THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER
This morning, I was blessed to watch Sunday Mass live from Our Lady of Mercy in Baton Rouge. A little trip home to one of my favorite churches with a priest that has been dear to our family since I was a young girl. God is Good. All. The. Time. When I was a teenager, Fr. Cleo was assigned as Pastor at Immaculate Conception in Denham Springs, La. Where we attended Mass, and my mother was the parish secretary. When I moved back home to Baton Rouge in 2013, Fr. Cleo was beginning as Pastor at Our Lady of Mercy. As God would have it, (I could say luck, but it was definitely a God-thing!) my cozy little apartment was within the Parish boundaries of Our Lady of Mercy. Returning to Baton Rouge that year, to not only my mom and dad but also to a church family, was God inviting me to return home after many years of wandering. My years in Baton Rouge did feel like being home, so much so that merely watching Fr. Cleo celebrating Mass at Our Lady of Mercy filled my heart with joy this morning. I've been reading Becky Eldredge's new book, The Inner Chapel. She talks about how there are seasons of our lives when we feel like we don't belong. Where I am now, feels like the desert, this strange unwelcoming land. We have all had those places, those times, where we felt like we are wandering without the tour guide. But Becky reminds us that Jesus is waiting for us there in our Inner Chapel. Fr. Cleo reminds us that we are always walking with Jesus, our ultimate tour guide, He keeps us moving in our journey with Him, so we don't miss out on all He has to offer us in this life. God promises us that we are never alone. That he will never leave us, never forsake us. In joy or sorrow, He walks with us. Jesus, the tour guide, doesn't allow us to linger too long on the things that distract us. He calls us to keep walking with Him and to keep our hearts and minds focused on Him and His promises. The Lord will lead us out of any desert and back into the lush garden of His love. We can rest in the peace that He is always walking beside us. Keep walking.