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Lorenzo Ruiz, also known as St. Laurentius Ruiz, was the first canonised saint from the Philippines. He and his companions were martyred in Japan in the 17th century. The Church celebrates St Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions on September 28.

His early life

Lorenzo Ruiz was born around 1594 in Binondo, Manila, in the Philippines. His father was Chinese and his mother Filipino. He was raised as a Catholic and served the Church from an early age. He became an altar server and later worked as a calligrapher and clerk for the Dominican friars.

Lorenzo married and had three children. This is an important aspect of his holiness: he was not a priest or religious, but a husband, father, and lay Christian.

In 1636, Lorenzo was accused of involvement in a killing. Fearing for his life, he left the Philippines aboard a ship with Dominican missionaries. He apparently thought they were going to another safe place, but the group eventually reached Japan, where Christians were being severely persecuted.

Martyrdom in Japan

The missionaries and Lorenzo were arrested. Japanese authorities attempted to force them to renounce Christianity. They were subjected to extremely severe torture.

Lorenzo experienced moments of fear and weakness, which makes his story especially human. Yet when confronted with the choice between abandoning Christ and dying, he remained faithful.

A statement traditionally attributed to him expresses his decision:

“I am a Christian, and wholeheartedly do accept death for God.”

He is also remembered for declaring that, if he had a thousand lives, he would offer them all to God.

Lorenzo and his companions were tortured and killed in Nagasaki in 1637. Among the group were Dominican priests, religious brothers, lay people, and missionaries of different nationalities. Their martyrdom therefore shows the universality of the Church: people of different countries and ways of life were united by the same faith in Christ.

Lorenzo Ruiz and his companions

The group commemorated by the Church consists of 16 martyrs who died in Japan between 1633 and 1637. They included Lorenzo Ruiz, missionaries from Spain and other countries, Japanese Christians, and other lay collaborators. Their mission took place during a period when the Japanese authorities were attempting to eradicate Christianity.

Pope John Paul II beatified them in Manila on February 18, 1981. This was historically significant because it was the first beatification ceremony held outside Rome. He later canonized them in Rome on October 18, 1987.

What St. Lorenzo Ruiz teaches us

Lorenzo’s life reminds us that holiness is not reserved for priests, monks, or religious sisters. He was an ordinary layman with a wife, children, work, responsibilities, and fears. Yet when the decisive moment came, he placed his trust in Christ.

His courage does not mean he felt fearless. Christian courage means remaining faithful despite fear. Lorenzo did not originally set out intending to become a martyr. Providence brought him into circumstances he had never expected. In those circumstances, his faith was tested to the extreme.

His witness therefore asks each Christian a simple but demanding question: How much does my faith mean to me when following Christ becomes difficult?

St. Lorenzo Ruiz and his companions remind us of Christ’s words:

“Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
— Matthew 10:39

Their example encourages us to remain faithful not only in extraordinary moments of persecution but also in the small trials of everyday Christian life—with courage, prayer, fidelity, and trust in God.

 

Love is one of the most frequently used words in our lives. We speak about love between husband and wife, parents and children, friends, or love for one’s country. Christianity, however, gives the word love an even deeper meaning. For a Christian, love is not merely a feeling. It is a way of life that has its origin in God. Saint John writes, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Therefore, anyone who wants to live in communion with God must learn to love.

Jesus showed us that true love is expressed above all through actions. It is not enough to say, “I love you.” Love becomes real when we are willing to do something for another person, to make a sacrifice, to give our time, to listen, to help, or to forgive.

1. Christian love notices the person who needs help.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus tells us about a man who was left wounded by the roadside. People passed by and saw him, but they did not stop. The Samaritan not only saw him; he noticed his suffering and helped him.

This is where Christian love begins: noticing another person.

We often do not need to do extraordinary things. Sometimes it is enough to visit a lonely person, call someone who is going through a difficult time, help an elderly person, encourage someone who is sad, or simply listen patiently to someone who needs to talk.

We can therefore ask ourselves: Do I really see the people around me? Or am I so occupied with my own problems that I no longer notice the problems of others?

2. Love means knowing how to listen.

One of the greatest gifts we can give another person is our time and attention. We live in a world in which people speak a great deal but often listen very little.

Christian love is also expressed by allowing another person to speak. We do not immediately judge, criticise, or give advice. Sometimes a person does not need a solution. They simply need someone who will remain inside them and listen.

