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Message from Pastor

Dearly beloved brothers and sisters:

As I write this column, I am reminded of an afternoon when I lent my voice to speak—three times over—the very words Jesus addresses to us in today’s Gospel: "Peace be with you!" At that moment, my eyes fell upon a friend of mine, seated in the front pew, and my heart attempted to place itself in the shoes of someone hearing this message while broken by the pain of losing a loved one.

Perhaps, in those moments, those words were more necessary than ever. Today, Jesus once again says to all of us—His friends: "Peace be with you!" He then shows us His pierced hands and the wounds of His suffering, reminding us that He offers us neither fictions nor mere window dressing; rather, He invites us to look at our reality—exactly as it is—so that we may heal our pain from within.

Jesus bursts into our lives to shatter our fears, our anxieties, and the closed doors that isolate us from one another. If—like Thomas—we miss out on important moments of our shared life because we are too absorbed in our own affairs, He grants us a second chance so that we may truly encounter Him.

How many stories of pain have we heard throughout our lives? How much unbearable loneliness have we witnessed? How deep is our need to come together—to encounter one another—so that we may feel the faith of the person beside us strengthening our own? The peace Jesus gives us is not a conquest of our own individual effort, nor is it the fruit of psychological therapy.

Jesus’s peace is a gift from God—a gift of the Spirit that takes root in the heart of the believer who places their trust in Him. We need one another to receive this gift—so that, gathered together in His name, we may sense His presence, which strengthens and accompanies us. Come what may—today, just as yesterday— Jesus says to us: "Peace be with you!"

Happy Sunday

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Read full Message from Rev. Alejandro Marca Mansilla