It was last year at this time, when this pandemic hit us like a led balloon and stopped us in our tracks. The psalm response this weekend for Cycle B, “Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you” rings in my ears as I reflect on this past year. Indeed, we have been help captive, like those in Babylon many centuries ago. We have mourned many deaths of those we love. For those of us born in mid 60’s or later, we have never experienced anything where the whole world was involved and held captive from living life as we know it. Indeed, sometimes we might have felt abandoned and lost. But, through it all, God was carrying us. Now, as we see a glimmer of hope in the vaccine, we also hope in a God who was, is and ever more shall be. A God who is ever present, and who lifts us up as he was liftedup on the cross. Therefore, on this Lumen Sunday, we see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we await with joyful hope, the coming festivities of Easter with hearts and minds made pure.