"Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough."

The scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

As we get closer to the end of the liturgical year, the gospel readings are focusing more so on the end-times. Today we hear people asking, "Lord, will only a few people be saved?" (Luke 13:23) They seem to me to be more worried about other people entering heaven rather than their own relationship with God. The Lord then teaches to enter through the "narrow gate." (Luke 13:24) This, I believe, teaches us to remain focused on the Lord, and to be sincere in our love for God and for others. We're not to worry about other people's relationship with God, but rather our own motivation in following Jesus. It's not always easy to do, but it's what the Lord is calling us to do.

Jesus would go on to mention about the hypocrites who claimed to be his followers but were not sincere in their love for God. They claimed to have eaten and drank in his company. The Lord's response? "‘I do not know where [you] are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’" (Luke 13:27)

The Lord in today's gospel is teaching us to check our motivation in being His followers. Are we doing so just because we're trying to buy our way into heaven? Or are we doing so out of true love of God and neighbor. Being a follower of Jesus Christ is not easy. In order to follow the Lord, we need to pick up our crosses and follow him. It's not easy, like going through a wide gate, but rather, we are to walk carefully through the narrow gate. We need to remain focused on the Lord and our love for Him and following his commands of always loving God and loving our neighbors. It is in this way that others may see our sincere love of God, and then they themselves may feel drawn to act in a way pleasing to God. Is it easy? No! But certainly, it'll have great rewards. 

You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our Gospel for today the Lord is encouraging us to live out our lives in readiness for His eventual 2^nd coming. This could be either the end times when the Lord comes at the end of the world, or the day when we eventually meat the Lord at the end of our lives. Jesus is calling us to live a live a life with Him as the center of who we are, always doing His Holy Will by how we follow Him and the Commandments of God and the precepts of the Church. He’s calling us to follow Him joyfully, always knowing that he’s present to us in all we do. He’s not attempting to scare us into doing the right thing in how we live our lives. He’s just reminding us to continue to love God with our whole being.

We are called to be faithful and prudent servants, living out our lives knowing that God is ever present to us. We, as faithful and prudent servants, are called to have God as the center of who we are. We are to love God always and to love those in our lives.

In our lives we are called to the regular use of the Sacraments, by receiving Holy Communion often, and by the regular use of confession for the times when we may have fallen short. In the gospel, the Lord points out the way of life of those who have turned away from the ways of God. They mistreat other people; they eat and drink to the point of excess and being drunk. These are ways of living the Lord is encouraging us to avoid. But if we do fall short, the Lord is there for us in the Sacrament of Confession to receive his forgiveness and love.

So, as we approach the end of the year 2024, let us always remember to keep the Lord ever in the center of our Lives, and remember that even though we may not know when we will meet the Lord face-to-face, we will be ready to face Him with Love and gratitude for the love he has for us.

The Kingdom of God is at hand for you!

 

The scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Feast of Saint Luke, evangelist | USCCB

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Luke. He was born of a pagan family and after meeting St. Paul and hearing his preaching on the Lord Jesus Christ, he converted to the Christian faith. Paul was very much influential in the life of St. Luke. As a result, St. Luke would go on to compose one the gospels and would go on to describe the early activity of the church in the Acts of the Apostles.

Paul himself was a convert to the Christian faith due to his encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. Paul was an early persecutor of the faith in Jesus Christ but after the vision of Christ on that Damascus Road, he would preach about salvation in Jesus Christ, and as a result, St. Luke came to faith, and we now have his works in scripture.

It is through St. Luke and St. Paul that we, too, have come to our Christian faith. Christ worked through them and all the early apostles and disciples to spread the good news to the whole world. We, too, are disciples of Jesus Christ and the Lord is asking us to share with those in our life and with all we meet, “The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.” We may not be called to go from town to town as the early disciples were called to do to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, but we are called to bring Christ into the world by how we live out our Christian calling of Loving God and loving neighbor. This is how people will encounter the Lord Jesus Christ.

By seeing us and how we live out our Christian faith, they may feel called to find out more about our faith. It is then that we can share the good news of the Kingdom of God. We don’t need to hang out on street corners with bibles in hand asking people to turn from their sinful ways. We just need to be the visible signs of people who are followers of Jesus Christ, called to love God as he loves us, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It will be then that they will encounter Jesus Christ.

 

Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest | USCCB

In our gospel for today, the Lord is putting his disciples to the test. “Who do people say that I am?” Their response is, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’” Then Jesus asks a more direct question: “Who do you say that I am?”

Peter answers correctly, “The Christ of God.” Then Jesus says something that I find a bit odd: he directed them not to tell anyone. Then he went on to indicate that he will be killed by the chief priests and scribes and rise on the third day. This was his reason for being here: to suffer and die for our sins. Then rise on Easter Sunday morning.

