2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)

04-24-2022Weekly Reflection©LPi

Even Thomas struggles to remove his boulder! Being very pragmatic and determined, he wants to see the risen Christ for himself! Thomas’s boulder is heavy with mistrust. Many of ours are too. A certain amount of skepticism is good, as it can save us from being duped or misled. But we can become so skeptical of things that it erodes our ability to trust anything we see or hear. Skepticism can actually be a well-disguised defense mechanism that we use to prevent us from being hurt or perceived as a fool. Having too much ego protection is a real risk. Thomas, because of the boulder blocking his vision, could not even trust the word of his friends.

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Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

04-17-2022Weekly Reflection©LPi

There are many stones in our paths that keep us from truly living and being free. Some of these boulders have been there for a very long time. They have been there so long that they have even settled into the soil of our lives with other weeds, vines, and compacted soil keeping them firmly in place. We find them hard to move and trying to do so can be exhausting. What are these suffocating albatrosses that keep us so tethered and immobile? They are many things.They are past childhood wounds and hurts that stem from disappointment, rejection, or abuse. People may have told us we were unwanted, that the world is frightening, that there are only some acceptable feelings you can have and others you cannot. We may have tried to love someone or struggled to figure out how and were met with rejection. Maybe we trusted someone completely and were betrayed. We come to life collecting barnacles that begin to attach to other barnacles and before you know it, we have a mass of solid matter blocking our vision and keeping us from moving. We live in fear. We are afraid of losing what we have, afraid that the future will be empty, afraid that we won’t succeed and even more afraid that we will not be loved. There is so much fear. Didn’t Jesus tell us not to worry and to not be afraid? Either we believe in the message of Easter, or we don’t!

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Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

04-10-2022Weekly Reflection©LPi

Pope St. John Paul II rightly taught, “To believe in Jesus is to accept what he says, even when it runs contrary to what others are saying. It means rejecting the lure of sin, however attractive it may be, in order to set out on a difficult path of Gospel virtues.” Acceptance, rejection, suffering, betrayal, fear, reluctance, persecution, and painful, undeserved and unjust death are all played out in dramatic fashion today. Jesus spoke of God’s unconditional love, mercy, and forgiveness. Who doesn’t like hearing about love, especially God’s? Jesus did not have backs turned on him, face intense suffering, and succumb to a horrific death because he spoke of God’s love. All of those things occurred because of the implications of actually believing in God’s love.

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5th Sunday of Lent

04-03-2022Weekly Reflection©LPi

We love to make examples out of those who have erred and done wrong. Publicly punishing others serves as a means of demonstrating the consequences for what is deemed inappropriate or wrongful behavior. While this may appear an effective way of achieving conformity to established rules, it runs the real risk of distorting motivation. Obviously, we want people to do what is right and pursue healthy, virtuous behaviors and ideals. But is fear of punishment ever the best motivation for avoiding one action in favor of another?

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