Jesus Uses the Broken

 Mary Magdalene had SEVEN demons. Seven. Sis was walking around like a whole haunted house—and yet she was the first to see the empty tomb. 👀🙌🏼

The woman at the well? Married five times and still flirtin’ in the heat of the day. And yet, she’s the first person Jesus ever told, “Hey, I’m the Messiah.” Not a priest. Not a king. A woman with a past and a pitcher.

Let that sink in.

So before you disqualify yourself because of what you did, who you were, or what they still call you behind your back—remember this:

Your past doesn’t cancel your purpose. Your past points to your purpose.

God isn’t intimidated by your mess. He specializes in it. That addiction? That heartbreak? That jail cell, bad relationship, or wild season you barely crawled out of? He uses that to reach the people still stuck in it.

And to the ones sittin’ on the pew polishin’ halos instead of bringing people to the baptism pool… ask them gently:

👉🏼 “So… how many folks have YOU led to Jesus this year?”

Go ahead. I’ll wait. ⏳😇

Don’t you dare give up on yourself. You haven’t gone too far—you’re exactly who He came for.

He left the 99 for the 1.

And baby, sometimes you are that one. 💜

~Nicole Pearso  Chatagnier

The Mission of My Life

 God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments. Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.

- Beato John Henry Newman

Two by Two

 A Gospel hymn says, "The harvest is plentiful, the need is great, and few laborers go to the fields. Today many are lost, wandering aimlessly, like sheep without a shepherd. Here I am, send me, I will go to those who live without you." And the truth is, yes, we need to go out to evangelize, which is nothing other than speaking about Jesus to those in need. I read in my parish bulletin that we can offer to pray for someone in need or even pray with them. The deacon told us today that those of us who are baptized have the commitment to tell others about Jesus. And it's a mission that Jesus himself asks of us. And he's been asking it of us forever. Yesterday, I saw a very moving example. I saw a film about the Italian Chiara Lubich and how her "Focolari" movement began. It began during World War II in Trento, Italy, under the Gospel principle that Jesus asked: if you have two cloaks, give one to the one who doesn't have one. Thus, she evangelized an entire town, and organized them so that together they might be stronger, so that together they might be one in Christ Jesus. And although she suffered opposition, her movement is now found throughout the world. We may not be Chiara Lubich, but we can all lead by example, with kindness, with prayer, with charity. I remembered when I was part of the Legion of Mary and we carried out our apostolate two by two. In my case, by taking the rosary and the Pilgrim Mother to different houses. It was a very beautiful experience. So there is always a way to carry out our mission, which is above all to love our fellow human beings, to let them know that God loves them from eternity, that Jesus died for us and paid for our sins so that whoever believes in Him should never perish but have eternal life. That He rose again and went to the Father to prepare a place for us in His Kingdom.

The Ascension

 This Sunday we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord.  It is actually celebrated on Thursday, but so that more people celebrate it, it is moved to Sunday.  The priest tells us that Ascension can be seen as an end, but it is not.  For Jesus promises us that he will send the Holy Spirit who will make us stronger and will make us understand what we did not understand before, well he told the apostles, but we can say that he was telling them to us too, He added that they will be his witnesses in all the land.  And it is what the priest told us that we all have a mission.  Where you are you can be a witness of hope, you can give encouragement, you can listen, you can talk about your experience in mass, you can preach by example, you can talk about your relationship with Jesus, you can invite someone to mass, you can pray for someone, You can pray for someone who needs it.  God calls us to be missionaries.  Take heart, we are all part of God’s great plan of salvation.