Last Saturday we celebrated the funeral Mass for Barbara Newcomb. Barbara passed on Easter Sunday, the day in which we all gathered to rejoice in the Resurrection. I met with Barbara a couple of weeks before she passed, and was amazed at her confidence and hope for heaven. She was walking her final leg of her earthly journey, and she knew where she was going. What an incredible Easter witness! How can we have this same confidence? Well, we can look at what was said of her by her son Steve. He made the observation, "My mom had the ability to bring joy to any situation in her life." This statement has been ruminating in my mind ever since I heard it. This attribute of Barbara's is truly a model of how Christ continues to use us, if we are open to it, to journey with people, bringing joy to the downcast.

Sometimes we are the disciples on the road to Emmaus. We are downcast and in need of hope. Well, we can also allow Christ to use us, to break open the mysteries of God in our lives, to speak what marvelous works he continues to do for us in our lives. We can, like Barbara, bring joy to others, as Christ set the disciple's hearts burning as he spoke to them on the road. "Let me be a witness for you Jesus!" That is how we can grow in confidence.

- Fr. Sean