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We Follow Him

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In today’s Gospel John recounts Jesus’ admonishment of Peter for being concerned with the disposition of others rather than his own disposition. How often do we find ourselves in Peter’s position? It’s easy to fall into the habit of comparing ourselves to others and of comparing our sins to others: “I may gossip but at least I don’t do that other sin.” But the fact of the matter is that all sin puts distance between us and God. When we get caught up in comparison, we can lose sight of our own relationship with God and take it for granted. I think that through His response to Peter’s question, Jesus is reminding us to concentrate on our own relationship with Him. He says to us, “You follow me”. 

The First Reading gives an example of what following Jesus looks like; we hear a little bit about Paul’s time as a prisoner in Rome. The life of a Christian is radical and society will not always accept Christianity. Paul recognized this yet, as the First Reading tells us, “He received all who came to him, and with complete assurance and without hindrance he proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ”. Paul chose to devote his life to Christ and share the Gospel with all people regardless of the consequences. This is what Jesus means by “You follow me”. 

One of my favorite lines in Scripture is the one that ends our Gospel today: “There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written”. The disciples had the honor of witnessing Christ’s mission firsthand but, because they were human, they were not always perfect in following Jesus. They do, however, serve as the exemplars of how we should dedicate our lives to Christ Jesus and carry out his mission of spreading the Good News to the ends of the earth.

May we spend our lives following Christ wholeheartedly!

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: Matias Medina, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/22086-apostoles

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Christ’s Love

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Today’s readings are all about love, specifically love of God. In the First Reading we hear St. Peter tell Cornelius that “God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him”. It did (and does) not matter if a person was Gentile or Jew, all were accepted into the faith of Christ Jesus so long as there was genuine faith in Him. 

In the Second Reading John reminds us that God is love; it is only in Him and through Him that we know love. He loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for our sins. And why? So we could live eternally with God in Heaven amidst the Trinitarian love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is the love of the Trinity that compels and allows us to love others and bring them into the faith of Christ. We are called to participate in this Trinitarian love by bringing others into it. We show others the love of God by loving them. 

We hear even more about this love from Jesus in the Gospel. Christ Himself tells us that the love He shows us in his Passion and Death is the greatest love the whole world has ever known: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”. He then tells the Apostles that He is sending them out into the world to share the Good News and to share the love of Christ with others. In the same way, we are called to do what the Apostles did: spread the Gospel that says that God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to save us and that what He longs for is for us to take part in that love eternally. 

May we carry the love of Christ with us to all places and share His love with all people.

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: Gera Juarez, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/15891-sagrado-corazon-jesus

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Faith Is the Answer

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In today’s Gospel we hear from the Jews the question, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense?”

Even though Jesus does not answer that question directly in the Gospel, we know that the answer is “never”. God has revealed Himself to us through His Son, Jesus Christ and, like He says in the Gospel, it is through His works that we know He is the Savior. Within the context of the Easter season, we know that Christ’s greatest witness to Himself is His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. He tells the Jews, “The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me”. Since we know that He was sent by the Father for the forgiveness of sins we also know that we, His sheep, are given eternal life through that work of sacrifice, forgiveness, and grace. 

I think that all of that is easy to say: “We know Christ is our Savior because He showed us in the Resurrection”; “We are His sheep, we ought to follow His commands”; “The works Christ did during His ministry on earth also bear witness to the Truth that He is the Savior of the world, the Son of the Living God”. What gets difficult is living it without questioning the Truth. I think the biggest question I ask (and I doubt I’m the only one) is how. How did the Father send His only Son? How did Christ’s death on the Cross purchase for us the rewards of eternal life? How do you live a life following the voice of the Lord? How do you even know for certain that it’s the voice of the Lord you are following. There’s only one answer to all these questions: faith. 

