Why is faith so difficult? What is it about trust that we doubt? Are we willing to live for the next life or are we hedging our bets? Have I duped myself what reality is?

Be healed for your faith has set you free. In your faith, turn over all resentment, hurt, anger, guilt, hostility, or wound. This truly is the ordinary action of God’s love for us and our path to holiness. We can become addicts of our own misery. Seek recovery from that addiction. Silence before the Cross. He is waiting for us.

The next time we feel that anger and frustration of being hated, go to the cross. Sit silently in the church, gaze up at Jesus, thank Him for all that He did, tell Him how you feel a little sliver of what He felt. Of what He still feels. So many reject and hate Him. We are blessed to be in His company. In living for the next life, pray for your enemy, let them have what they pursue, pursue love. Live for the next life. Bear wrongs patiently. Forgive wrongs willingly. Do not squabble over things of this life. Aim higher. Aim to love at all times, in all conditions, even in rejection.

This weekend's readings point us to an incredible moment. The end of a Gospel and the beginning of Acts of the Apostles. A very incredible moment that most of us and history have been spiritually deaf to. Please bear with me as I attempt to explain. I don’t know much, but I’ve read some pretty amazing things from church history. Possibly with some undeserved Grace I can point to some wisdom.

It comes down to, we don’t listen to what God says. We don’t do what God asks. We listen to our will. We make plans that are more important than God’s. We lack childlike faith and trust in our heavenly Father.

If there is anything we should learn in our 80 years on this planet it is that we do not quite fully understand. It is that we should go to the beginning, admit our need, and go to the source of all knowledge. It's a lifelong journey. The wiser we become the more we should admit how deeply we are in need of understanding.

How many of us have watched a crime fighting movie or television show? There is always the investigator looking for clues and asking questions. It’s always a search for the suspect and the accomplices. Somehow and someway through a series of conversation and interrogations there always is the question, “Do you know him (her)? Before the question though there are clues. The person being asked is somehow linked to knowing the suspect. Some behavior, some connection, or some question of association. The person being questioned can answer with words, but evidence can be undeniable. That is always the “gotcha” scene. Evidence of undeniable association.