My wife and I have enjoyed watching the Olympic Games on TV over the last two weeks.

We also enjoyed the Dick’s Sporting Goods ads, which highlighted the small moments in a person’s life that can one day reap big rewards. These ads often showed children.

In one such commercial, a young girl (maybe 4 years old) was shown as smiling with tears in her eyes as she learned she had made a sports team. Her parents handed her a phone, and then a coach told her, “We want you on our team”. The little almost cried in disbelief and said, “You want me on your team? Mommy, I made the team!”

This was a tearjerker (at least for me).

It made me think that is how it is with Jesus and on our journey in faith. Jesus is always calling us to Himself and wanting us to join Him, not only in heaven, but also in our time on earth.

As Pope Francis mentioned to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on 4/21/24, “This is what the Lord wants to tell us with the image of the Good Shepherd: Not only that He is the Guide, the Head of the Flock, but, above all, that He thinks of each of us as the love of His life... For Christ I am important, irreplaceable, worth the infinite price of His life...”.

When you think about that, I bet it can bring a tear to your eye. It does that for me.

By: Deacon Tom Gryzbek