If you're going to follow Jesus don’t look for the world's approval. Don’t expect to be welcomed every where. Know that some people are going to be hostile to the work of the Kingdom. But, knowing all that, we believers do not have permission to get defensive or aggressive. We do not have permission to get angry. We just keep going letting the witness of our faithfulness accomplish what our anger never could.

I am tired this week. I am not enough. I can’t hope to be able to do everything I have to do alone. You might be just like me. In this week’s Gospel I hear Jesus asking me to bring him everything I have, and trust that he will make up the difference and then some. I think he is probably asking you to do the same.

Could Jesus be any more explicit. If you are a follower of Christ, then the expectation is that you will hear, and follow the voice of the Lord. And, not just in some sort of abstract way, but in a literal way.

As we read the story of Jesus appearance to the Apostles, and specifically to Thomas, we have to ask our selves, “Do I believe that Jesus is with me now? Do I believe that he hears me, know my doubts, knows my struggle? Do I believe that he loves me enough to show me what I need to believe?”

This Easter we need to invite God to remove all of our ideas of who he is, and to come into our lives anew. We need to invite him reveal to us, not who we think he is, or what we think he is supposed to do, but who he truly desires to be in our lives, and the plan he has for our lives.

This week's episode is getting out a little late due to a very full week filming the Everyday Catholic show. It's Palm/Passion Sunday this week, and I thought it would be a good idea to take a closer look at the Apostles performance on the night of Christ passion. He is faithful. We, well, we need Him.

When we go to confession God will always be waiting to forgive us and receive us there, but the plan is not that we just keep sining and coming back. We should be cooperating with the Holy Spirit and allowing sin to be eradicated from our lives.

The prodigal son is familiar, but we need to hear it. We need to place ourselves in the story. We are the lost son, wandering off. We are the one the father kisses on the cheek. We are the ones he wraps in fine clothes and throws a feast to celebrate. We are also the older brother. We are called to do the work of the kingdom. We are called to live and walk in holiness, but we can never forget that we don’t do it as servants or slaves, but instead we do it as the lost who have been found seeking out the lost who still need to be found.

Jesus life had purpose. Our salvation. Our lives in him also have purpose, the salvation of others. Just like Jesus laid down his life that we might be saved, we should be laying down our lives so that other people can come to know Christ and be saved.

This week go away with the Lord to a time of prayer. Ask him to be revealed. Stay with the prayer longer than you think you have stamina for, even if that means falling asleep, and ask the Lord to wake you to the reality of who He is.

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