Unlike the Jews we hear of in the Gospel, we must have faith that Christ is the Savior. Rather than looking at His works and wondering how or why, what we must do is entrust ourselves, in faith, to the God who loves us unconditionally. It is only through acceptance of the mystery of God’s love that we are able to fully enter into His love and will eventually be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

As we continue to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, may our faith in the person of Jesus Christ continue to grow and may we humbly allow the Love of the Father to envelop every part of our being. 

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: Luis Ca, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/6677-vitral-cristo-resucitado

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Death to Life

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“Every baptized person should consider that it is in the womb of the Church where he is transformed from a child of Adam to a child of God.”– St. Vincent Ferrer – 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells Nicodemus that “unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God” and, after Nicodemus expresses his confusion, Jesus continues by saying that “unless one is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God”.  Jesus is talking about the importance of Baptism. In order to enter the Kingdom of God, we must first die to ourselves and be reborn in the Holy Spirit. This rebirth is not solely our Baptism that only happens once, but it should be a continual renewal of our Baptismal promises. We ought to be rejecting Satan, and all his works, and his empty promises every day of our lives. We should be confessing our faith in God and His mercy – in word and action – every day of our lives. This is what we celebrate during the Easter season. The Risen Lord is always in our midst and our lives should be a reflection of His presence. 

Being born in the Spirit, being baptized in the Christian faith demands a life radically lived. Our faith does not call us to complacency, it does not call us to mediocrity. Rather, it calls us to participate in the radical love the Father has for us. We are made to be part of a love so great that the Father sent His only Son to die for us so that we may be united eternally with Him in His Heavenly Kingdom. It is for that reason that we are to continue to rejoice in the Easter miracle that is the Resurrection of our Savior, Christ Jesus. It is only through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection that we are able to be born again into His love. 

As we continue through this Easter season, may we commit ourselves to continual renewal in the Holy Spirit. May we be willing to die to ourselves in order to be reborn in the Father’s love for us.

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: Luis Ca, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/7607-bautismo-senor

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The Humility of Christ’s Humanity

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“Him whom the heavens cannot contain, the womb of one woman bore.” St. Augustine of Hippo

In today’s Gospel we hear the story of the Annunciation and Mary’s “yes”, her fiat, to becoming the mother of God, Theotokos, God-bearer. Mary is for us the ultimate example of giving one’s life to Christ in humble obedience. She quite literally allowed Jesus to enter her body. 

It has always seemed strange to me that we celebrate the Annunciation so close to Holy Week, the week in which we enter deeply into the sufferings of Christ. Why do we celebrate the joy of the Annunciation so soon before Good Friday? After a lot of reflection, I realized that the Church, in her wisdom, imparts the joy of the Annunciation so close to the sorrow of the Crucifixion in order to remind us of the humility inherent in Christ’s humanity. Christ became man, the Word became Flesh in order to save us from our transgressions. Christ came in order to conform with the Will of the Father. 

We hear in the second reading that, “…when Christ came into the world, he said ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said ‘As is written of me on the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.’” Christ, like His mother, accepts the Will of the Father for the sake of all men. God humbled himself and, in order to do so, asked Mary to humble herself and accept His Will, which she did. When we remember Christ’s humanity it makes us more able to enter into his Passion and Death because we are able to understand the emotions and imagine the pain He endured. It is through Christ’s humanity that we are healed and the Annunciation, Mary’s fiat, is the “yes” that allowed God to enter this world as fully God and fully man. 

As we near the end of this Lenten season, prepare for Holy Week, and look forward to the Resurrection of Christ, may we, taking the example of Mary, allow Christ to enter our hearts. May our “yes!” be proclaimed without hesitation. May we walk humbly with our God on His road to Calvary and may we humbly accept His will in our lives.