Jesus encountered people in precisely this way. He stopped for them. He saw their worries, listened to them, and made them feel that their lives had value.

3. Love is expressed through forgiveness.

One of the most difficult forms of Christian love is forgiveness. Loving someone who is good to us is not very difficult. It is much harder to love someone who has hurt us.

Yet Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

To forgive does not mean saying that the wrong that was done was acceptable. Nor does it mean forgetting everything that happened. Forgiveness means refusing hatred and revenge. It means entrusting our pain to God and asking Him to heal our hearts.

Without forgiveness, love quickly ends when someone disappoints us. Christian love, however, is able to go further.

4. Love is patient.

Saint Paul writes, “Love is patient, love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4).

Patience is one of the most practical expressions of love. We need it in marriage, in family life, at work, in the parish, and among friends.

Every person has weaknesses. If we want to live with others, we must learn to accept their imperfections as well. Of course, love does not mean approving everything another person does. True love is also able to speak the truth. But it speaks the truth with respect and with the desire to help rather than to humiliate.

5. Love does not calculate what it will receive in return.

The world often asks, ‘What will I get out of this?’ Christian love asks a different question: What can I give?

Jesus showed us a love that gives without calculating the reward. He helped the sick, welcomed sinners, defended the weak, and finally gave His life on the cross.

The cross is the greatest sign of Christian love. Jesus does not merely speak about love. He lives it to the very end: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

Our love, too, must be capable of sacrifice. Parents make sacrifices for their children. Husbands and wives make sacrifices for each other. Someone cares for a sick member of the family. Another gives time to a lonely person. It is often in such quiet and unnoticed sacrifices that the greatness of love is revealed.

6. Christian love excludes no one.

The love of Jesus crossed boundaries. He spoke with people whom society rejected. He welcomed sinners, touched the sick, and gave His attention to the poor and those who were pushed aside.

Therefore, a Christian cannot ask only, ‘Whom do I love?’ We must also ask: Whom do I find difficult to love?

Perhaps it is someone with a very different personality. Perhaps it is someone who has disappointed us. Perhaps it is someone with whom we strongly disagree. It is precisely there that Christian love is put to the test.

Love does not mean that we have to agree with everyone. It does mean, however, that we recognise the human dignity of every person and see each person as someone created by God.

7. Love begins in everyday life.

Sometimes we dream about great acts of love but forget the small opportunities God gives us every day.

Christian love is expressed in simple things: a kind word, a smile, patience, a willingness to help, visiting the sick, calling someone who is lonely, making peace after an argument, or praying for someone who is going through a difficult time.

We do not need to wait for extraordinary circumstances. A person can grow in holiness precisely through the way he or she treats the people encountered every day.

Conclusion

Jesus said to His disciples, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

He did not say that people would recognise us by great words or extraordinary abilities. The most convincing sign of Christian life should be love.

Therefore, every evening we can ask ourselves a simple question: To whom did I show love today?

Perhaps we helped someone. Perhaps we listened to someone. Perhaps we forgave. Perhaps we prayed for someone. And perhaps we failed to notice someone who needed us.

But God gives us another opportunity with every new day.

Christian love does not begin with great words. It begins with open eyes, a willing heart, and hands ready to help. And the more we learn to love in this way, the more our lives become an image of God, because God is love.

 

 

 

 

Saints Cosmas and Damian are one of the most beloved pairs in Christian history—twin brothers, doctors, and martyrs.

Who were they?
They were twins born in Arabia in the 3rd century to Christian parents. They studied medicine and practiced in the seaport of Aegea, in Cilicia—today southern Turkey.

What made them famous was not just their skill, but their ethic. They refused to charge for their services. In Greek they are called the Anargyroi—the “sleeveless” or “moneyless ones,” physicians who went about curing people gratis. In the West they are described as the brothers “who brought people to Christ by caring for their health.”

Because of that, along with St. Luke, they are the patrons of physicians, surgeons, pharmacists, dentists and midwives, and are often represented with medical emblems — a medicine jar, a surgical box, or a palm of martyrdom.

Martyrdom
During the Great Persecution under Emperor Diocletian around 303 AD, they were arrested by order of Lysias, the Prefect of Cilicia, and tortured into recanting their Christian faith. According to tradition, they remained steadfast and were beheaded with three other brothers — Leontius, Anthimus, and Eutropius.

