God Steps Closer

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A young man stopped me in the grocery store.
“Deacon… I need to speak to you about my faith. There is so much going on.”

He has never been a person of faith.
But now—
in the ordinary,
in the everyday—
God is making Himself known.

He told me, “These things don’t make sense.”
And of course they don’t.
He is trying to understand the infinite with a finite mind.
Trying to grasp a God who cannot be grasped.
And yet—God is asking him to trust.
To take one step.
To learn what faith truly is.

And here is the truth I shared with him:

Even when God’s people fracture, argue, or fail to understand,
God does not step back.
He steps closer.
Division does not weaken His fidelity.
It reveals it.

When the world divides,
when the Church strains,
when families fracture,
when hearts break—
God does not abandon His people.
He draws near.
He holds our lot.
He steadies our steps.
He remains faithful in every division.
And because He remains faithful,
we can remain hopeful.

Unity is not something we manufacture.
It is something we receive from the God who remains faithful.

May we trust the God who steps closer—
even when nothing makes sense.

Prayer

Lord Jesus

Draw near when my understanding falls short.
Hold my heart when the world feels divided.
Steady my steps when faith feels too large to grasp.
Let Your nearness be my courage and my peace.
Teach me to trust the God who never steps back.
Make me faithful, because You are always faithful.

Amen

The Only Salvation

 

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Some chase salvation in ideas, science, and technology—
hoping human brilliance can heal what is broken inside.

Some chase salvation in riches, possessions, and power—
believing that enough control will quiet the ache of the soul.

Some chase salvation in leaders, ideologies, and government—
trusting that the right system will finally make the world whole.

Some chase salvation in the self—
through pride, self‑invention, or sin dressed up as freedom.

Because every human heart reaches for something
that promises rescue, meaning, or peace.
But not every promise can save.

But, only one Name heals the wound of sin.
Only one Love conquers death.
Only one Lord kneels beside us,
prays for us,
and gives Himself for us.

There is no salvation for man except Jesus Christ.

Even now, Christ kneels for you.
Even now, He intercedes for His Church.
Even now, He consecrates your life with His own.

And He prays:

“Consecrate them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.
And I consecrate myself for them,
so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”
(John 17:17–19)

You are not saved by ideas.
  You are not saved by the shifting winds of culture.

  You are not saved by effort.

You are saved by a Person—
the One who prays for you,
the One who sends you,
the One who consecrates you in truth.

Today, let your heart rest in the only Name that saves.
Let His Word shape your steps.
Let His prayer steady your spirit.
Let His truth make you holy.

And walk into the world knowing this:
You belong to the One who kneels for you.

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, 

Draw my heart away 

from every false salvation.
Set me deep inside the truth 

that makes me free.
Let Your Word steady me 

when the world pulls hard.
Let Your love heal 

what I cannot fix alone.
Keep me close to the One 

who kneels and prays for me.
Make me holy 

in the grace of Your salvation.

Amen

With Clean Hands, Courageous Hearts

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Every human act leans somewhere.
Some choices rise toward the good—
because their very purpose
brings life.
Others bend toward harm—
because their purpose
turns away from love.

Our fatih teaches:
the object of the act matters.
What we choose
must always be ordered
for the good of all.

Paul stands in this integrity.
He says,
“I did not shrink
from proclaiming
the entire plan of God.”
Not boasting—
bearing witness.

He loved them enough
to speak every joy,
every mercy,
every warning,
every call to repentance—
nothing softened,
nothing hidden.

Paul becomes a mirror.
Because each of us—
parent, teacher, friend, minister—
is entrusted with someone’s soul.

The question is not,
“Did they listen?”
but
“Did I speak Christ
with love,
with courage,
with the whole truth
for their good?”

As for me,
I never want someone
to stand before Jesus and say,
“Deacon Bill didn’t tell me.”

Jesus prays,
“This is eternal life:
to know You,
and Jesus Christ
whom You have sent.”

So today we ask for grace:
to speak His truth with tenderness,
to carry His Gospel without fear,
and to love His people
with clean hands
and a courageous heart.

Prayer 

Lord Jesus,
make my heart faithful 

and my hands clean.
Let Your truth 

be the word I speak.
Your mercy,

the way I walk.
Give me courage 

to proclaim Your Gospel whole and entire,
and love to guide every soul 

You place in my care.

Amen

Take Courage & Stand Firm

 

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Come Holy Spirit,
fill our hearts with courage,
that we may stand firm
in the peace of Christ.

Take courage and stand firm.
Jesus does not hide the truth —
we will have trouble in this world.
There will be sorrow, loss, and fear.
But He gives the promise
that changes everything:
“I have conquered the world.”

This is not a call to escape suffering,
but to walk through it
with the strength of the One
who has already overcome.

