All of us wrestle with the temptation to keep people, situations and even organizations in small, familiar boxes that we can understand, and maybe even control. And when they no longer fit in those boxes – when they change or grow or undergo conversion – it’s easy for us to not see it – or, worse, to resist it, not letting them change and grow. In doing so, we blind ourselves to the possibility that God is doing something new, and we become a hindrance rather than a help to God’s plan.
This week, sit with these questions:
Where in your life are you resisting God’s initiative, the newness God might be trying to bring?
Is it your skepticism in the face of a loved one who’s trying to change their life?
Is it your resistance to truth in the words of those who may see something that we ourselves don’t want to see?
Is it in demanding that your workplace or your team or even the Church conform to what’s personally comfortable or culturally acceptable?
Is it in the anger or stubbornness with which you greet some change in your life?
Where might God be saying to you, “Ooo! What’s over here?” and where might you be responding, “Eh. I’m good right here.”?
Someone once said, “The only predictable thing about God is that He’s unpredictable.” Where is this predictably unpredictable God working in your life, rocking your boat - and how can you learn to trust Him and enjoy the ride?

We all experience doubts; it's part of being human. How we handle our doubt is the key: doubts can diminish faith, but they can also be the catalyst to increase faith. But how do we move forward and have faith beyond our doubts? Fr. Bill suggests the following three things:
Allow your doubt to be the catalyst for more understanding.
Come to that understanding starting from a place of trust.
Don't stop praying, going to Mass, or going to Confession.

No matter how deep your darkness gets, no matter how deep you feel buried by your sins, Jesus loves you and wants to dig you out. Jesus’ Resurrection proves that he is more than capable to rescue you. He desires that each one of us would be with him in heaven for eternity. That is not just good news - it’s the greatest news ever.
 
Watch the original footage of the tree well rescue that Fr. Bill talks about in his homily (contains occasional use of strong language).

Because of Jesus’ cross, because of where he’s gone on the cross, there is now no sin, no illness, no misfortune, no cruelty, no pain, no suffering – no matter how deep or dark or lonely – where God has not already gone, and now stands there watching for us, waiting to lift us up. Dear friends, we were lost – but now we are found.

A new commandment was given to us and demonstrated in the life of Jesus: we are to reorient our hearts and minds to serve and not be served. Will you encounter strange people? Yes. Will the process be messy? Yes. Will you more closely live out the commandment to love as Jesus loved? Yes.

Through Christ's suffering and death, he bound himself to us - to our own suffering. As you move through difficult times, take solace in the knowledge that God is near to you, intimately close, regardless if you can feel Him or not. It is in His Passion and Death on the cross that He can bring you through your own passion and death into eternal life - for there is no resurrection without the cross.

Sometimes, like Lazarus, the Lord leaves us in the tomb for His own mysterious reasons. Rather than just lifting us out of our darkness, God asks us to remain and delays answering our pleas because Heaven’s timeline is different from ours.
In these times, there are things we can do to weather the storm: keep your eyes on the Lord, take solace in scripture, and lean on those who love you. When we're waiting in the tomb for God to act, we don't have to wait alone.

By giving God the glory and thanking him in good times and in bad, we humble ourselves and recognize that are not in charge. No matter what befalls us or the sins we commit, God is always there wanting to restore our sight and inviting us to reconcile with him. And, by exposing the darkness of sin in our lives, the light in each of us becomes more visible to those around us.