Today we are being confronted with new challenges that touch both our personal lives and our world. We are being asked to live the paschal journey of Jesus whose mission is to unite all things in heaven and all things on earth. As Christian believers our lives only make sense when we can unite our personal and group stories with what God is doing for the whole of humanity. In the gospel we see Jesus creating groups of friends whose love is secure enough to widen the circle of human acceptance and love in a spirituality of compassion and forgiveness for all people.
The new mobility of our times demands a deeper understanding of the human community, one that accepts everyone made in the image and likeness of God. In the Bible God calls people from a fear-based religion of rules and regulations to a love-based religion, in which a profoundly relational God invites all humanity into union and communion. In reaching out to the poor and needy I learn to accept my own inner poverty and I begin to discover that my life is transformed, not by my own worthiness, but by the free gift of God's grace given to all.
We are called to carry the mystery that we are sinners and at the same time touched by glory and grace. The paschal journey embraces light and dark, as we live the tension between crucifixion and resurrection. This is what we used to call holiness.

Michael Cunningham is a Salesian of Don Bosco. He has taught Religious Education for over twenty years. He has been engaged in province leadership and was provincial of the British Salesian province for six years. After some years with the Movement for a Better World, he has continued to be involved in retreats internationally. He is currently working with asylum seekers and refugees in Liverpool. He remains a loyal supporter of Bolton Wanderers Football Club. His many books , published by Don Bosco Publications, have been greatly appreciated by many people.