Like many early saints, their story is wrapped in legend. One of the most famous medieval miracles attributed to them is the “Miracle of the Black Leg” — where the saints, appearing in a dream, transplanted the leg of a recently deceased Ethiopian Moor to replace a white patient’s cancerous leg.

More than one pair
The Church actually remembers three different pairs with the same names, and people often.

They have churches dedicated to them from Rome—where the Basilica of Santi Cosma e Damiano in the Roman Forum has beautiful 6th-century mosaics—to all over Central Europe, including Austria and the Czech lands. Their cult was especially strong because in the pagan world, healing gods like Asclepius fulfilled a similar role, and Cosmas and Damian took that place in a Christian context.

 

I often wonder what faith really is. For example, I am at the airport, and I see important-looking people in suits carrying briefcases. They stop at the snack bar and then hurry on. Do any of them consider God? I wonder. We know that there are two parallel worlds. 

One world consists of glass, steel, woolen clothes, leather bags, and the smell of freshly ground coffee. The other world consists of angels, spiritual beings, forces, and unknown, distant places called heaven and hell. We know we all inhabit this material world. To consider ourselves citizens of this other, beautiful, and invisible world, we must have faith. Christmas brings a complete turnaround: the Lord of these worlds comes down to Earth and begins to live among us. In Bethlehem, the two worlds merge. What Jesus came to do on Earth made room for God to one day resolve all the disharmony between the two worlds. The key word is Emmanuel, God with us.

Who do people say I am? And who do you say I am? We too must answer this question. The answer Peter gives is a formula, but faith is more than that. It is not a verbal confession but a following of Christ.

I think that God’s hand is best seen in the rearview mirror. Looking back, it is easier to understand why He put us in our families, why He puts certain people and certain circumstances into our lives and then takes them away, why He allows hardship and pain, and why He leads us to certain places and gives us different jobs and occupations. In my own life, God’s wise and loving ways are much clearer to me, even though they are never completely clear. This joy awaits me in heaven! 

When I reflect on how God has “through the works of His hands” guided my life’s journey, I understand everything better. Like the psalmist, I’m cheered, and my heart is filled with joy to see how often God has helped me, guided me, and directed everything that happened around me. But the view ahead is not always so clear. When the road is winding, foggy, and seems threatening, and I feel lost, it is also true for us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Therefore, we can boldly say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6).

1. Prayer Begins in the Secret Place

Jesus said:

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret…”
— Matthew 6:6

The foundation of prayer is not public recognition. It is a private relationship with God.

Before we pray publicly, we should learn to pray privately.

Before others hear our prayers, God should hear our hearts.

The secret place is where our relationship with God becomes strong. It is where we cry, seek, confess, listen, worship, and receive strength.

Nobody may see us praying in our room.

Nobody may know how many tears we have shed before God.

Nobody may know how many times we have called upon His name.

But God sees.

The secret place produces the strength that becomes visible in the public place.

2. We Should Not Be Ashamed to Pray

Occasionally, we should openly show that prayer matters to us.

When food is placed before us, we can bow our heads and thank God.

When someone tells us about a problem, we can say, “Let me pray for you,” and then actually pray.

When our family is facing difficulty, we can gather together and pray.

When we receive a blessing, we can publicly thank God.

When we face a crisis, we can call upon the Lord rather than pretending we have everything under control.

Prayer should not be something we hide because we are afraid of what people might think.

Jesus said:

“Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.”
— Matthew 10:32

Our faith is personal, but it was never intended to be invisible.

There should be moments when people can look at our lives and say:

“That person believes in God. That person trusts God. That person prays.”

3. Our Outward Actions Should Match Our Inward Faith

James teaches us that faith is demonstrated by our actions.

In the same way, prayer should not merely be something we say with our lips. It should affect how we live.

If I pray for patience, I should allow God to work patience into my behavior.

If I pray for forgiveness, I should be willing to forgive.

If I pray for wisdom, I should be willing to listen to God’s Word and make wise decisions.

If I pray for someone’s salvation, I should also be willing to show that person the love of Christ.

If I pray for the poor, I should be willing to help those in need.

Prayer should move from our knees into our daily lives.

The world does not only need to hear that we pray.

The world should see the fruit of the prayers we pray.

4. There Is a Difference Between Witnessing and Showing Off

This is where Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6 becomes especially important.

Jesus condemned the religious leaders who prayed in public “that they may be seen of men.”

The problem was not that they were praying publicly.

