A Reflection for the Friday of the Second Week of Easter by Ashley McKinless

I was pleasantly surprised to realize that amid all the polarization and turmoil found online among Catholics, we can still come together to pray for an old man who happens to be our pope.

As Francis faces this new illness, help the doctors and nurses who care for him, help him to bear any pain with grace and help him to heal quickly.

That the Lord seeks not to punish us for our sins but to call us all back to holiness is a conviction so strong among theologians in the church in the modern age that it risks becoming a truism.

Give yourself over to contemplation. Climb the mountain. Soon enough, you will be saying with Peter, “Lord, it is good that we are here.”

“What should I do for Lent?” That’s the wrong question. Rather, it is not the first question we should ask. It is the last one. Let me explain.