Dear Friends,

THE COMPASSIONATE JESUS – FRIEND OF SINNERS: Being able to drive, being ordained, and being a major fan of the Passionist Nuns, I had the honor of celebrating Mass most mornings in Carrick at the cloistered Passionist Nuns convent. What an honor! They prepare beautiful hymns and liturgies and music each day. The Mass is the high point of their day. This past week I was there and reflected daily with them on Luke’s gospel. Luke was a Gentile and traveled on missionary journeys with St. Paul. The gospel written by Luke is what St. Paul preached. All this past week the gospels were from Luke. The part where Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and to His death on the Cross, Chapter 9 verse 51 onward, Jesus sets His face to Jerusalem and heads straight to the Cross. I am totally at ease when I am with the Sisters and remembering with them the greatest act of God’s love, Jesus’ Passion and Death on the Cross. This past week, there were so many beautiful lessons given us in Luke’s gospel. St. Vincent Stambi once said he believed that: “God raised up St. Paul of the Cross in the Church, that we might learn to love God from our hearts.” Luke shows us that Jesus turning his face to Jerusalem where he will journey to die on the Cross because He loves us.