May 4

by David Lins  |  05/04/2020  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

Today’s Readings: ACTS 11:1-18 PS 42:2-3, 43:3-4 JN 10:11-18

For years, I found it was easier to get teenage girls into my youth groups than teenage boys. Shouldn’t be a shock, as the same holds true for adult programming within the Church.

I may be wrong, but I suspect it involves the interior workings of men and what we are drawn toward. We hate being vulnerable. We hate weakness. We hate asking for help…or even directions.

On the flip side, we do value heroism, sacrifice, and true strength.

I’m afraid one of the great failures of the Church is communicating and emphasizing the heroism, sacrifice, and strength of Jesus Christ. Sure. We talk about and remember His sacrifice, but we don’t spend enough time on the fact he willingly walked into the hornet’s nest. At the end of today’s Gospel, there are some powerful words I’d like to zoom in on.

“This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.””

He walked straight into torture and death. He was both sides of the coin. And we are called to follow him in all of it.

We are called to be vulnerable.

We are called to be weak.

We are called to ask for help.

We are called to be heroic.

We are called to sacrifice.

We are called to be strong.

We are called to be Jesus.

David is the Director of Faith Formation at Our Lady of Joy. If you have comments or questions, send your emails to dlins@oloj.org.

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