Especially over the past year, so many of us have experienced losses. God doesn’t take away the pain of our losses but helps us to see through it to the future that God has in mind for each one of us, and for all of us.
Like those Apostles and the early Christians, we are responding to new needs in new ways. Christ again tells us to not be afraid, even in the midst of the pains and difficulties of the present moment.
When we choose to love our enemies – or as Dr. King put it, when we find the “strength to love our enemies,”– we show the truth and beauty of the message of Christ to others.
In today’s readings, God speaks to us through the prophet Isaiah and reminds us of how we come to this newness of spirit. It is a Lenten checklist of doing charity and justice – of caring for others.
The presence of the Blessed Mother to Juan Diego echoes her presence in the Scripture readings for today, which remind us of Mary’s role as “first disciple,” always bringing to the Church the Good News of her Son.
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