This past weekend we passed a grim milestone: one year of COVID-19 deaths. It coincided with the celebration of Laetare Sunday, a Sunday that marks the halfway point through Lent and sees priests explaining to their parishioners that they are wearing rose vestments, not pink for crying out loud. My homily last Sunday touched on that experience of living with the pandemic and yet being called to rejoice. Our paradoxical exit from exile is the cross. We can look even death in the face and remember that God is with us. We look upon a place of suffering and find hope.
That's the mystery of our Christian belief. We find our hope in what looked like the most hopeless situation. But only the cross could bring us the Resurrection. Only something that looked so hopeless could show us that only God can give us a hope strong enough to carry us through anything. On March 22nd through the 24th, I will be at Ss. Peter and Paul in Naperville, IL, talking about the paradox of living in hope. The parish mission will be livestreamed through their parish YouTube page starting at 7 PM each night of the mission.
Here's a little promo video I did to invite folks to the mission:
In God, we always have a future. St. Joseph knew that better than most. Join us for three nights of discovering that source of hope that St. Joseph knew so well and discovering how not only to find hope, but to live hope.
LIVING IN HOPE
Ss. Peter & Paul Parish Mission
March 22nd, 23rd, 24th
7:00 PM Central