Eleventh Week of the Year
Monday of the Eleventh (Matthew 5:38-42) What is apparent is not the real message. Passivity in the face of evil is not the Gospel message. The Gospel is always in confrontation with evil. This is exactly what the message is, that evil will not be overcome with evil, but with good. Our lives present many opportunities to insert the Gospel into the world, a world which so often is drifting away from God. It is not telling us to be silent, but on the contrary to speak out. It is asking us to be merciful in the true sense of the word, to correct that which has gone astray.
Monday of the Eleventh (Matthew 5:38-42) What is apparent is not the real message. Passivity in the face of evil is not the Gospel message. The Gospel is always in confrontation with evil. This is exactly what the message is, that evil will not be overcome with evil, but with good. Our lives present many opportunities to insert the Gospel into the world, a world which so often is drifting away from God. It is not telling us to be silent, but on the contrary to speak out. It is asking us to be merciful in the true sense of the word, to correct that which has gone astray.
Tuesday of the Eleventh Week (Matthew 5:43-48) To state the obvious, we are not perfect. What this means when we look ourselves is that forgiveness has a long way to go within us. To forgive rings throughout the Gospels. To receive the forgiveness which God offers, to forgive others, to forgive ourselves …it is the imperative and at the same time the most difficult. We are reminded that forgiveness is not a “one shot” thing but is a road. Be perfected implies a journey. The Gospel is asking us to be open to the power of the Spirit within us molding a forgiving heart.
Wednesday of the Eleventh Week (Matthew 6:1-6,16-18) To take what belongs to someone else is something most of us never do. To say that which belongs to some else is mine is wrong. However, taking from God is something we all do. The good that we do, prayer, almsgiving, and the little acts of penance, are really God’s possessions. It is His work within us. To claim that good that we do as our own is saying to God that what is His is mine. St. Francis once said that the only thing we can truly claim as our own is our sins.
Thursday of the Eleventh Week (Matthew 6: 19-23) What are some of the basics of prayer? It is a gift. We can not pray unless God gives us the power to. We turn to God only because He has turned to us first. Prayer reminds us of our poverty. The expressions we use “I prayed” “I like to pray” can be so misleading. They sound as if it is we, when really it is the Spirit of God praying within us. Prayer, is the most humbling of acts, because it takes us out of the center and places God there.
Friday of the Eleventh Week (Matthew 6:19-23) The real danger in possessing things is that eventually they possess us. Things get turned upside down. The desire for things, money, power, prestige, can be a devil within us taking away our humanity. The paradox is that the very things left uncontrolled are looked upon as success and yet what price the human heart has had to pay. The desire to have more and more eats away at the heart and takes from it the ability to say those words which really are heart opening, thank you.
Saturday of the Eleventh Week (Matthew 6:24-34)…Once again we are reminded that we are not what we have but rather in which direction is the core of our heart turned. To be freed of the concerns of life, is something which the Lord did not promise us. The question is do we make them the end all and the be all of our lives. Do they drown us into the pit of despair? I think the Lord in this message of trust is telling us that there is always hope. The flow of life can at times bring heart break, shattered dreams, the pressure of paying bills, of seeing loved ones go astray, but inside of all the sadness there is a voice: I am with you.
Saturday of the Eleventh Week (Matthew 6:24-34)…Once again we are reminded that we are not what we have but rather in which direction is the core of our heart turned. To be freed of the concerns of life, is something which the Lord did not promise us. The question is do we make them the end all and the be all of our lives. Do they drown us into the pit of despair? I think the Lord in this message of trust is telling us that there is always hope. The flow of life can at times bring heart break, shattered dreams, the pressure of paying bills, of seeing loved ones go astray, but inside of all the sadness there is a voice: I am with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment