​Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.

One of the most interesting ice breaker questions is; what is your biggest fear? Spiders, snakes, and heights are all pretty typical responses. There’s another level of fears that many of us experience, but when breaking the ice it’s hard to have enough courage to mention them: the fear of failure, the fear of being alone, the fear of not being chosen, the fear of not being cared for.

These are real fears, and the anxiety that they raise up in our hearts are worth talking about. At some point when things get really heavy, everyone desires to be able to unload with a friend. As Christians, our sharing looks different though, because Jesus exists. He truly really exists in every moment, and no matter what feeling or situation arises we should remember Jesus is a part of it.

Imagine the fear of walking alone through a dark and damp tunnel; you’ve been walking long enough that the entrance has disappeared from your sight and you cannot yet see the light at the end of the tunnel. Will you ever make it? There’s a thousand fears that rush in about the safety of the tunnel, the amount of time it’ll take to walk through, who would come to help if something went wrong?

Every fear we experience can be like that image; but the psalm tells us that the Lord is at our side. Imagine the same scenario, dark damp tunnel with no light on either side but beside you is the person you trust the most, the person who has loved you despite all your weakness. It ceases to be so scary right? Sure, the unknown is still there and you’re still cautious but you can smile knowing that you aren’t stuck alone in the fear.

The Lord stands beside you always, grab His hand when you feel the fear begin to rise up. He is our shepherd, and He leads us to the place that will give us life. He provides for our hunger. He anoints us as chosen. He lavishes us in His love.

What if the green pastures that we long for are on the other side of a scary tunnel? Do you trust the One who stands beside you to lead you? You’ve known Him for quite some time and He has never let you down before. He is never leaving your side, especially when His beloved is afraid. The Lord is faithful, and with His grace, we too will be faithful even when we are afraid.

What are you afraid of? Take these fears to the Lord? 

How do you invite the Lord into your fears? Do you trust that He is always there? 

Do you trust Jesus? How can you increase your trust?

"​Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side."

"Jesus, I trust in you."

​"Lord I need you."

Before we dive into this reflection, I know this reading was really long and most of us have heard it before, but I really want to encourage you to go back and reread it. To really feel yourself in this situation, to pay attention to the whole story, then come back and read the rest of this reflection.

Welcome back! Welcome back to all of you who went back and reread, and welcome back to Lazarus from the dead! I know what it feels like to lose a sibling, and man, I would have given anything to have Jesus raise her from the dead. So I am not going to lie, reading this story as I was preparing this reflection, I hated it at first. I was jealous. I was overcome with emotion. But so was Jesus. John 11:35 is one of the shortest verses in scripture and it simply says "And Jesus wept."

I realized it was okay to be upset. It was okay to have emotions, even sad ones. And once I got past my emotions being a barrier I saw something a lot deeper. I realized God can do big things, and sometimes even bigger things. See in a lot of our eyes - I know for the longest time in my eyes for sure - death feels like the biggest obstacle to overcome. Don't get me wrong, it is definitely up there and even Jesus felt its pain - like I did/do with my sister - but God always has a bigger plan. For Lazarus, He performed this miracle so that the people would know the Father's love and that Jesus was sent by the Father. For my sister, the miracle was the love she passed on that still lives in my heart each and every day. The miracle that has made me a man finally willing to actually put others first instead of just pretend to. The miracle that may be what gets me to heaven, and maybe so many more. Yes, I would have loved for Jesus to perform the same miracle with my sister Heather that He did with Lazarus, but He had a bigger miracle in mind, one bigger than physical life and death.

And there is still more that overflowed my heart from this story today, one that I think we can all relate to, especially in the time of confusion and chaos and fear. Do we trust God? Even in what seemed absolutely impossible, Martha said "But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.” Martha's brother died, yet she still trusted, and yet we cannot trust that there will be enough toilet paper at the store next week. We struggle to trust that God will take care of us, to keep us safe, to protect us. We struggle to trust that He has a plan for us for college, or our job, or our family. We struggle to trust that He actually wants what is good for us and wants our true happiness. We simply struggle to trust. And I am honestly hit so hard with this right now myself and am so humbled writing this and realizing that it was easier for me to trust in God's mercy for my drug-addicted sister than it is for me to trust that God desires good for me and sincere happiness. 

And I know I am not alone in that struggle. For some of us, that is our health or how we are going to make it through this pandemic. For others it is a relationship, or a family member, or a friend that we are afraid to trust God with. For others it is our job or our financial security. It doesn't matter what it is, we all have or do struggle with this. And it is not an easy fix, but we can learn to trust again. It is going to take continual reminders, but maybe eventually we can see that God's miracle is even bigger than the one we asked for. We can learn to see that God isn't just trying to make us suffer, but that He wants good for us. And we can learn that the suffering along the way can be a part of that miracle, like the miracle of how to love that I received from my sister. Saint Clare of Assisi said, "Love that cannot suffer is not worthy of that name." And if there is one thing that I have learned is bigger than death - it is love. Maybe that is the miracle we should be looking for instead today.

Do you trust God? What are you struggling the most to trust God with today?

How can you look more for the miracle of love in your life?

How can you trust more in God's love and goodness today?

"Jesus, I trust in You."

"Jesus, I love You."

"Thank You Jesus."

In this difficult time, we will use our Action step each day to join with people around the world in praying for an end to the pandemic of the Coronavirus, for the healing of all those affected, and for the comfort of all those who have lost a loved one. The prayer below is from Archbishop José H. Gomez, President of the USCCB in his reflection and prayer: 

Holy Virgin of Guadalupe,
Queen of the Angels and Mother of the Americas.
We fly to you today as your beloved children.
We ask you to intercede for us with your Son,
as you did at the wedding in Cana.

Pray for us, loving Mother,
and gain for our nation and world,
and for all our families and loved ones,
the protection of your holy angels,
that we may be spared the worst of this illness.

For those already afflicted,
we ask you to obtain the grace of healing and deliverance.
Hear the cries of those who are vulnerable and fearful,
wipe away their tears and help them to trust.

In this time of trial and testing,
teach all of us in the Church to love one another and to be patient and kind.
Help us to bring the peace of Jesus to our land and to our hearts.

We come to you with confidence,
knowing that you truly are our compassionate mother,
health of the sick and cause of our joy.

Shelter us under the mantle of your protection,
keep us in the embrace of your arms,
help us always to know the love of your Son, Jesus. Amen.

Click the link below or open your Bible to the passage and read through the reading at least once, paying attention to what is happening in the text. 

​Use the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again).

Over the course of this Lent, I have been struck by the person of Jesus in a new way. Every time we get to a point where we think we understand who Jesus is and how he will act in a certain situation, he surprises us – or at least that's the case for me. 

In today's Gospel passage that we're invited to meditate on, we see a community around him that is completely unable to understand him. Some people like what he's saying, other people hate it. For most of the people, it seems, he is interesting; they might not be ready to drop everything and follow him, but they'll hear him out. Nicodemus is in the middle of the whole thing, clearly having a specific interest in the teachings of Jesus, having come to him a few chapters before, and now is risking a lot by being willing to speak up in defense of giving Jesus a chance to explain himself.

Why is he so confusing for them?

I think it's the same reason he's confusing for us a lot of the time – he doesn't fit into any constructs we put him in. For the pharisees and the chief priests, they had read from Scripture (what we now know as the Old Testament), and from that had painted a very clear picture of who the Messiah would be. Jesus did not fit their perspective! This wasn't a great and powerful king who would restore an earthly kingdom, and therefore he couldn't be the Messiah.

For you and I, it might be that Jesus doesn't give us what we ask him for. It might be that, just when we're mad at God, he comes through in a way we never could have predicted. It might be that our image of God was a santa clause who just gives us gifts from up in the sky somewhere, and then he proves to us that he's way closer to us than that. 

Whichever thing it is, whether a false picture we've painted or an evidence-based image of Jesus, we can never fully comprehend the depth and breadth of our God. Jesus was bewildering to the people of his time because they couldn't put him in any sort of box – and that's because God is way bigger than what we can do with him. 

Brothers and sisters, as we are now only about 2 weeks away from the great celebration of the Triduum – however different it may look this year – now is a great time to leave behind whatever limiting image we have of Jesus. He is more powerful, more merciful, more gracious, more forgiving, and more mysterious than we could ever explain. And yet, even in his great power and his great mystery, he invites us into a relationship with him in prayer. Let's not let quarantines or cancelled Masses or fasting and penance that didn't go as we planned or disappointment or fear or temptation or ANYTHING get between us and the God who loves us more than we could ever imagine. He's completely beyond our ability to grasp, and yet each day when we enter into quiet and prayer he reveals himself to us if we're willing to let him. He wants to show himself to be more than we've ever imagined, and to do more in our lives than we could've predicted; unlike the chief priests in this passage from John's Gospel, let's open our hearts to whatever he wants to do. 

These questions are to be used to talk to God; have a conversation with the Lord about these questions and what is going on in your heart as you pray today.

In what ways have you allowed your vision to limit who God wants to be in your life?

How is your Lent going? What are some ways you can renew your commitment to enter into relationship with him in this important and powerful season?

As you enter into silence today, what is God saying to your heart? Is it a call to boldness? An invitation to peace? A reminder of his mercy?

In this step, you listen. Stop talking, let God speak to your heart. You may repeat one of these short phrases to focus your mind on the Lord.

"You are more."

"You are good."

​"You are powerful."

In light of today's reading and your time spent in prayer with the Lord, what concrete action or actions will you take to let this encounter with the Lord bear fruit in you today?

The following image is here for you to save and use as a background or lock screen on your smartphone or device to help you carry today's Lectio Divina with you the rest of the day.

Today's prayer was prepared by Jason Theobald, Executive Director of Carpe Verbum.

If you have anything you'd like our team to pray for, please go to the page of our website called "Prayers" and let us know how we can pray for you today.