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Jesus comes back again and again to this image of the child, to communicate a sense of human relationship to God.

“Whoever welcomes you welcomes Me, and whoever welcomes Me welcomes the One who sent Me.” Hospitality extended from one to another becomes a place of encounter. In welcoming another person, we may discover that Christ has already arrived ahead of us.

The deeper we travel through these days of Ordinary Time, the more we encounter the reality that discipleship is not simply believing certain things about Jesus. It’s about following Jesus.

Their first assignment is to connect and re-establish broken friendships among God’s people, to bring back the lost and forsaken, to speak a word that strengthens, the good news that saves, that God’s reign has come near.

True sharing in the prayer and the celebration of the Eucharist means that I listen, receive, and the door opens up within me, through which Christ may enter, and that I may begin to enter into Him.

“Eternal Trinity, You are like a deep sea, in which the more I seek, the more I find; and the more I find, the more I seek You.” St Catherine of Siena

The Spirit does not erase differences. The Spirit speaks through difference. Pentecost is not uniformity but aids us in understanding.

Franciscans live in the midst of the world, in our communities and from our homes. Our witness to the Risen Christ is living in a way that shines out to others: a witness of faithful love through daily life in family and fraternity, neighborhood and workplace; a witness to the struggles for social justice and human dignity; a witness of daily conversion, the willingness to conform our thoughts and actions to those of Jesus.

The invisible God is made visible in Jesus, and becomes present in quieter and purer ways, felt and trusted through us. Jesus sends us His life-giving Spirit who will always stand with us.