Click here to read the daily readings from the USCCB website. 

If you have ever planned a trip or vacation, you know there are several steps: decide on a destination, make travel arrangements, reserve a hotel, plan your meals and so forth. There is usually some euphoric point very early in the trip when everything is going well. The time spent planning and organizing the details has paid off and everything is going according to plan.

Sometimes this success continues throughout the trip but more often than not, an unforeseen obstacle pops up like a flat tire or bad weather that puts the trip in jeopardy. These can create stressful situations but the way we respond to those obstacles can ultimately decide if the trip is successful or not. 

Our readings today reminded me of the trip scenario. Our 1st reading from Genesis concludes the 1st story of creation that we started yesterday. We heard that: “God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.” For some euphoric period of time, the world was without sin.

Fast forward many thousands of years and we find ourselves in the Gospel of Mark where the Son of God has come down to creation to live among us. He witnesses 1st hand the mortal affects of sin on mankind with the hypocrisy of the Scribes and the Pharisees. But that is not the end of the story. Unlike our trip where an unforeseen obstacle can put us in jeopardy, God’s plan for our salvation can accommodate any roadblock that comes up…even if we put it there ourselves. 

Our challenge is to have faith that Christ’s Redemption can remove any obstacles or sin in our lives. God can make lemonade out of our lemons…He can write straight with our crooked lines. He can use any seemingly impossible obstacle or mistake in our lives to bring us closer to Him…but only if we stop and ask Him for help. 

As we come together for the Eucharist, let us pray for the humility to always ask God for help to overcome our roadblocks and to have a safe trip home to heaven.