FRIDAY OF THE TWENTY-SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

(from Christ Is Alive! by Pope Francis)

Every other solution will prove inadequate and temporary. It may be helpful for a time, but once again we will find ourselves exposed and abandoned before the storms of life. With Jesus, on the other hand, our hearts experience a security that is firmly rooted and enduring. St Paul says that he wishes to be one with Christ in order to know him and the power of his resurrection. (Philippians 3:10) That power will constantly be revealed in your lives, too, for he came to give you life, and life in abundance. (John 10:10) If in your heart you can learn to appreciate the beauty of this message, if you are willing to encounter the Lord, if you are willing to let him love you and save you, if you can make friends with him and start to talk to him, the living Christ, about the realities of your life, then you will have a profound experience capable of sustaining your entire Christian life. You will also be able to share that experience with other young people. For being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and decisive direction.

Father Bill +