The world is longing for what only God can give — unity in the midst of division, healing in the face of pain, forgiveness where hurt has been done. And God does this through the Church, the body of Christ, broken, frail and sinful as we all can be. This means we must be different than what we see, hear and read all around us.

Paul says that Jesus didn’t lay down His life for His friends. In fact, Jesus died for His enemies! Jesus died, Paul writes, for the ungodly! Who does things like this? Nobody does things like this. Nobody willingly dies for their enemy, for bad people, for the ungodly, for the wicked. Nobody but God that is. And by so doing, Jesus turned enemies into friends and the ungodly and the wicked into beloved sons and daughters of His Father.

Memento mori was a common expression in days gone by. It’s Latin for “remember death.” The expression served as a reminder that one real day we will be like those we pray for now. Hopefully, people will be praying for you and me when that day comes.

Every Sunday morning, a notice pops up on my phone. It probably does on yours too.“You averaged X hours of screen time a day last week,” it proclaims. Some weeks the amount of time is downright alarming. Imagine, instead, what would happen if a notice popped up that said, “You averaged X hours of time in the Word of God a day last week”?  Think our lives would be different — less anxious, calmer, more peaceful, less stressed out and overwhelmed, more hopeful?