In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus tells his friends: “You know the way to the place where I’m going.” But Thomas replies, “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going – how can we know the way?” Perhaps you’ve been in Thomas’ shoes…

In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus tells his friends: “You know the way to the place where I’m going.” But Thomas replies, “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going – how can we know the way?” Perhaps you’ve been in Thomas’ shoes…

We can imagine their conversation in the couple of hours the walk to Emmaus would have taken: “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.” Yes, we can easily imagine saying such things, mostly because we have all said them.

We rejoice this night, and we take strength from our gathering, from the stories of the Scriptures, and from this Eucharist, that we may bring the love of Christ outside the doors of this Church into a world that needs to hear the Good News that we proclaim tonight: that the power of this night dispels wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.

We rejoice this night, and we take strength from our gathering, from the stories of the Scriptures, and from this Eucharist, that we may bring the love of Christ outside the doors of this Church into a world that needs to hear the Good News that we proclaim tonight: that the power of this night dispels wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.

This week, Fr. John reflects on the significance of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, highlighting themes of friendship, honesty with God, and the call to let go of burdens to embrace new life in faith.

Fr. John Vien emphasizes the importance of choices in life, highlighting God’s selection of unlikely individuals for significant tasks. He urges Christians to respond actively to God’s call through faith, prayer, and good works.

Throughout the Gospels, we see this truth: an encounter with Jesus changes everything. And so, conversion begins. And conversion is not a one-time event. It is the journey of a lifetime. Conversion is part of our own Lenten story.

This Lent, may our Achilles heel not be our weakness, but rather, a pathway for God’s grace and mercy to enter our lives and help us to live a more Christ-like life.

Is God’s call just for religious professionals, priests and sisters and monks and nuns? Absolutely not! God’s call is for everyone, and everyone has a call.

Is God’s call just for religious professionals, priests and sisters and monks and nuns? Absolutely not! God’s call is for everyone, and everyone has a call.

I think that God often operates this way. Like Columbo, he says throughout the Scriptures, throughout history, and to us today, “Just one more thing.”