until the death of Lazarus. When Jesus announced he was going to Bethany to awaken Lazarus, they expected to die. And now, they had been in Jerusalem for a few days and they realized that the only thing protecting them from death were the adoring crowds during the days and the fact that the Pharisees and the high priest didn’t know where to look for them at night. With danger around every corner, tensions were high. When we place ourselves prayerfully in their shoes, how would we react on that dark moonless night in Gethsemane when the soldiers arrived? Lord, protect us from our weakness!

Love Is in the Details: While we might be very sure we would never betray Jesus in a big way, we all betray him in small ways. Every venial sin is a betrayal. We can tell ourselves that it’s not that important, and so we do what suits us instead of what Jesus would like us to do. We don’t think of ourselves as being like Judas, and perhaps we aren’t, but in some sense, we are, we fall to small temptations we can’t seem to overcome. These little things can have a negative impact on our spiritual life over time. 

Conversing with Christ: Interestingly, Judas is present there at the Last Supper, which is the root of the Mass. This is startlingly good news. Why? It means Jesus associates with all of us sinners, in all of our dysfunction. He entered into the darkness in all of its power, in order to bring the light. Even if Judas was invited into the Lord’s presence… so are you.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will examine my conscience and ask, “Is there some small betrayal that I habitually allow myself?” Not today!

Prayer over the People: Grant your faithful, O Lord, we pray, to partake unceasingly of the Paschal mysteries and to await with longing the gifts to come, that persevering in the Sacraments of their rebirth, they may be led by Lenten works to newness of life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Gospel according to John (13:21-33, 36-38) 

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus’ side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,
“Master, who is it?”
Jesus answered,
“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
“Buy what we need for the feast,”
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

When he had left, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,
‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”

Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?”
Jesus answered him,
“Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later.”
Peter said to him,
“Master, why can I not follow you now? 
I will lay down my life for you.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times.”

Opening Prayer: Dear Jesus, forgive me for those times that I turn away from You and from following Your will.  Help me to draw closer to You this Holy Week, and give me the grace to live as a part of Your Easter people!  Amen.

Encountering Christ:

Today’s Gospel is a particularly heart-breaking story along the story of Jesus.  He had given so much, and taught so much to His closest followers, the Apostles.  Yet, in today’s Gospel, one of them turns fully to the darkness and proceeds ahead with betraying the Lord to the leaders of the Jews. 

Think of it!  Just prior to the passage we read today, Jesus had washed the feet of his Apostles, showing truly that He who was God was also the servant of those who were His. Judas was there, and yet he was unmoved from the path to hand Jesus over.  It is true that he was ordained to be the betrayer, but it’s easy to wonder why he was so unmoved!

Think of the times that each of us has turned away from what God has called us to do for Him.  Those are times of “darkness” for each of us.  Those times that we choose our own will ahead of our Lord’s have to be heartbreaking for our Lord, who wants only for us to walk close to Him, so that we can feel His love in our lives.  The wonderful thing about those occasions is that we can still turn back to God and be received fully into relationship with Him again.

Maybe this Lenten journey has been one of great growth and acknowledgement that God is close, or we have been able to grow in our prayer lives such that we are having a real conversation with God each day.  If that’s true for you, then give thanks to God for that gift!  Ask God to help you carry that added presence into Easter, Ordinary Time and beyond!  Be willing to help others of your brothers and sisters to come to do the same!

Or, perhaps this Lent has been especially hard.  Maybe you have suffered losses, due to COVID, or for other reasons.  Maybe you feel like you did not take enough advantage of this season, and feel like your relationship with God is a shadow of what you think it ought to be.  Don’t despair!  God is intimately aware that each of us is a fallible human being.  Making mistakes is part of the usual course of things.  What we can do, though, as followers of Jesus, is to recognize our shortcomings and those times where we have fallen short, and be reconciled to our Lord, and to make a new start.  God will never cease to call us back.  His well of mercy will never run dry.

As we go through this holiest week in the Catholic liturgical year, let us pause one more time and ask God to show us what one thing we can do to draw closer to Him, and what one thing we can do to draw others to be closer to Him, too.  Even a small step matters!  If we put out an effort that is from our hearts, God will reward that, and will allow us to feel the Easter joy that He longed to give us when He sent Jesus to us.  Be open to that joy, no matter what your life may be like right now.  Remember that we are an Easter people, called to live with hope and joy every day!

Closing Prayer: Jesus, thank You for giving Your life for me!  Thank You for loving me so much that You would have sacrificed Yourself even if it was just for me and only me!  Help me to draw closer to You and to live a life that draws others closer to You as well.  Amen.

Action for the Day: Think of one experience in Your life that has brought you joy.  Thank God for that experience and ask Him to help you to be a light of joy to someone else today!