Holy Week

I hope you are all having a blessed Holy Week.  I know many of you are very busy with youth activities, living Stations of the Cross, preparing for Easter services, etc.

I hope in the midst of the busyness, you have a chance to take time for yourself.  One question that I ask myself during Lent and Holy Week each year is where would I be, what would I have done with my life if I hadn't met Jesus?

I have no idea.  But I know my life would be a faint shadow of what I have in Him.  When I was 18 years old, I encountered Christ in the confessional.  I came face to face with the God who loves me and had the power to set me free from sin.  That encounter changed everything.

I had plans.  I had dreams.  I had goals.  What I did not have was purpose.  I did not know why I had been created.  After I encountered Christ, I began to pray, read the Scriptures, pay attention at Mass.  I came to know Christ.  I began to understand His love, His ways, His truth, and began living the life He desired for me.

It is because of His dying and rising that all of this has been possible.  This Holy Week I am thankful for His suffering and death.  I am also grateful for all the sufferings I have experienced that have allowed His grace to work in me and through me.  I am grateful for my family, especially my wife Lisa.  I am grateful for being able to serve Christ through the Youth Outreach Office here at Franciscan.

And I am grateful for all of you who serve the Lord so faithfully.  I am thankful for your prayers and your continued support of the summer conferences.

May God bless you abundantly.  Have a joyful Easter.  Peace.