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Ascension Day: When Christ Disappeared — But Did Not Leave

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There is something almost painful about the story of the Ascension. The disciples stand looking upward as Christ is taken from their sight. After the resurrection appearances, after meals shared beside the sea, after wounds touched and hearts rekindled, Jesus departs again. One can almost hear the silence that follows. And yet the Church has never treated Ascension Day as a day of abandonment. It is a feast of hope. The Ascension is not about Jesus leaving the world behind. It is about Christ filling all things. No longer bound to one road in Galilee or one table in Jerusalem, the risen Christ becomes present to all creation. The One who walked among humanity now carries humanity into the very life of God. The old Celtic Christians often spoke of “thin places” — places where heaven and earth seem close enough to touch. Ascension reminds us that, in Christ, the distance between heaven and earth has already been crossed. This matters for weary souls. There are seasons when Go...
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Never Alone

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Texts: First Epistle of Peter 3:13–22 and Gospel of John 14:15–21 Mother’s Day carries many emotions. For some, it is a day of celebration filled with gratitude and joy. For others, it is quieter and more difficult — a day marked by grief, longing, or remembrance. Many of us hold both joy and sorrow together. This year, the readings from  Peter, 3:13–22 and  John, 14:15–21 speak powerfully into those emotions. In the Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples: “I will not leave you orphaned.” What a beautiful promise. Jesus speaks these words to people who are anxious and afraid. They know change is coming. They know loss is near. Yet Jesus assures them that they will not be abandoned. The Holy Spirit — the Comforter and Advocate — will remain with them. That promise still matters today. There are moments in life when we all feel alone. We carry burdens quietly. We wonder if anyone truly sees what we are going through. Yet the heart of the Gospel is this: God does not aband...
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Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled — Even Now

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It’s not just what Jesus says in John 14—it’s when he says it. “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Jesus speaks these words on the night before everything falls apart. Before the cross. Before the confusion, the fear, and the scattering of his disciples. He is preparing them for loss, and that is when he offers peace. Not after the resurrection. Not once everything makes sense. But right in the middle of uncertainty. And in that very moment, the questions begin to surface. Thomas asks, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” There is something striking about Thomas here. He doesn’t ask easy questions—he asks the right ones. He goes straight to the heart of the matter. He doesn’t pretend understanding or settle for vague reassurance. He names the reality: We don’t know. And because of that honesty, he opens the door for a deeper answer. This is the same Thomas who will later question the resurrection—and who will also make one of the deepest co...
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Living Under the Care of the Good Shepherd

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There is something timeless about the image of a shepherd. Long before modern life taught us to rely on systems, schedules, and self-sufficiency, people understood what it meant to entrust their lives to someone who would guide, protect, and provide. That image runs through Scripture—not as sentimentality, but as truth. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” These words are more than comfort—they are a confession. To call the Lord our shepherd is to admit we are not self-sustaining. We need to be led, restored, and protected. A good shepherd leads to green pastures and still waters. He restores what is worn down. He walks with his flock even through the darkest valleys. This is not a distant God. This is a present one. In John 10, Jesus makes this personal. He says He is the Good Shepherd—the one who knows His sheep and calls them by name. He leads from the front, and His sheep follow because they recognize His voice. But He also says something just as powerful: “I am the gate.” ...
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Walking the Road Without Seeing

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    Third Sunday of Easter Reflection Acts 2:14a, 36–41 | 1 Peter 1:17–23 | Luke 24:13–35 The story of the road to Emmaus is one of the most deeply human moments in the Gospel. Two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem—away from hope, away from what they thought God was doing. And then something remarkable happens: Jesus comes alongside them… and they do not recognize Him. He walks with them. He listens to their grief. He even explains the Scriptures to them. Still, they do not see. Why? Because their expectations are stronger than their awareness. They say it themselves: “We had hoped…” Hope has shifted into the past tense. And when hope dies, vision often narrows with it. How often does that happen in our own lives? Christ may be closer than we think—walking beside us in quiet, ordinary ways—but we miss Him because He does not appear as we expected. Is Faith Harder for Men? This Gospel also opens an honest and sometimes uncomfortable question: Is it harder f...
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When you feel like you missed it

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Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) Acts 2:14a, 22–32 | 1 Peter 1:3–9 | John 20:19–31 The doors are locked. That is where the Gospel begins—not in triumph, confidence, or bold faith, but in fear. The disciples are hiding. The cross has shattered their expectations, and the resurrection has not yet settled into their hearts. They have heard the reports, but they are not yet living in that reality. So they lock the doors. And if we are honest, we know something about locked doors too. We close off our hearts when we are afraid—after disappointment, after grief, after loss—when faith feels fragile and hope uncertain. Christ Enters Our Fear And it is into that very space—into fear and confusion and doubt—that Jesus Christ comes. He does not wait for them to get it together. He does not wait for perfect faith. He does not stand outside and knock. He simply appears among them and says, “Peace be with you.” This is the first gift of the resurrection: peace...
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When Christ Calls Your Name

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Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia. Beginning in the Dark The Easter Vigil begins in darkness. Not just symbolically—but truly. The church is dim. The world is quiet. We wait. And that’s important, because this is how God so often works. “In the beginning… darkness covered the face of the deep.” Before light—darkness. Before creation—silence. Before resurrection—the tomb. Again and again in Scripture, God moves in that in-between space: when things are unclear, unfinished, unresolved. The Vigil invites us to stay there for a moment. The Garden of Grief After all the readings, we arrive in a garden. Not the garden of creation—but a garden of grief. In the Gospel we heard tonight from Matthew, the women come to the tomb in fear and trembling. The earth shakes, the stone is rolled away, and the angel speaks: “He is not here; for he has been raised.” It is  a proclamation—clear, powerful, overwhelming. And yet, even with that proclamation, something in the human ...
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