If we open ourselves, we may suffer with Jesus. We may hurt as his experiences resonate with our own, but by uniting with him in suffering, we may also heal our pain. This week will be intense, but even so, I hope we enter in. God is in it all as we live into this holiest of weeks and the Paschal Mystery itself.

As we endure the crosses in our own lives, we have to dig down deep into hope. Resurrection is on its way. God makes all things new.

Human beings are complicated in this. We sometimes need discernment and healthy boundaries and self-protection when relationships break down. However, God, who is infinite mystery, is not complicated in this. God wants us to return no matter what. God loves us whether we’re bratty or whiny, lost, searching, wayward, or unfaithful. When we are lost and return to God, God rejoices.

Brokenness is real, but it is redeemable. As community, we can bring our woundedness together, owning our incompleteness, and drawing near each other. God is present when we come together in our brokenness, God who has chosen to be vulnerable too.

The air on mountain tops is thin so the journey back down is a healthy choice. It is in the day-to-day events that faith is both displayed and supported. For me, and probably for most of us, the only visions we will have are ones that we recognize not in blinding light, but in little glimpses of God’s love mediated through our companions.

The call I hear in the reading is to try and recognize what leads me: is it the Spirit of God or something else? If it’s the Spirit, then I am on the way toward God and toward good. If what is leading me is not of God, then I can always change directions.

We each have the ability to produce good fruit, to act out of the goodness – the God-ness – inside of us. But we also have it in us to act out of what’s not of God. My decision to do good, to move in the direction of the Spirit, (or not!) reflects on who I am as a person

The ears of my heart tell me the truth. I need to push myself to say the kind word and think the kind thought. I need to be generous and not “measured.” I need to value my life as God values it.

I try to weather the storm of despair when in comes and remind myself that it doesn’t come from God. God is deeply and profoundly with me in all things, calling me beloved, even when I can’t hear it. Eventually, the storm subsides, God’s Spirit descends again, and once more I know hope and love and joy.

“I trust that the same God who sent a powerful sign to the magi also guides us. What if the star was there for all to see – bold and bright in the sky – but only those few wise ones noticed it and followed? Maybe other people could have, had they had the desire and the insight to see it. What if God has placed a star in front of us now, and, if we pray for discernment, we’ll see it too? What if the star is within us?”

Whatever your family situation – blood relatives or chosen family or all of the above – I hope it’s inclusive too. I hope it gives you the feelings of love and belonging that God has for you.

Mary and Elizabeth say yes to God as individuals, but then they are together in God’s call. Theirs are not two separate invitations, but one call to fulfill God’s loving plan of salvation for all people. Both women have a part in that call. And so do we. We, too, say yes as individuals to whatever God calls us to, and then we are invited to come together in a mutual yes. In our efforts to bring forth truly inclusive communities, we may take one step forward and two steps back, but we are moving. Taking halting steps is still a movement forward, and God is in our efforts, which is a good thing. We need God, the ultimate model of inclusivity and lover of diversity.

God persisted in making the impossible possible, the empty full, and scary things safe – and God continues to take that kind of action in us. God is the one taking the initiative to work in our lives. God persists, so I invite you, with me, to try to move from fear to confidence in God’s great work.

So, there is hope in our waiting, even during discouraging times. The hope is in God, and God is also in us – in God’s Spirit present in our prayer, in each other, and in our efforts to become woke, our striving to grow into the people God is creating us to be. It’s in our community-building and care for each other, a mirror of God’s care for us.