Sunday Reflection (October 15, 2023)

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We may reject God’s invitation to become a disciple of Christ, but God has others who won’t! We may reject God’s invitation to deeper discipleship and fellowship, but God will look elsewhere! We may reject those whom God has sent us, but God hasn’t!

Matthew gives us Christians a severe warning: If we think we are “so chosen” that we neglect to grove in love and charity, we have missed a crucial point. St. Augustine interpreted the wedding garment as love and charity, and the man without the wedding robe had neither love nor charity. It seems like a fair enough interpretation to me. Being chosen reveals itself in acts of love and charity (22:1-14).

Prayer for the Week (October 15-October 21, 2023)

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Let us pray to our Father who is full of compassion: God, may your love revealed in Jesus Christ become the foundation of our lives. May our love for you express itself in our eagerness to do good for others.  Grant this through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

                                                             (Canticanova)

                                   

                         

Devotion October 11, 2023

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Devotion October 10, 2023

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Prayer for the Week (October 8-October 14, 2023)

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Father, enable us to penetrate the depth of the whole truth, and grant that we share with others the goods you have put at our disposal.  Teach us to overcome divisions and may your Holy Spirit lead to full unity as your sons and daughters in full charity and in obedience to your will; through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.

                                                             (Karl Woityla, alt)

                                   

                         

Sunday Reflection (October 8, 2023)

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We can get so caught up with those whom we deem to be rejecting Jesus as the Messiah that we reject Jesus the Messiah through our mistreatment of others. We become wicked tenants when we fail today to show compassion to Jews, Muslims, or homosexuals, or immigrants. We reject Jesus the Messiah when we fail to care for the poor and most vulnerable in our midst.  The rejected one became the cornerstone and Jesus the rejected one stands with those who have been rejected. When we oppose his message, we trip and stumble and face judgment.

Despite our failures and rejection of God and others, God keeps sending his message to us. God works with us and through obedience to God’s grace, we demonstrate God’s love and compassion to the world. The Holy Spirit leads us in the way of Christ to stand with others, especially when they are rejected as God stands with us when we are rejected because we chose to follow the way of the cross.

Sunday Sermon October 8, 2023

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Devotion October 4, 2023

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Devotion October 3, 2023

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Sunday Reflection (October 1, 2023)

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Our Gospel Reading was about two sons who exercised their freedom to make U-turns (Matthew 21:28-32). Each brother did a U-Turn: One for the better, one for the worse. One responded yes but failed to act. The other responded no but later changed his mind and obeyed. The greatest sinner can say “no” to God, but later change his/her mind and say yes:  God allows U-turns! The self-righteous say “yes” to God in front of others but fail to obey God.
 
Each day presents new opportunities to serve God. How faithful are we with the invitation to follow Jesus and obey his commands? We all have refused God’s directions (I know I have), yet his parable reminds us that we can say yes to God: It is not too late!  The past does not have to totally determine our future.  God continually offers us the possibility of life found in obedience to God and the way of Christ.