Pilgrim Priest Fr. Joel Sember

Bad leaders confuse and scatter. Good leadership leads to clarity, unity, and peace. We see Jesus leading through the National Eucharistic Congress. I have three suggestions for how to follow your Good Shepherd more closely.

Jesus sends out missionaries and he intentionally prevents them from relying on themselves. They are equipped with their true identity and also with the help of a fellow Christian. We, too, are always tempted to fall back on self-reliance. Repent!

The more we try to live a comfortable life, the more miserable we become. God needs to give us suffering, hardships, and thorns in the flesh to shake us out of our self-reliance. When we are too weak to rely on ourselves, then we are truly strong.

Disintegration, disharmony, dis-ease, destruction... this is spiritual death. It's not that Jesus hands out cures to this or that problem; Jesus himself is the cure. When we are in his company, we experience integration, harmony, freedom and peace.

Mine will be a life well lived if people say of me, "He was a good son of our Heavenly Father; he was a good father to God's children." Mark 4:26-34 shows us the two tools that fathers can use to change the world: their words and their good deeds.

Why do humans wear clothes? The Bible says we felt ashamed, and quickly learned to point the finger of blame at everyone else. Jesus teaches us a better way to live.