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: janeb13, https://pixabay.com/photos/the-annunciation-leonardo-da-vinci-1125149/

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In the Silence

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“God speaks in the silence of the heart, and we listen.” -St. Teresa of Calcutta-

In today’s Gospel we hear of the doubts many people harbored against Christ. Jesus’ three years of public ministry were not easy. Of course He performed many miracles and convinced many people of the Gospel of Truth but, many people derided Him and He was faced with an immense amount of skepticism. If our mission is to continue to carry out Christ’s earthly mission – that is, to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth – then we should expect to face the same criticism and doubt from others that Christ did. If we are to authentically and whole-heartedly seek holiness, we must first listen to the word of God. He speaks to us through the word and actions of His Son in the Gospel and continues to speak to us in our hearts. It is His voice that should guide our thoughts, words, and actions. By listening to God’s voice and following His Will, we will serve as witnesses of truth to all those we encounter. Like Christ in His own mission from the Father, we are called to share the Good News with a humble heart and willing spirit. I think today’s Gospel is reminding us that sometimes that will mean confronting critics who look at the Gospel with contempt. We must, however, remain steadfast in our love for God and His Word so, like Nicodemus, we can continue defending Christ and the Gospel.

The Gospel antiphon for today is “Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance”. Even in this short verse from Luke, we are reminded that it is only through perseverance in our mission of evangelization that we can reap a rich harvest.

May we have the courage to hear God’s word, keep His word, and share His word with all those we encounter.

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: Francesco Alberti, https://unsplash.com/photos/Rw84wwX5b2Q

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He Has Done All Things Well

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In today’s Gospel we hear of the compassion of Christ once again. A man who is deaf and has a speech impediment is brought to Christ and, moved with compassion, Christ heals him. Perhaps the man that Christ heals is a metaphor for us. In a homily about this Gospel, Pope St. Gregory the Great notes that dumbness is often associated with deafness because, without being able to hear it is difficult to learn how to speak. He then applies that same message to the Good News of Christ; if our ears are not open to His Word, how can we share it with others? Christ removes the man’s speech impediment and opens his ears. How often do we ourselves struggle to speak the Gospel confidently or hear and truly listen to the truth of the Gospel? When we find ourselves in situations which are difficult to share the Good News, do we ask Christ to heal us from our speech impediment and to grant us the courage to share His Word? 

In the First Reading from Genesis we see the consequences of closing our ears to the words of God. It is the story of Adam and Eve and the Fall. Rather than listening to the command of God to not eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, they close their ears to Him choosing instead to listen to the voice of the serpent. This choice led Adam and Eve away from God and caused them so much shame that they hid themselves from the Lord. 

God’s words and commands for us are always for our own good. He loves us and desires for us to be in full communion with Him. As the Gospel says, “He has done all things well” and creating us for life with Him is one of the things He has done well. 

May our hearts and ears always be open to the voice of the Lord so we can speak His Word with courage. 

Open our heart, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son.

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: Hannah Wernecke, https://unsplash.com/photos/8mqaLDl95I4

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Empty Rituals

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus reprimands the Pharisees for their criticism of the Apostles not properly washing their hands before their meal. Jesus is not necessarily saying that the rituals the Pharisees practice are bad in and of themselves. What He is truly criticizing is the emptiness of their rituals. He references Isaiah’s prophecy that, “This people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.”  Christ calls the Pharisees hypocrites because, while they follow the ritual, they do so without love in their hearts for God. They merely go through the actions rather than doing so with love and honor for the Father. 

How often do we fall into the same pattern as the Pharisees in today’s Gospel? Do we go to Mass and spend more time internally criticizing the young man in a football jersey and jeans than we do contemplating the Word of God? Do we truly meditate on the words of the Eucharistic prayer or are we thinking about our brunch order? 

