Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him.

Sometimes people tell us things and we just don’t understand what they are trying to say. However, if we don’t seek to clarify, then we remain in the dark. We should never be afraid to question and to seek to understand our faith. This is not to say that we should not believe something because we do not understand, far from it! Rather we should choose to believe while we seek to understand. We need this fidelity to Christ’s message even more when we are faced with trials and tribulations that tempt us to doubt our faith. We will never have a full and faultless knowledge of the Gospels, but what we can do is try to live out the spirit of the good news God has given us through the Scriptures and His Holy Church. There are times when the truth requires us to make a leap of faith in the face of our personal doubts.

Do we constantly seek to understand our faith? What questions do we have about our faith? Have we done everything possible to reconcile our doubts with the Scriptures and the traditions of the Church?

O Lord, we believe, help our unbelief.

Amen.

Third Sunday of Easter

"Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts?”

Sometimes we are troubled by and doubtful of God's Divine Plan for us. We only get a glimpse of what He intends for us and it frightens us. We wonder how we could ever do this thing or that thing He is asking of us. However, this is where trust in the Lord is necessary. We have to cultivate our faith in the Lord, so that when He does ask us to follow Him where we do not want to go we will have the fidelity to say, “Yes.” God does not promise an easy road for His followers. His path is a narrow one with many trials and tribulations along the way. If we stray, even if only by a little, we can get lost. Thankfully, when we do get lost God sends us the graces we need to return to Him just like He sent his Resurrected Son to the disciples when they were lost after his Passion and Death. We are given a new opportunity to live Christ-like lives and we ought to do everything we can to accept these graces and allow God to bring us back into His fold.

What troubles us in our lives? What questions frequently arise in our hearts? How can we address these troubles and questions in such a way as to build up our relationship with God?

O Lord, we are troubled. Help us to become more trusting in you.

Amen.