The problem was their motive.

We must examine our hearts.

Am I praying because I want God to hear me?

Or am I praying because I want people to notice me?

Am I lifting my hands because I am worshiping God?

Or because I want people to think I am spiritual?

Am I telling people that I am praying for them because I genuinely care?

Or because I want to appear religious?

There is a big difference between being seen while praying and praying to be seen.

One can express genuine faith.

The other can lead to pride.

Our goal should never be to impress people with our prayer.

Our goal should be to glorify God.

5. Let People See That We Depend on God

One of the strongest outward testimonies we can give is to demonstrate that we depend upon God.

The world teaches people to depend upon money, power, connections, intelligence, and human strength.

But the believer says:

“My help comes from the Lord.”

When trouble comes, we pray.

When we don’t know what to do, we pray.

When we have received a blessing, we pray.

When we are afraid, we pray.

When we are thankful, we pray.

When we are weak, we pray.

Prayer demonstrates that we recognize our dependence upon God.

The Bible says:

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
— Proverbs 3:5

A praying Christian is saying through his or her actions:

“I cannot do this by myself. I need God.”

And there is no shame in admitting that.

6. We Should Teach the Next Generation to Pray

Our children and young people are watching us.

They learn not only from what we tell them, but from what they see us doing.

If children see their parents praying when there is a problem, they learn where to turn when problems come.

If they see their parents thanking God, they learn gratitude.

If they see their parents praying for others, they learn compassion.

If they see their parents seeking God before making important decisions, they learn dependence upon God.

We should therefore create an atmosphere where prayer is normal.

Let our children hear us pray.

Let our families pray together.

Let them see that Christianity is not merely something we do at church on Sunday.

Prayer is a way of life.

7. Let Our Lives Become a Living Testimony

The greatest outward evidence of prayer is not necessarily the volume of our voice or the position of our body.

It is the transformation that prayer produces.

Can people see more love in us?

More patience?

More forgiveness?

More humility?

More compassion?

More self-control?

More faith?

More peace?

More dependence upon God?

When we spend time with God, something should change in us.

Moses went into the presence of God, and when he came down from the mountain, his face reflected that encounter.

Our time with God should also leave an impression upon our lives.

People may not know how long we prayed.

They may never know what we said in our secret place.

But they should be able to see something different in the way we live.

Conclusion

Church, let us become people who pray.

Let us pray in our homes.

Let us pray with our families.

Let us pray for one another.

Let us pray for our communities.

Let us pray for those who are hurting.

Let us pray when we are joyful.

Let us pray when we are broken.

Let us pray when we understand.

Let us pray when we don’t understand.

But let our prayer never become a performance.

Jesus calls us to sincerity.

Pray privately, but do not be ashamed of prayer publicly.

Seek God in secret, and let the fruit of that relationship be visible in your life.

We do not pray so that people will think we are holy.

We pray because God is holy.

We do not pray to impress people.

We pray because we need God.

We do not pray to receive applause.

We pray because God deserves our worship and our trust.

So let the church be known as a praying people.

Let our families be praying families.

Let our homes be houses of prayer.

And let the world see, not merely that we talk about prayer, but that we truly live a life of prayer.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Teach us to become people of prayer.

Help us to seek You not for the attention of people, but because we love You and depend upon You.

Give us courage to pray openly when the opportunity comes, but give us humility so that our prayers never become a performance.

Let our private prayer life produce public fruit.

Let people see Your love in us, Your peace in us, Your patience in us, and Your grace working through us.

Teach our families and our children to pray.

Make our homes places where Your name is honored.

Help us remember that our strength does not come from ourselves, but from You.

May our lives become a testimony that points people toward Christ.

 