This is what I find myself doing (especially during the Eucharistic prayer). I’ve heard it so many times that I often allow it to just wash over me rather than giving my all to Christ in that moment. Then, when I look at the words that are being said it hits me how important it is to not allow ourselves to fall into empty rituals: “We give you praise, Father most holy, for you are great, and you have fashioned all your works in wisdom and in love. You formed man in your own image and entrusted the whole world to his care, so that in serving you alone, the Creator, he might have dominion over all creatures.” This is what we might hear during the Eucharist prayer. What beautiful words that come directly from the Creation story in Genesis that we hear as today’s First Reading. When I go to Mass merely going through the motions, I don’t notice those connections; I take for granted the love with which these rituals were made and the love that God has for each and every one of us. The purpose of our rituals–the sacraments and our prayers–is to demonstrate our love, true devotion, and gratitude for God who is our Creator and Savior. 

May we go about our devotions with great intentionality and allow the love of God to permeate all that we do.

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: Jacob Bentzinger, https://unsplash.com/photos/jYQ-QxkrFpc

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Forgiveness

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“Sorrow for sin is indeed necessary, but it should not be an endless preoccupation. You must dwell also on the glad remembrance of God’s loving-kindness; otherwise, sadness will harden the heart and lead it more deeply into despair”  ~St. Bernard~

In today’s Gospel we hear of Christ’s miracle of the healing of a leper. Lepers were outcasts; they were seen as unclean and were often not treated with the dignity due a human being. Jesus, despite how lepers were normally treated, touches the man in order to heal him. In the same way that Christ heals the leper out of compassion, so too does He heal us from our sins. God’s love is freely given to us. As part of his ultimate plan for us to share in His eternal life, God the Father offered His only begotten Son as ransom for our sins. The same eyes that looked at the leper’s disease with compassion and saw human dignity looks at our lowliness and sees our worth as sons and daughters of God. However, like the leper, we must ask God to cleanse us. By participating in the Sacraments, most especially by receiving our Lord in the Eucharist and by seeking absolution through Reconciliation, we unite ourselves to Him in love. 

Paul’s exhortation to the Hebrews to persevere in faith in the First Reading urges us to do the same. He writes, “Encourage yourselves daily while it is still ‘today’ so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin”. He reminds us of a warning against hardening our hearts against the love of God and follows with a plea to encourage one another in faith. When we harden our hearts, when we do not seek Him in the Sacraments, we turn away from His love and we distance ourselves from His salvation.  By living the Christian life devoutly, we inspire and motivate others to do the same. Our love for and encouragement of one another is a witness to the love that God has for each of us. By bringing one another to Christ, we open, rather than harden, our hearts and “become partners of Christ”. 

May we live our lives with hearts that are open to God’s love. May we rejoice in the knowledge that Christ’s love covers a multitude of sins.

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: Annie Spratt, https://unsplash.com/photos/S6aR9JyKdUQ

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Weathering the Storms with God

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As we come to the end of this Christmas season, the readings today remind us of the Good News the season brings. The news of the birth of a Savior; the news that God loves us so much that He Himself became man in order to save us from our sins; the news that there is indeed hope for eternal life with our Maker! 

Despite the overwhelmingly good news of the Christmas season, we may not feel as though all is good. We will still weather storms. In fact, many of us may have weathered brutal storms during the Christmas season. Today’s readings remind us that no matter what storms we face, God is with us and He loves us. 

In today’s Gospel we hear the story of Jesus walking on water during a storm. He sees the disciples in a boat on the stormy sea and walks toward them intending to pass them by. However when the disciples see Christ walking on water, they fear He is a ghost and call out to Him. His response is “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid”. In the midst of their storm, the disciples did not recognize the love of Christ Himself enveloping them and ensuring their safety. Seeing their fear, Christ enters the boat with the disciples and He calms the storm. How often do we, in the midst of our own struggles and storms, fail to recognize Christ’s presence and love? Do we invite Him into our boat and ask him to calm our storms? In the First Reading, John tells us that “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him….there is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear.” When we fully allow God into our lives and give Him control, we have nothing to fear because His love will drive out that fear.

Of course, that’s much easier said than done. It seems to be an impossible task to place our full and unconditional trust in God and allow Him to take control of those things we cling to so closely. Perhaps we can begin by praying to Him in the small storms and that way when the big storms come, and the big storms will come, we will know exactly where to go because we will recognize God’s immense love for us. 

