Our Lady Of Perpetual Help

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Reflection -   Week of July 6, 2025

Question of the Week:

How am I willing to labor this week to add to Jesus’ harvest?

     The cross manifests a similar contradiction. The cross was a symbol of ignominy and death. Even for Jesus, it was a sign of hardship and sacrifice. In encouraging his disciples to carry their crosses, he taught them to sacrifice their own desires for God’s will and their neighbors’ needs. But Jesus’ victory over the cross adds a completely different meaning. It is through the cross that we are redeemed, that we are given eternal life. Paul goes so far to say that he has no reason to boast of anything that he has done, but only of what Jesus did on the cross. His victory on the cross makes all things new. The world and all of us in it are a new creation.

     Jesus does not make it easy for his disciples. Instead of sending them out in a group so that some could just tag along, he sends them out two by two. He sends them with no money or change of clothes, making them dependent on the people they meet (and on God). He sends them “like lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:3). But he gives them all that they truly need: the power to build the kingdom in his name. Jesus calls us to do the same. We can bring peace to a household with understanding and forgiveness. We can heal suffering with our presence and kindness. We can drive out the demons of hatred and discord, of injustice and oppression, by being the voice and hands of Christ in the world. Then may we rejoice as the disciples did, marveling at what we can accomplish in Jesus’ name.