Jesus tells the Pharisee in the Gospel reading that the whole of the Law comes down to the commands to love God and love one another.
The reading from Exodus, containing specifics of the Law, focuses love as a practical matter of action toward helping those who are in need. These are the people God loves and desires to help. And as we aid them in Love, we do as God does, and join ourselves with His love. This is the Love that brought us alive, and turned us toward worshiping the one true God.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Monday, October 20, 2014
October 19, 2014: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
God declares in the first reading from Isaiah that He is God alone, and there is no other. Even Cyrus, mighty a king as he was in his day, in God's sight, is an instrument used to further His purposes for His people, as Cyrus initiated the efforts to bring the Jews back to their land, thereby ending the Babylonian exile.
When the Pharisees try to trap Jesus with a question about the legality of the tax to Caesar, Jesus rebuffs it by declaring that they should give Caesar what is owed him, while also remembering they should give to God what they owe Him.
Because God is the Almighty, the Creator of all and our Redeemer, we owe Him much for the much He has given us. He has worked gloriously in us, through the proclamation of the Gospel, and the Holy Spirit, which brings us alive to proclaim who He is by our deeds, so that we thereby live out fully the great value that He gives us, as we bear His very image.
These readings hold special meaning for me because they were proclaimed at my Confirmation Mass 9 years ago, on Saturday, October 15, 2005. It was the day the Holy Spirit did a powerful work in me, so that I began to proclaim God anew as God alone.
When the Pharisees try to trap Jesus with a question about the legality of the tax to Caesar, Jesus rebuffs it by declaring that they should give Caesar what is owed him, while also remembering they should give to God what they owe Him.
Because God is the Almighty, the Creator of all and our Redeemer, we owe Him much for the much He has given us. He has worked gloriously in us, through the proclamation of the Gospel, and the Holy Spirit, which brings us alive to proclaim who He is by our deeds, so that we thereby live out fully the great value that He gives us, as we bear His very image.
These readings hold special meaning for me because they were proclaimed at my Confirmation Mass 9 years ago, on Saturday, October 15, 2005. It was the day the Holy Spirit did a powerful work in me, so that I began to proclaim God anew as God alone.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
October 12, 2014: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
So one of my dad's bosses had someone in his family who had planned a destination wedding at a fancy resort in the Bahamas. But as the wedding neared, he got cold feet and decided not to get married. In an effort to not let the accommodations go to waste, my parents accepted an offer to spend the few days there instead.
While not an exact resemblance, I think about this story in light of the Gospel reading for this weekend, where the king prepares a wedding feast for his son, but the invited guests refused to come when summoned. Eventually, the king tells his servants to go out and bring anyone they find to the feast. But they have to be sure to be properly dressed, just as my parents had to be sure to obtain passports.
God prepares for us a great feast, and earnestly sets out to invite us to partake. It is a feast where we are not only filled and satisfied in a physical sense, but where God removes the ill effects of sin and makes us whole again, the greatest spiritual longing of our soul.
It is not only a feast we experience at the End of Time, but even now in our lives when we realize, in good times and bad, God always meets our needs in His abundance through Jesus Christ.
Such a powerful invitation invites us to give our hearts to Him as we embrace fully this invitation, even now by living in the abundance of His graces in His new and everlasting covenant.
While not an exact resemblance, I think about this story in light of the Gospel reading for this weekend, where the king prepares a wedding feast for his son, but the invited guests refused to come when summoned. Eventually, the king tells his servants to go out and bring anyone they find to the feast. But they have to be sure to be properly dressed, just as my parents had to be sure to obtain passports.
God prepares for us a great feast, and earnestly sets out to invite us to partake. It is a feast where we are not only filled and satisfied in a physical sense, but where God removes the ill effects of sin and makes us whole again, the greatest spiritual longing of our soul.
It is not only a feast we experience at the End of Time, but even now in our lives when we realize, in good times and bad, God always meets our needs in His abundance through Jesus Christ.
Such a powerful invitation invites us to give our hearts to Him as we embrace fully this invitation, even now by living in the abundance of His graces in His new and everlasting covenant.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
October 5, 2014: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
I feel like the commentaries I have come across on this weekend's readings gravitate toward talking about how we are the laborers in God's vineyard.
The readings certainly do speak of God's vineyard as the people of Israel. But they were unfaithful to God, not producing the fruit He desired, even though He cared for them dearly. The people of Israel in the time of Isaiah followed other gods, and the religious leaders in Jesus's day followed their own ideas about practicing religion, but not living it.
So, as a conclusion drawn from Jesus's parable in the Gospel reading, God gives His vineyard to others who will do the work in producing good fruit. This fruit comes in the form of righteousness and virtues in the list St. Paul writes in the 2nd reading, which we do in our works of mercy and in our taking time to pray to receive God's peace.
We, as God's people of the Church in the New Covenant, are the new ones whom God has given the task of tending the vineyard. In light of past failings, God is counting on us to bear fruit, confident we are capable. For God has truly blessed us with the abilities to do His work, and the fruits we bear are our offering back to God. We don't do it because God demands it, but because God loves us and earnestly wants us to be in relationship with Him and bear fruit for His glory.
The readings certainly do speak of God's vineyard as the people of Israel. But they were unfaithful to God, not producing the fruit He desired, even though He cared for them dearly. The people of Israel in the time of Isaiah followed other gods, and the religious leaders in Jesus's day followed their own ideas about practicing religion, but not living it.
So, as a conclusion drawn from Jesus's parable in the Gospel reading, God gives His vineyard to others who will do the work in producing good fruit. This fruit comes in the form of righteousness and virtues in the list St. Paul writes in the 2nd reading, which we do in our works of mercy and in our taking time to pray to receive God's peace.
We, as God's people of the Church in the New Covenant, are the new ones whom God has given the task of tending the vineyard. In light of past failings, God is counting on us to bear fruit, confident we are capable. For God has truly blessed us with the abilities to do His work, and the fruits we bear are our offering back to God. We don't do it because God demands it, but because God loves us and earnestly wants us to be in relationship with Him and bear fruit for His glory.
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