As Isaiah speaks so eloquently in the first reading, God's ways are so above our ways, in how He lavishes us with His graces and mercy day by day. It's like in the parable Jesus tells, in which the landowner gives so generously to all who he hires to work in the vineyard.
When it comes to God's grace, we can't put a monetary amount on it, for God freely grants it. So let's not focus too much on what seems fair and unfair. Let's instead turn our gaze upward, seeking after this great God of ours, so that He may be magnified in us in life or death, like St. Paul writes as conduct ourselves reverently before Him, seeking His Truth and living it fully all through our lives. And let us rejoice in the ways that God grants His grace to each of us specially.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Sunday, September 17, 2017
September 17, 2017: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
We continue in the theme of righteous and holy living toward others, found in last weekend's liturgy as well as this weekend's as we turn our attention to forgiveness. God forgave us the immense debt of our sin, because we had no way otherwise to possibly pay it. God, Who is Just and immensely kind, bestowed His powerful mercy on us and forgave us our sins.
Once we have received the mercy, we are called to follow God's pattern and live a life in which we constantly forgive and extend mercy to others, just as the reading from Sirach discusses through exhortations to forgive. We cannot simply count on receiving mercy, but we must also demonstrate how mercy has transformed us, and how we live to honor the God Who forgives us, by forgiving others. We no longer live just ourselves, but we live for God, Who is, as St. Paul writes, Lord of all, the living and the dead, Whose merciful presence compels us to live that mercy. We don't limit forgiveness to a specific number of times like St. Peter seems to suggest by his question at the start of the Gospel reading, but extend it abundantly as our God does to us.
Once we have received the mercy, we are called to follow God's pattern and live a life in which we constantly forgive and extend mercy to others, just as the reading from Sirach discusses through exhortations to forgive. We cannot simply count on receiving mercy, but we must also demonstrate how mercy has transformed us, and how we live to honor the God Who forgives us, by forgiving others. We no longer live just ourselves, but we live for God, Who is, as St. Paul writes, Lord of all, the living and the dead, Whose merciful presence compels us to live that mercy. We don't limit forgiveness to a specific number of times like St. Peter seems to suggest by his question at the start of the Gospel reading, but extend it abundantly as our God does to us.
Sunday, September 10, 2017
September 10, 2017: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
God wants us to look out for one another, to forgive one another and be reconciled and at peace, echoing the call of God to one another that draws people away from what leads to death and on the path that leads to life. It is all an expression of love that is the ultimate fulfillment of all the commands of the Law, so that we can be in right relationship with one another as an expression of being in right relationship with God.
God came to us in Jesus Christ so that we could be brought back into right relationship with Him after we strayed. He draws us together in a community that now lives forgiveness together, as Father Bob talked about so insightfully in his homily. And as we come together to act this way in His Name, we make God's presence known, just as Jesus said He would be present with us.
God came to us in Jesus Christ so that we could be brought back into right relationship with Him after we strayed. He draws us together in a community that now lives forgiveness together, as Father Bob talked about so insightfully in his homily. And as we come together to act this way in His Name, we make God's presence known, just as Jesus said He would be present with us.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
September 3, 2017: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
As the disciples faced the reality of Who Jesus is in last weekend's Gospel, so now they must face the reality that as His disciples, they must follow Him in taking up the Cross.
Jeremiah came to know full well that the work of proclaiming God's message often brought him great misery, to the point that he no longer wanted to speak, much as Peter wanted to deny the reality that Christ would have to suffer and die. But God's presence within us acts with such force and compels us to do the work, to take up the Cross.
Even if we try to pull back, something within us earnestly seeks God, because we know that in Him alone do we find a relationship that truly makes us whole and satisfied. So we offer ourselves as living sacrifices, committing our whole selves to embracing the new reality we have now in Christ, as new beings, so that even our suffering is part of God's great plan to redeem the world and bring us to Himself.
Jeremiah came to know full well that the work of proclaiming God's message often brought him great misery, to the point that he no longer wanted to speak, much as Peter wanted to deny the reality that Christ would have to suffer and die. But God's presence within us acts with such force and compels us to do the work, to take up the Cross.
Even if we try to pull back, something within us earnestly seeks God, because we know that in Him alone do we find a relationship that truly makes us whole and satisfied. So we offer ourselves as living sacrifices, committing our whole selves to embracing the new reality we have now in Christ, as new beings, so that even our suffering is part of God's great plan to redeem the world and bring us to Himself.
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