Let us not be afraid to let Jesus’ light into our darkness.  This passage from the Gospel of John (cf. 12:44-50) shows us the intimacy between Jesus and the Father. Jesus did what the Father told him. That is why he says: “He who believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me” (v. 44). Then he clarifies his mission: “I have come into the world as a light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (v. 46). He presents himself as light. Jesus’ mission is to illuminate: light. He himself said: “I am the light of the world” (Jn 8:12). The prophet Isaiah prophesied about this light: “The people who lived in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:1). It is the promise of a light that will illuminate the people. The apostles’ mission is also to bring light. Paul said this to King Agrippa: “I was chosen to enlighten, to bring this light – which is not mine, it belongs to someone else – but to bring light” (cf. Acts 26:18). This is Jesus’ mission: to bring light. The apostles’ mission is to bring the light of Jesus. To enlighten. The world was in darkness, yet the drama of Jesus’ light was that it was rejected. John says it clearly at the beginning of the Gospel: “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him; they loved the darkness more than the light” (cf. Jn 1:9-11). Getting used to the darkness, living in darkness: they do not know how to receive the light; they cannot; they are slaves of darkness. And this will be Jesus’s continuous battle: to enlighten, to bring light that makes things visible as they are; it makes freedom visible, it makes truth visible, and it shows the path to choose with the light of Jesus. Paul experienced this passage from darkness to light when the Lord met him on the road to Damascus. He was blinded. Blind. The Lord’s light blinded him. Then, after a few days, through baptism, he regained his sight (cf. Acts 9:1-19). He experienced passing from the darkness in which he was to the light. It is also our passage, which we sacramentally received in baptism: that is why baptism in the first centuries was called “enlightenment” (cf. St. Justin, Apology I, 61, 12), because it gave you light, “it gave you entry”. That is why in the rite of baptism we give the father and mother a lighted candle, because the child is enlightened. Jesus brings light. But the people, those people, his people, rejected him. They are so accustomed to darkness that the light blinds them; they do not know how to walk (cf. Jn 1:10-11). This is the drama of our sin: sin blinds us, and we cannot bear the light. We have diseased eyes. And Jesus says this clearly in the Gospel of Matthew: “If your eye is diseased, your whole body will be diseased. If your eye sees only darkness, how much darkness is within you?” (Cf. Mt 6:22-23). ​​Darkness… And conversion is the passage from darkness to light. To

But what are the things that make the eyes, the eyes of faith, sick? Our eyes are sick: what is it that “knocks them down”, what blinds them? Vices, worldly spirit, pride – vices that “push you down”. And these three things – vices, superiority, the spirit of worldliness – lead you to associate with others to remain safe in the darkness. We often talk about mafias: this is it. However, there are “spiritual mafias”; there are “domestic mafias”; it is always the search for someone else to hide and remain in the darkness. It is not easy to live in the light. The light makes us see many ugly things inside us that we do not want to see: vices, sins… Let us think of our vices, let us think of our pride, let us think of our worldly spirit: these things blind us; they distance us from the light of Jesus.

And yet, when we begin to reflect on this, we do not come up against a wall; no, we find a way out, because Jesus himself says that he is the light, and he also says, “I did not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it” (cf. Jn 12:46-47). Jesus himself, the light, says: “Have courage: let yourself be enlightened, let yourself be seen as you are inside, because it is I who will move you forward, I will save you. I do not condemn you. I save you” (cf. v. 47). The Lord saves us from the darkness that we have inside, from the darkness of daily life, social life, political life, national life, international life… There is so much darkness inside. And the Lord saves us. But first he asks us to look at it; to have the courage to see our darkness, so that the light of the Lord can enter and save us. Let us not fear the Lord: he is very good, gentle, and close to us. He came to save us. Let us not fear the light of Jesus.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls the Twelve to him and sends them out on a mission. Until now, they had primarily been disciples – people who followed Jesus, listened to him, witnessed his miracles, and learned from him. But now something changes. Jesus says to them, ‘Go!’

This is a crucial moment. A disciple of Jesus cannot remain merely a recipient forever. In time, the disciple must become an apostle – someone who is sent out.

And that applies to us too.

1. Jesus gives them strength – but it is his strength.

The Gospel begins with the words: ‘He called the Twelve to him and gave them power and authority over all demons and the power to heal diseases.’

Note that the apostles do not act beyond their own abilities. They derive their authority from Jesus.

Peter was not sent because he was perfect. The other apostles were not sent because they had understood everything. From the Gospels, we know how often they misunderstood Jesus, quarrelled amongst themselves and showed their weaknesses. Yet Jesus entrusted his mission to them.

God often deals with us in the same way. We might think, ‘I’m not good enough.’ ‘ I don’t know enough. I’m too weak. Others could do it better.

But God does not necessarily call the most gifted. He bestows grace upon those He calls.

So our weakness need not prevent God from using us. What matters is whether we allow Him to work through us.

2. “Don’t take anything with you on the journey.”

Jesus then gives the Apostles a strange instruction:

“Take nothing with you on your journey – neither a walking stick nor a rucksack, nor provisions, nor money.”

