WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY-SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

-From Christ Is Alive! by Pope Francis

Finally, there is a third truth, inseparable from the second: Christ is alive! We need to keep reminding ourselves of this, because we risk seeing Jesus Christ simply as a fine model from the distant past, as a memory, as someone who saved us two thousand years ago. But that would be of no use to us: it would leave us unchanged, it would not set us free, the one who fills us with his grace, the one who liberates us, transforms us, heals and consoles us is someone fully alive. He is the Christ, risen from the dead, filled with supernatural life and energy, and robed in boundless light. That is why St Paul could say, “If Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile.” (I Corinthians 15:7) Alive, he can be present in your life at every moment, to fill it with light and to take away all sorrow and solitude [loneliness]. Even if all others depart, he will remain, as he promised: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) He fills your life with his unseen presence; wherever you go, he will be waiting there for you. Because he did not only come in the past, but he comes to you today and every day, inviting you to set out toward ever new horizons.

Father Bill +