This Easter season has been filled with miracles, revelations and works; all to demonstrate the saving power of God. We see these works through the poor, the sick, the lonely and in the ordinariness of our simple lives. The sacramental life of the suffering members of our parish show us what it means to be created in the image and likeness of a God Who was born lowly and suffered dishonorably.

By becoming one of us, the Son of God reaches into our bodies and raises them up so that we can become vehicles for human redemption.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd understands our struggles, our feelings of alienation and fear, our arrogance and ignorance and still gathers us up like lost sheep and rests us on His shoulders. He carries to communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

My dear friends, Jesus can lead us safely home if we learn to depend on Him. We cannot do it alone. We cannot save ourselves. Only God is the Lord of all life, human beings have no power over Him.

Now is the time my dear friends to listen for His voice and follow where He leads. Take His hand and allow yourselves to be transformed more greatly into the Christ. The Church needs you to know Jesus, to love Him and to confess His Name with everyone in your family, in your neighborhood, and in the workplace. Jesus is proud to say to the entire world today, “I am the good Shepherd; I know my sheep, and mine know me!”

Ever since Holy Saturday Evening, we have been encountering the risen Christ. Everywhere we look, we see signs of Him. Every day at Mass, we hear of his appearances to His Apostles and Disciples and have come to believe that the tomb was really empty.

But, there are people in the world today that do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, or those who have chosen to ignore it. And so we come together as a parish this weekend to be strengthened in our worship of God because you see, we see the Risen Christ! We can touch Him!

We can testify together to this Truth that Jesus is alive and dwells among us. We look to this Altar and say like Peter, “It is the Lord.”

My friends, we come here every weekend to encounter the Lord Jesus, Who died and rose again in a very personal way. When we experience Him in the Eucharistic Bread, our lives are changed; they are lifted up, expanded, spilling over with love.

And so Jesus asks us, “Do you love me” more than material things? Then teach others to do the same. “Do you love me more” than your self? Then teach others to do the same. “Do you love me” enough to give me away to others who need me? Tend my sheep.

Jesus is alive and lives among us. Be bold in your witness like the Apostles who were ordered to stop speaking in the name of Jesus but continued anyway and they rejoiced that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of His Name.

You can do it! You encounter Jesus, take Him with you and give Him away to those who need Him! He is risen, Alleluia!

Today marks the beginning of a holy week of remembrance. Through the Scripture, Song and Sacred Ritual, we commemorate Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. Our journey to God leads us now to the gates of Jerusalem where ‘Jesus emptied Himself and accepted death on a cross.’ We come to this time and place, open to the wonders of the power of Christ’s death; a power that brings new life to those who have lost hope, a home to the confused, and healing to those who suffer.

We find encouragement on this journey from the Gospels. The Pope said this morning, we should “not be men and women of sadness: a Christian can never be sad! Never give way to discouragement! Ours is not a joy that comes from having many possessions, but from having encountered a Person: Jesus, from knowing that with Him we are never alone!”

We are meeting Jesus on His Way through Jerusalem. He is here for a purpose: to be proclaimed a King. But, what kind of King? Jesus is a King who is humbled, who suffers, who will be sacrificed.

As we walk along this road with Him we come to understand our own frailties and see in His poverty a heart still young and strong, fired with love for us. We will watch Him fall three times and in each fall see in ourselves an opportunity to rise again and keep on walking, close to the cross, like Simon the Cyrene.

My dear friends, this is the moment to draw out of our busy lives the love we have for Jesus; to feel our hearts pumping with the excitement of knowing the person of Jesus; of seeing in faces around us a need to be cared for, an encouraging word, a simple towel with which to wipe their faces.

Take these moments of holy week and savor them, for they are, in each minute, a love song for you to offer the God Who is ever present in your life and wishes only that you love Him in return.

“Christ’s cross embraced with love does not lead to sadness, but to joy! The joy of being saved and doing a little bit what He did that day of His death.” (Francis, Pontiff)

With young hearts that “never grow old,” “let us welcome the Lord as He comes, with songs and hymns, let us run to meet Him, as we offer Him our joyful worship and sing: ‘Blessed be the Lord.” (Canticle Antiphon)

It is difficult for a priest to go to confession, to be ‘on the other side’ of the screen. I am embarrassed by the repetitiveness of my sins so often and disappointed with myself that I did not do better to perfect myself in the spiritual life.

But, I know it is important for me to go; not just as a priest, but also as a person who is journeying toward heaven, like you. The reason I go is contained in the Gospel this morning: A woman’s sins become public and a mob of self-righteous people has hauled her into the street. The mob becomes more and more hateful as they drag her in pre-judgment to her death.

