Fourth Sunday of Easter • Year C
At this time, the Word of God may focus our attention on what’s happening at the Vatican. The Word speaks to us of Jesus’ intimate relationship with us and our relationships with other people. “I know my sheep.” Jesus knows each of us very well. He knows our strengths and weaknesses, our successes and our failures, the choices we make whether they are healthy or sometimes sinful. That can be comforting and encouraging. It can also be scary for us when we may be ashamed of our actions. However, he takes us as we are. He sticks by us, he never abandons us because he loves us and wants to show us the way to a better life.
Third Sunday of Lent • Year B
We proclaim our belief in Christ crucified every time we gather for the Eucharist. These days of Lent are for us a time to reaffirm that belief in Christ crucified. On Ash Wednesday, ashes in the form of a cross were imposed on our foreheads as we heard the words: “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” We journey each week to Good Friday, our commemoration of the Crucifixion. Often during Lent we focus on renewing our lives as individuals. It is also a time for the church, our local communities and the church universal, to be renewed to be a sign of unity in this divided world and an instrument of God’s goodness and peace for all people.