"Ran Away Naked Mark"

This weekend, I went to mass at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine. It's a beautiful place and I have many fond memories of serving on the Teen Leadership Team there. The OLS church is one of my favorite churches and I love attending mass there. It's been awhile since I have been to mass there.

Today, we heard the gospel where the Apostle Thomas received his nickname of "Doubting Thomas". The priest had a wonderful reflection on this topic. All the other apostles saw Jesus and so they believed. But, poor Thomas was out at the time Jesus visited. He didn't get to see and didn't take the word of his fellow apostles. Jesus then appears and Thomas immediately believed. Yet, we still know Thomas as "Doubting Thomas". As the cartoon depicts, why not also call Peter "Denying Peter" and Mark "Run Away Naked Mark"? 

I shared the same picture on my Facebook page and the following was posted by a friend:

"I wake up in the morning feeling like T Diddy. Once was a doubter I'm out the door, gonna convert this city. Before I leave sell my stuff, just one cloak on my back. Cause when we go out in pairs all we take is a staff." - Forest

Do you ever find yourself doubting? Would you like to be labeled as "Doubting Patricia" or "Doubting Fred"? Let's forgive Thomas for doubting that Jesus had risen and just call him "T-Diddy"!

Jesus's Resurrection and My HoopsMania Ticket

What? How are these two things similar??? Well, I'm going to tell you.

If you follow college basketball and March Madness, then you know that tonight was the Final 4. I bought a HoopsMania ticket, which is a "bracket for dummies". I was assigned 8 teams, 2 from each area. I didn't know what teams they were for all I had were what seed. I had to wait for Selection Sunday. I had to have a little faith that whatever teams I got would perform well!

Well, I had 2 teams out in round 1 and 5 teams out in round 2...that's right...I had 1 team make it to the Sweet Sixteen! Then, that one team made it to the Elite Eight. Oh, look at that they made it to Final Four!

Again, tonight both Final Four games happened. I went to the Easter Vigil mass so I did not watch or know how the games were going. If my team lost, my card would be dead. (Not that it really matters, I have no shot at winning since all my other teams were out so early)

Now, how does this ticket tie into Jesus's Resurrection?

As I said, I was at mass tonight. It's one of my favorite masses. We sit and wait for the resurrection of Jesus. People believed him to be dead. His followers were gone, hiding in the upper room. Many thought He was gone, not to return. There was no sense to check on Him.

I thought my ticket was gone and not worth my time to check it. But, it lives! Just as Jesus lives!

Okay, I know it was a bit of a stretch and my thoughts seem a bit scattered. But did you follow? I gave up hope that my team would continue, but they did. Just when you give up hope, we find out that Jesus has risen!