Along the way, they meet Jesus and to see what He would say, almost making a mockery of Him Who teaches mercy as well as justice. Jesus challenges directly: ‘Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

On which side of Jesus are we standing? Both need the mercy of God, but only one is asking for it. – Jesus in response offers her forgiveness and reconciliation with God.  It was a though Jesus had been waiting for her all along; to meet her face to face, waiting from all eternity for that single moment, where He could speak the words of God: “Come back to me with all your heart.”

This is what draws me to confession. How about you?

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Luke 15:2.

Jesus was always able to confront the Pharisees with the Truth about their religious practices and how these practices connected with the heart. While Jesus made judgments on the actions of people, He left the judgment of people to God.

Today, society uses the term ‘tolerant,’ to mean that we cannot judge the acts of people or people themselves. But that is not exactly right. Actions of people can be sinful and endanger a person’s spiritual or material life and thus endanger the common good.

Fraternal correction, means bringing the Truth about a persons actions and whether or not these actions reflect the intentions of the heart something Jesus did.

The Prodigal Son acted selfishly and squandered his inheritance. He must live with the consequences of his actions, as we all must. But when he repented his father did not scold him, or make judgments. The father embraced him with compassion; in other words, the father took upon himself the sufferings of the son and shared his pain.

The father was not tolerant of the son. He did not approve of his actions. Rather the father loved the son. Tolerance is not pretending wrong things are right. Tolerance is acknowledging people as worthy of human dignity while being responsible for the consequences of their actions.

Sometimes we can be like the Pharisees can’t we? We can fall into the same trap of drawing conclusions about people with little or no information about them. They probably aren’t going to be fishermen form Galilee, or lepers or tax collectors, but they could be our neighbor, someone at school or in our parish, someone with problems we can’t even imagine or even someone who is pretending to know the real truth when in fact they are denying what is right for selfish reasons.

People deserve our patience and love rather than our harsh judgment and gossip. Perhaps taking the example of Jesus and sharing a meal with them would go along way in understanding others rather than excluding or isolating or alienating them.

After all, Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” How could we do less?

The Church has been through a lot this week. Our Holy Father has confronted and revealed his human weakness and in humility has retired from the Petrine Ministry given him.

The Holy Spirit moves in mysterious ways and so when Jesus becomes ‘filled with the Holy Spirit,’ as He does in today’s Gospel, He is moved into the desert to confront and reveal. Jesus was just not pretending to be tempted. His humanity was so complete that the devil himself felt arrogant enough to approach Jesus face to face.

Jesus confronts these temptations and from these temptations He reveals the Truth that conquers lies.

The first lie is that you need material things to satisfy your hunger for sin. But Jesus reveals that there is more to life than material things. The second lie is that if you make other people gods and allow them to lead you into sin, you will have power and glory. But Jesus reveals that we should worship God alone and be led by Him to heaven. Him alone do we serve.

And the third deception is if you put God to the test by trying to bargain with Him. If you try to use Him as an excuse for why you make bad decisions or why bad things have happened to you.  If you make yourself God, the angels will help you and lift you up. Jesus reveals, ‘You shall not put the Lord to the test.’

We confront these temptations every day. We need prayer and spiritual disciplines to face these deceptions and be open to the revelation of Jesus from the Cross on Calvary. We need to call upon Jesus to help us.

When Saint Paul tells us “no one who believes in Him will be put to shame,” he means that we will never be left alone. We will always have parishioners to help us, the Sacraments to strengthen us, Saints to lift us up, and Jesus to love us. We are not alone.

Today begins our parish’s special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. These next Forty Hours will be a turning point in our lives if we leave off our temptation not to participate and make every effort to attend.  There is great power here. We have much to pray for, much to be thankful for and much to adore.

Friends, like life, Lent can be difficult, but it is also a gift that helps us confront the reality of sin in our life and reveal the power of His reconciling love.

Luke describes for us the beginning of the Public Ministry of Jesus by remembering Him opening the Scriptures. The living Word of God is proclaimed and when it is, the Word is fulfilled.

This, my friends, is the ancient Tradition of the Church called, Lectio Divina, the Divine Word. It is a practice of meditating with the Scripture and allowing the Holy Spirit to direct you in ways He wills. It is a surrender to the thoughts and direction of God for each of us in our lives.