Why does Jesus call for such radical simplicity?

Because He wants to teach them to trust Him.

The apostles must learn that the success of their mission does not depend primarily on what they possess. Their security must lie in God.

We live in a world that conveys the opposite message to us. We want to be prepared for everything. We want financial security, plans, guarantees and savings. Of course, sensible planning is a good thing. But there is a spiritual danger: we might gradually start to place more trust in what we own than in God.

Jesus reminds us: you can possess many things and still be spiritually poor. And you can possess very little and still be immeasurably rich, because God is with you.

The apostles carried very little in their hands, for they were meant to carry something far greater in their hearts: faith in God.

3. What should they actually be preaching?

Jesus “sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God.”

That was the essence of her mission.

They were not sent out to preach themselves. They were not to impress people with their intelligence or build up a reputation for themselves. They were to proclaim to the people that God is near.

That remains the Church’s mission.

Christianity is not primarily about proclaiming, ‘Just look how good we are.’

It is the proclamation: ‘See how good God is.’

For the sinner, there is forgiveness. For the discouraged, there is hope. For those who have failed, there is mercy. For those who have wasted years of their lives, there is a fresh start. For those who place their trust in Christ, there is eternal life.

This is the Kingdom that the Apostles proclaimed.

4. They preached and healed.

Luke tells us something marvellous: the apostles went from village to village, ‘proclaiming the good news everywhere and healing the sick’.

Words and deeds went hand in hand.

They spoke of God’s love but also brought healing to those who were suffering.

This is an important lesson for every Christian. People should not just hear about God’s love from our lips; they should experience something of God’s love through our lives.

When we forgive someone, the Kingdom of God becomes visible.

When we visit someone who is lonely, the Kingdom of God becomes visible.

When we listen patiently to someone who is suffering, the Kingdom of God becomes visible.

When we help others without expecting anything in return, the Kingdom of God becomes visible.

When we turn away from hatred and choose reconciliation, the Kingdom of God becomes visible.

Sometimes the most powerful sermon we deliver is not preached from the pulpit. It is preached through the way we treat another person.

5. Not everyone will accept this message

Jesus also prepares his disciples for the possibility of being rejected:

“Wherever you are not welcomed … shake the dust from your feet.”

Jesus does not promise them universal success.

Some people will listen. Others won’t.

This is important because we often measure everything by visible results. If people accept us, we believe we’ve succeeded. If they reject us, we believe we have failed.

Jesus, however, teaches something different: Our task is to be faithful; the outcome is in God’s hands.

Parents sometimes learn this the hard way. They have tried to pass on their faith to their children, but later on the children have stopped practising it. A priest may preach the Gospel for years and wonder whether anyone is actually listening to him at all. A Christian may try to help another person, only for that person to repeatedly turn down their help.

Jesus says, ‘Do what you can.’ Speak the truth in love. Set a positive example. Pray. But remember that you cannot force another person’s heart to open up.

Even God respects human freedom.

6. We, too, have been sent

At the end of every Holy Mass, we hear the words of sending: Go!

This is not just a polite way of saying that the service is over. The Eucharist sends us back out into the world.

We enter the church as disciples. We leave it as apostles.

Where are we being sent?

Perhaps just a few metres away – from our family.

Perhaps to our workplace.

Perhaps an elderly neighbour.

Perhaps for someone who has lost hope.

Perhaps towards someone with whom it is difficult to reconcile.

We don’t necessarily have to give long sermons. Sometimes, a single sentence spoken in faith is enough to change a life. Sometimes, a gesture of kindness can open a heart. Sometimes, the quiet and sincere way we live out our faith can lead another person to ask themselves: Where does this person get this hope from?

And then a door might open for God.

Fazit

Dear brothers and sisters,

Jesus once sent the Twelve out from village to village. Today, he sends us out.

Perhaps we don’t feel ready yet. The apostles felt the same way.

Perhaps we don’t feel strong. Neither did they.

Yet they possessed the most important thing: they had been called and sent by Christ.

So let us ask ourselves today:

Lord, where are you sending me? Who needs to experience your goodness through me? Who needs encouragement, forgiveness, hope, or simply my presence?

And when Jesus shows us the answer, we should not say, ‘Lord, send someone else.’

Let’s suppose:

“Lord, if you send me, I will go.
If you grant me your grace, I will put my trust in you.
And wherever I go, help me to bring you with me, not myself.”