2026.03-08 3rd Sunday of Lent

Dear Parishioners,

I continue to pray for a fruitful Lenten journey for you and for your families. This week, I would like to share a reflection I offered to the members of my religious community, Holy Cross, last week.  This reflection is on the second of the Last Seven Words of Jesus, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

We are familiar with this scene on Calvary. We have two thieves here facing exactly the same circumstances. One is filled with self-righteousness stemming from pride.  He could only see Jesus as a possible power by which to escape the cross. The other is filled with sorrow stemming from humility. He was well aware of his unworthiness and spoke words that have echoed through history.

The encounter between Jesus and the good thief invites us to be sensitive to the people we encounter in our lives. It is very easy to condemn someone; it is very easy to consider someone undeserving of God’s love and mercy. But the words of the Lord to the good thief make it clear that no one is beyond redemption. C.S. Lewis has a great quote about heaven. He says, “Three things I will be surprised about when I get to heaven. First, to see who is there. Second, to see who’s not there, and third, to see that I’m there.” Heaven isn’t some nice place we will go to after we die, but it is a living relationship with the Lord that breaks into our world today. Heaven can be experienced today.

As baptized, you and I are called to be the instruments of God’s mercy and compassion through whom people experience heaven today. Let us ask the Lord during this Lenten journey to make us more sensitive, merciful and compassionate so that we too will hear the Lord say. “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Fr. Vijai, CSC ~ Pastor