The core of the church is contained in these words of Christ: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20). The church must gather, must be collected by the call of Christ in order to fully be the church.

A virus can keep us from gathering. A spirit-wound, it can curtail the sacramental life Christ gave us. But no virus can separate us from Christ.

The preaching of our Lord in the Gospel of St. Matthew—the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, the parables—has come to a close. Now the preacher embraces his passion.

Nothing is more certain than death. Yet normally, nothing is more hidden from our view. We do most everything that we can to not look death in the face.

Horrible things happen in the dark when people are afraid. We must now give witness. If we live in the light, it should be evident. Even in a time of virus.

The call of Christ can appear as one more demand upon your time and energy.

Lord, why do you grant me the grace to see you so clearly, yet deny this same gift to the one whom I so desperately love?

We are always tempted to make faith into something that we handle, not a way by which we surrender.

How perfectly the prophet Joel summons us to Lent with those two adverbs: “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart.”

If we give the signal—our readiness, our openness—God lifts us up.