May we follow the example of St. André Bessette who said “There is so little distance between heaven and earth that God always hears us. Nothing but a thin veil separates us from God.”

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: GDJ,https://pixabay.com/vectors/jesus-christ-miracle-5000359/

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Our Lady of Guadalupe

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“Mary, make me love your Son Jesus as the Principle behind all things, not with a fear that paralyzes and discourages, but with a love that knows no limits.  ~ Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe who appeared to St. Juan Diego asking him to build a church in her honor in 1531. As a teacher, I’m blessed to teach a Spanish course that includes quite a bit of history. Since I teach at a public school, I teach the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego from a historical point of view. I like to believe, however, that my conviction is somehow communicated through my teaching. The timing of the class works out perfectly and has aligned two years in a row with the feasts of St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. We are currently learning about the establishment of New Spain (Mexico), the development of a new, syncretic culture, and the causes leading up to the Mexican Revolution. Last year, the day we learned about the importance of Our Lady in the evangelization of New Spain was December 12th and one of my students endearingly said, “Miss! Did you know that today is Our Lady’s birthday?!” It may not be a fully accurate understanding of the feast we celebrate today but it certainly made my heart happy to hear.

There are a few options for today’s readings. You might hear from the Prophet Zechariah of God’s promise to dwell among us and that “Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day”. The appearance of Our Lady to St. Juan Diego in Mexico is a fulfillment of that promise. Her appearance caused the conversion of an estimated 9 million people to the Catholic faith in less than 10 years. St. Juan Diego shared his faith with the bishop of Mexico and, in turn, served as an example of faith to his own people.

It is possible that you will hear Luke’s account of the Visitation in which Elizabeth says, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” I would imagine that St. Juan Diego’s response to Mary’s apparition was the same if not more shocked. I try to put myself in his shoes and imagine myself on my way to Mass and having the great honor and privilege of being face-to-face with our Holy Mother. People, like Elizabeth and Juan Diego, who came in direct contact with Mary and recognized that she was carrying our Savior in her womb are examples of the humility and admiration with which we should approach our Blessed Mother.

In the same way that she changed the hearts of the people of Mexico in the 1500s, may we allow Our Lady to enter our hearts and cause continual conversion. May we follow the examples of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego in their whole-hearted “yeses” to God and His will.

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: demetrio, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/441-pintura-basilica-angeles

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Advent and Compassion

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We hear the hope of the Advent season in the readings today.  In the Gospel we hear of Christ’s immense compassion for human suffering:  “At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.”  Out of compassion for those who were suffering, Christ sends out the twelve to care for the lost sheep of Israel. They drive out unclean spirits, cure every disease and illness, raise the dead, and cleanse the lepers. The most vulnerable in society are cared for and healed.

Through His compassion and through the mission on which he sends the Apostles, Christ is fulfilling the words of the first reading from Isaiah. The prophet tells us: “O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem, no more will you weep; He will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as He hears He will answer you.” Christ sees our loneliness and suffering; He sees that we have been abandoned, that we have felt hopeless, and responds to our cries for help with compassion.

The season of Advent promises many things: the birth of our Savior, hope, peace, joy, the fulfillment of God’s Kingdom. However, we are only able to have faith in those promises by drawing close to the heart of Christ, by sharing in His compassion, and by following His words. This is a season of preparation. Not only are we preparing for the birth of our Savior but also for His second coming. Bearing that in mind, Advent should be a time in which we cling to the words of Christ whole-heartedly, that we go out into the world, as the Apostles did, serving the most vulnerable.

In this time of Advent, as we prepare for the birth of our Savior, let us not forget those who are troubled or abandoned.  May we invite them into our hearts and homes with compassion, care, and joy in imitation of Christ and the Apostles.

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

Feature Image Credit: Mel Poole, https://unsplash.com/photos/LUPXhXj2ip0