This gathering today of the People of God in King of Prussia reveals to our community that we are part of the Body of Christ. We are members of the Church. Paul describes the character of that body for us: First, we are one in communion with Christ, the High Priest. And second, even the weak have a place among us as equals not greater or lesser.  If one member suffers in any way all members suffer. If one is honored, all are honored.

We do not all share the same gifts. I am a celibate, many of you are single, married, consecrated, or are maturing toward those vocations. But though we are called in different ways, we share the same goal: union with Christ in heaven.

And so, God has determined to reveal to us a Scripture passage on which all of us should meditate: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me, to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim this good message to the world.”

My friends, there are many in our community who are captives in sin, who are blinded by their ambition, greed or busyness, oppressed by their own perceptions of how things should and must be. Go out to them and reveal to them in your thoughts, words and deeds that there is a better way. Tell them about your own encounters with Jesus. Welcome them to our parish Church and help them encounter Christ for themselves. Help them see God among us. This is the Living Word given to us today in the Holy Scripture!

As we come together to pray on the eve of the March for Life, I would like to look back to the prophetic document of Paul VI, On Human Life, and in that light, acknowledge the rapid collapse of the human family, but also the great hope given to us by Christ Who makes all things new!

Paul VI addresses the question of human procreation, which touches the purpose and nature of human life. The human person involves more than science or statistics. It involves the whole person, body and soul, who is called to reflect God Himself.

Certainly, we can ignore the need to be a integral person, blaming our busyness and distractions for the problems we encounter, but we cannot avoid the natural consequences of our ignorance that hinder the nurturing of a life in holy communion with Christ.

The social and cultural crisis we face today centers on our coming abandonment of true married love and on our growing inability to relate to one another with a love that is centered in the life and sacrifice of Jesus.

Marriage is an institution of God to fulfill His Plan for our salvation. As a consequence, husband and wife, through mutual sacrifice, and a maturing in their life together, cooperate with God in the conception and rearing of children.

Without God as the core of the family, human life will disintegrate along with its dignity. As our society continues to separate itself from God, even in our public discourse, Paul VI predicted a growing marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards that leads to a greater false tolerance of self-indulgence in a cruder, less human and more angry public sphere.

All of us are aware of how far human nature can be isolated from God. We are just now coming to understand the dangers this isolation brings to the young who are overly exposed to temptation, bombarded with useless information, noise and busyness. These are all distractions that will isolate them from the nurturing family we try so hard to create. Our children need new and more creative incentives to keep the moral law, and participate in a family that has God and marital love at its core.

It is an evil thing to make it easy for children not to choose Christ.

Another issue which has become common place in our society even among fellow Christians and contributes to the further isolation of the human heart is the use of contraceptives which isolate the marital act from God and leads to a lesser reverence for a spouse as the image of Christ; reducing the Act to a means of personal satisfaction rather than elevating it as the sacred bond it is. When we isolate God, we forget true love.

Finally, the Pope warned against giving to a state the power to regulate marital life, which is the heart of every human family. “We run the risk of having an amoral authority intervening in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife,” he said.

Just this past Monday, we were promised a more active disintegration of marriage and a continuance of the culture of death whose tenets arrogantly defy natural life as God created it.

We continue to hear of Catholic hospitals and universities where administrators separate themselves from the Bishops and gloss over moral discernment in an attempt to become more secular, more ‘sensitive’ to the culture of death or more falsely ‘tolerant’ of other opinions rather than a true respect for them. This has led to the taking of more innocent life and the acceptance of more inhuman acts toward human dignity.

What is more tragic for us as Christians is our tendency to ignore the progress of this alienation and pretend it will all go away; that somehow people will get a hold of themselves and start behaving more Christian, more polite, more human. Our silence gives consent and the Truth remains the Truth. When we reject the dignity of human life, we reject Christ and cannot claim to be in full communion with Him.

My dear friends, all around us we see the effects of our cultural attempt to separate God and Man; denying the sanctity of human life, on streets, in our work and in the market. What happens there affects us all. It influences our families, our spouses and our children.

Paul VI wrote these things in the late sixties and he has proved prophetic for us today. He recognized that within this great human suffering would emerge a great longing for holiness. People will begin in their deserted, lonely and alienated lives to appreciate the need for grace and real human love.

These are dangerous times; they are also times of great hope based in the faith we profess here before God.  We are the unashamed believers in Christ. We believe in the Church as Christ Who teaches through our Archbishop. We believe in true human freedom, and in the right of all people to live and pursue the mission God has given them to complete.

We have each other and we have Christ in the Sacraments. It will not be easy, but it will be the right thing to do. So we believe, so we must act!