He grew up under not just one, but two totalitarian regimes. He was almost killed in a car accident when we was young. He lost his mother at the age of eight. He lost his older brother five years later. At twenty years of age he lost his father, prompting the then-young man to say, “At twenty, I have already lost all the people I loved.” Later in life, a trained assassin fired a direct shot at him from yards away and missed the major artery of his heart only by mere centimeters.

Saint Pope John Paul II knew suffering and trauma from the inside-out. 

So do we. We know the loss of family and friends; the loss of livelihood; the loss of health. We have wounds from a long time ago and wounds from day-to-day life. We care for aging parents, worry about our children who have left the faith, and we often wonder who we can trust.

We can easily slip into thinking that life is all-or-nothing: either all joy or all hurt. We can feel disqualified by life.

But as Saint John Paul knew, life is about Jesus Christ. Hurt can be transformed into a new source of joy. As we connect to Jesus we don’t become immune to hurt and loss. Jesus transforms it – so that from our wounds we can offer a safe place to others and care for each other. Our wounds teach us – and his wounds taught Pope John Paul II.  Wounds hide hurt, but they can also lead to gifts despite the pain. This is God’s healing work in us.

Nothing compares to meeting Jesus at Mass and in the Sacrament of Confession. As you are ready, please join us here at St. Joseph’s Church. Let hurt become healing and wounds become hope! 

God Bless,
Msgr. Brian Bransfield