Opening Prayer
Jesus, why didn’t You go right away when You heard that Lazarus was ill? It reminds me that sometimes You don’t respond to me right away and I want to plead: “if You had only been here!”. But I’m moved by the way You wept for Your friend. Do You love me with the same passion and depth? I want and need to hear Your voice calling me from tombs of despair, darkness and death I’ve created. Your eternal voice that calls us from death and graves is so uplifting and hopeful. You are restoring us! Even as we come forth, bound like Lazarus, You teach us to walk and dance and live again. Your Divine Spirit dwells in us – and is the promise of life within and beyond. The uplifting sweep of Your history with us is awesome. Your love for Your friends breaks down all walls, caves and tombs. You are so life-giving even as you do it in God’s time, not ours!
St. Therese, this is the day, in 1994, when your parents were declared holy and “Venerable” by the Church, worthy to be investigated for official sainthood. Help us today to reverence the parents God chose for us – the way our Moms and Dads loved us and gave themselves for us. In a world that gets caught in what might have been and focuses on the dysfunctional voids and blames others, teach us to reverence our parents with gratitude that they did the best they knew how. Teach us that valuable and freeing lesson, Therese: how truly venerable our parents are and were!
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