The culmination of our Lenten season, Christ’s Passion and resurrection at Easter, has offered us a renewal of faith. As devotees of St. Jude, we know that at the heart of renewal is hope. Just as we have learned from Christ this Holy Week, We pray that each day we will love one another with grace, forgive one another with humility, hold onto faith in the midst of loss, and we will be aware that the new life of Easter is ours every day.

As Lent draws to a close, let’s pray with and for one another as members of the St. Jude League family. You have made your way through your Lenten journey, and now we turn to its culmination in the Triduum of Holy Week. As a community of faithful devotees, we stand united in prayer on these days of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

In Sunday’s Gospel we are asked to live in the time of Christ, which has arrived. Each of us who wish to serve Jesus must follow him, as he says “where I am, there also will my servant be.” God loves without any conditions. We receive his grace freely, and we must therefore give freely of ourselves to others. Through his death, Jesus gaves true life to humanity. He accepted death without calculating the personal cost.

During Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” In other words, Jesus did not come to punish us or to judge us—he came to save us through him!

When we imagine our ideal home, perhaps we think of a house with plenty of light, comfortable furniture, and pleasant colors. If we require certain standards for ourselves, then what would be the most adequate place for God to live? In Sunday’s readings we are told the temple of God is the body of Jesus. In receiving the Eucharist, we, too, are the body of Christ, and we become the temple of the Holy Spirit.