Hope — the Catechism tells us —
“keeps us from discouragement;
it sustains us in times of abandonment.”
Hope lifts our eyes
from the storm
to the Savior.

Stand firm.
Take courage in Christ.
Do not deny the cross —
embrace it,
for the cross is the doorway
to resurrection.

Trouble may visit,
but it cannot conquer.
Sin may wound,
but it cannot win.
Death may come,
but it cannot remain.

So today,
if your heart feels weary,
remember this truth:
Christ has already won the victory.
He reigns not only in heaven
but in every heart
that dares to trust Him.

Take courage.
Stand firm.
Live as one redeemed.
And let your life proclaim:
Jesus Christ has conquered the world.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,
give me courage when my heart grows weary.
Holy Spirit,
steady my steps when the path grows dark.
Father of mercy,
teach me to stand firm in the victory of Christ.

Amen

Why Are You Just Standing There

 

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Blessed be God.
Praise be to Jesus Christ, forever and ever. Amen.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill us with joy,
set our hearts ablaze with Your presence.

All my ministries —
Deacon at Our Lady of Fatima and Saint Lawrence.
Spiritual Director at CCM, 

Certified Spiritual Director for the Archdiocese of New Orleans,
serving the Diocese of Shreveport.

Whenever Our Lady of Fatima School Elementary 

or Saint Frederick High School calls,
I am always there to help.
Then there is my family —
my ministry as husband, son, brother, father, grandfather, and friend.

There’s OCIA, baptisms, marriages, funerals…
and yes, Fr. Vu’s joke writer.

Since the school year just ended,
I have this joke with him and for you:
Why is it that as people grow older,
they tend to read the Bible more?
Answer: Because that’s when we start
cramming for the final.

Honestly —
It is not use cramming…

 Because have you ever noticed that in God’s eyes,
even the longest of lives are short

Most of us may have seventy, eighty, or even ninety good years.
Some live longer —
I read about a woman who is 108 years old,
still working out, still driving.
But even 108 years,
in the vastness of God’s eternity,
is only a moment — a breath.

And that is why one moment in the Ascension story
always stops me.
It makes me look at myself,
my life,
and how I have lived it.

The disciples are standing there,
staring at the sky —
necks craned, mouths open, hearts confused.
And the angel asks the question
that still echoes through every age:
“Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?”

Friends, Jesus ascended into heaven,
but He left His body here on earth —
the body of His apostles, disciples,
and all who believe in Him.

He gave them a mission:
Go out into the world and baptize
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. 

But they needed a little prodding to get moving —
so the angel said,
“Why are you just standing there?”

Honestly, we need to ask ourselves the same question:
Why are we just standing there?

We stand there when life feels heavy.
We stand there when trials stretch long.
We stand there when the world overwhelms us
and we forget that even the longest life
is only a breath compared to eternity.

Our hardships feel enormous while we’re in them,
but in the reality of God’s creation,
they are small — not meaningless, but small —
compared to the unending life that waits for us.
Life ends, but eternity does not.

Is it because of this short time we have here on earth

 and thinking we can cram for the final exam?

Sometimes we just want answers —
just like the disciples did.
They asked Jesus:
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

They wanted timelines.
They wanted clarity.
They wanted the plan.
Just like us —
we think we can wait until the last moment
to cram for the final exam.

But Jesus gives them something better:
“It is not for you to know the times or seasons…
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”

Power.
Presence.
Purpose.
Not a schedule — a mission.

Why are you standing there?
Why are you frozen in fear?
Why are you staring at the sky,
hoping God will act without you?
We are His body — the Church.

In Christ we are given everything we need:
He is with us always.
He has sent the Spirit,
enlightening the eyes of our hearts.
In Christ we are given the hope
that already belongs to His call.

My friends, the Ascension is not Jesus leaving us.
It is Jesus lifting us —
lifting our mission,
lifting our courage,
lifting our eyes from the sky
to the world that needs witnesses.

The promise of eternity reframes everything.
When we remember eternity,
our trials shrink into their true size —
not erased,
but held inside a much larger story.

A story where Christ reigns.
A story where the Spirit empowers.
A story where death is not the end.
A story where we are sent.

So the angels ask us again today:
Why are you just standing there?

Christ has ascended.
The Spirit has been poured out.
The mission is already in your hands.

Go. Witness. Love.
Baptize. Teach. Serve. Trust.

And remember —
He is with you always,
until the end of the age.

Be good. Be holy.
But don’t just stand there.
Life is too short.
Go preach the Gospel
by the way you live your life.
Love one another.
Forgive. Lift someone’s burden.
Shine Christ’s light.

Praise be to Jesus Christ, forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,
lift my eyes from the sky to the mission before me.
Holy Spirit,
set my heart on fire with Your courage and Your peace.
Father of eternity,
teach me to live this short life for Your everlasting glory.

Amen