When people are shown the way, the Spirit can move their hearts. Peter encouraged people to repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit… and they listened. We can do the same. We can be shepherds to others by modeling Jesus’ love and radical acceptance. If we let the Spirit work through us, we can lead people to greener pastures. Suffering may be part of the journey, but we know that’s okay. And even if we go astray, we have faith that the Holy Spirit will always lead us back to the Lord!

Quite often, our readings contain lessons on how to live our lives in a better way, but sometimes our readings are focused on the foundations of our faith. We base our faith on the belief that Jesus is the Messiah and that he came to free us from sin and death, just as the prophecies said he would. Our faith and trust in the Lord is what gives power to the Gospel message. Our faith isn’t some musty old religion - it’s always bright and new because Jesus is risen and will never truly be gone!

When we look at the messages from our readings this week, the overarching theme is a call to return to the essence of early Christianity. We seem to have lost our way, and to get on a better path, we should do more to emulate the early church's focus on sharing the Gospel message, taking care of one another, and inviting everyone to the Lord’s table. But to do that, we need to understand the importance of faith over certainty. We need to put our trust in the unseen and overcome our human desire to be “right.” Instead of arguing about the Latin Mass or the existence of Limbo, we should be trying to return to the core teachings of Christianity, prioritizing love, faith, and the divinity of Jesus Christ.

As Christians, we understand that, through our belief in Jesus Christ, we receive forgiveness of sins and experience the life-changing power of his name. We should strive to let the Gospel message be like new yeast in our lives, spreading and transforming every aspect of who we are. To do that, we need to allow Jesus to change us from the inside out. And even though we may struggle with fears and uncertainties, we can trust that Jesus is always with us, guiding us and leading us on this journey of faith!

We know that people can become blind to Jesus for many different reasons, proclaiming their righteousness while turning their backs on Christ. It’s easy to fall into that trap because God’s rules are different. When people get caught up in their prejudiced beliefs, they end up being Christians in name only. It’s a difficult problem, so we must answer our baptismal call. Especially when things get bad, we have to do our best to continue sharing the Gospel message of love and radical acceptance!

God can work miracles, including bringing an entire “people” back from exile and protecting them. He did it for the Israelites, and we need to carry that message to the persecuted and marginalized people in our world today. We can be modern day prophets and truly come alive with the spirit. That doesn’t mean we’ll never suffer; but if we end up in one of life’s “dark tombs,” we need to remember that we’re not alone. Just like he came for Lazarus, Jesus will come for us too!

We tend to judge OTHERS by their words and actions, but WE expect to be judged by our intent… and we rarely give others the benefit of the doubt. Of course, there are people with bad intentions - and our intentions aren’t always wholesome - but it’s up to God to do the judging. The Lord can see our hearts, so nothing can hide those dark deeds from God. Our judgment is clouded by many things, and we all have blind spots, which is all the more reason to leave the judging to God!

During Lent, we’re called to repent for our sins, but we should also take time to think about our blessings. We tend to remember bad things and forget the good, which can give us a negative perception of things and cause us to believe we’re not worthy of God’s love. We must remember that it’s not about worthiness. We’re all sinners and God loves us anyway. In fact, Jesus loves us so much that he’s made the first move and is just waiting for us to ask so he can provide what we need!

All the great things that have come from our faith happened because people trusted in the Lord. Abram trusted in the Lord, and the first covenant was made. The apostles and the earliest disciples of Christ trusted the Lord, which led to the new covenant. St. Paul trusted the Lord, which allowed him to authentically preach the importance of suffering for the Gospel message, which allowed the early Christian community to thrive and grow in spite of years and years of persecution. And it all happened because they trusted the Lord!

We have free will and the knowledge of good and evil, so we should be held accountable for our choices. There are other factors that cloud our judgment though, and we’re tempted to take care of our own needs first, so it’s good that Jesus gave us an example to follow by facing temptation and resisting. We should try to be strong like Jesus and choose to do what’s right. We won’t always succeed, but luckily our sins are forgiven through Jesus’ sacrifice, so all we need to do is ask!