NOTE: Christ in Our Neighborhood is a parish-based program consisting of small Christian communities that gather in the home weekly to prayerfully discuss the upcoming Sunday Mass readings. It’s easy to form a community and you can find out more by visiting the Diocese of Phoenix website: https://dphx.org/Christ-in-our-neighborhood.
This coming Sunday, we celebrate the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Christ in Our Neighborhood commentary asks us: Is there an area of my life where Jesus is calling me to follow Him in a more radical way?
I love this Gospel because it takes us right to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry where He’s gathering His followers as He calls them by name, right where they are.
Jesus is always calling us to follow Him more faithfully by turning away from sin and turning toward His mercy. For those who are trapped in fear and shame, Jesus offers liberation and healing.
The deep wounds, the ones we each carry, are areas of our life that Jesus longs to enter into with us. Just as when we visit the doctor, we have to allow him or her to see our broken body in order to offer the correct remedy, Jesus wants us to open our hearts and our minds to the power of His unfathomable love, the remedy of our souls. We encounter that divine love in the sacraments, particularly in the Eucharist.
In His mercy, Christ also established the sacrament of reconciliation as a means of healing from the wounds caused by sin. With Lent less than a month away, it’s a good time to think about following Jesus in a more radical way. The sacraments offer a promising starting point for that journey.
If you haven’t joined a Christ in Our Neighborhood small group yet, perhaps you are being called to start one yourself. Check out our website today to find out more: dphx.org/Christ-in-our-neighborhood.
Watch the video of the weekly podcast segment featuring Christ in Our Neighborhood with Bishop Dolan by clicking HERE.
To sign up for our weekly Christ in Our Neighborhood newsletter that has everything you need for your next meeting, visit: https://phoenixdiocese.flocknote.com/CION