My take on the part of not telling anyone at that time is that his mission wasn’t quite finished yet. He still had things to do before going to Calvery to fulfill what his Father had called him to do. It was after he rose on Easter Sunday, once He was facing his disciples and they were experiencing the risen Lord, that he would tell them to go and make believers of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In our relationship with the Lord, we know full well that Jesus is the Christ of God. We are called to develop that relationship with him by our daily prayers, our daily meditation on scripture, our regular reception of the Sacraments of the Eucharist and confession and doing our works of mercy and charity towards others. We are called to bring Christ into the world by how we live our lives in loving God and loving others. We are to be a visible sign of Christ’s presence in the world.

Let us always remember to keep Christ in the center of who you are and when approaching the Lord in Holy Communion, let us silently say to him, “You are the Christ of God.”

Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Tuesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our first reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians we hear of the many ways we can serve the Lord. We are all united in the fact that we have been baptized into the faith and have received the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is through the Holy Spirit that we all have different talents serving God. Some are called to be leaders, some teachers, and so on. We are all called to bring the Love and Healing of Christ in different ways to the people around us.

As important as our leaders in the Catholic faith are, all of us are not called to be priests, deacon or nuns. Most of us are called to follow Christ in married life and are to witness our faith in Jesus Christ by how we love and care for our spouses and children. By loving and serving our spouses and children in our lives, we are reflecting the love of Christ has for each of us. As spouses and parents, our Lord is calling us to bring our faith into our families and to help our family be God centered. We are called to lead our families towards heaven by teaching them about the love and mercy of God and to be obedient to the commandments of God as taught by the Catholic Church.

Further, many of us are called to be witnesses of the faith in Jesus Christ in the workplace. We are called to live out our faith as examples of what it means to be a Christian in a world that may not know what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. By showing love and kindness to those we work with reflects what it means to be a Christian. By bringing Christ’s love into the workplace, we are acting as disciples of Jesus Christ. It is through this love and respect for others that we can proclaim the gospel.

Pope St. John Paul 2 is quoted as saying, “This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel. It is the time to preach it from the rooftops. Do not be afraid to break out of comfortable and routine modes of living, in order to take up the challenge of making Christ known in the modern 'metropolis'… The Gospel must not be kept hidden because of fear or indifference.”

So, preach the gospel always. When necessary, use words.

Can a blind person guide a blind person?

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church | USCCB

In our gospel for today, our Lord continues his teaching that we should not be so much worried about the sinfulness of other people we know but in how we are living out our call to be His followers as Christians. We all know and deal with people that appear to be not living out their lives in relationship with God. Our Lord is teaching us that we should worry about our own relationship with Him, whether it’s good or bad, rather than worrying about other people and their relationship with God. We are all sinners. Worrying about other people and their sins, while not worrying about our own sinfulness is being hypocritical.

Our Lord in today’s gospel asks, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?” (Luke 6:41) We’re so caught up in seeing the sinfulness in other people that we fail to see our own sinfulness.

We are called to live out our lives in loving service to God and to love our neighbors (even those people we consider our enemies) as we love ourselves. In yesterday’s gospel reading from Mass our Lord taught us, “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27-28) Pretty tough words from our Lord, but words we are called, as Christians, to follow.

In chapter 6 of the gospel of St. Luke, the Lord is teaching us to focus on the love God has for everyone, including those people we may not like. Further he’s calling us to a better relationship with Him through how we live out our lives as followers of Jesus Christ. The whole message of Jesus Christ is that of LOVE. Love not only for God, but also for us to love everyone in our lives, whether we like them or not. We are called to be loving and forgiving with everyone as we expect God to be loving and forgiving with us. It’s not easy to love those we don’t like, but the call of Christ is to love them, regardless of whether we like them or not.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta is quoted as saying, “It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.”

Let’s bring that love of God to all we meet today! This way people will know we are Christians by our love.

We Proclaim Christ Crucified

 

The Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Friday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our readings for today we hear from St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians and from the Gospel of Matthew about two things we need to be: followers of Jesus Christ and to be God centered people.

In the first reading from St. Paul, we hear Paul talk about the challenges of being a follower of Christ. Most people do not understand why we follow Jesus. All they see is someone who was crucified on the cross on Good Friday more than 2,000 years ago. Paul says, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…” These are people who have rejected belief in God and are living out their lives with no thought of finding salvation in Jesus Christ. They are centered on themselves and have no concern for anyone else. They feel that it’s foolish to believe in the Lord and to believe that he not only died on Good Friday but rose on Easter Sunday. To them it’s a “stumbling block” and “foolishness.” They continue to live out their lives rejecting salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the gospel we hear of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. The wise virgins were always ready for the “Bridegroom” and focused on when it was time for him to call them to the banquet. The foolish ones were too distracted by other things rather than on being ready for when the Lord comes to call them to the banquet. Do we live our lives focused on being ready for the time when we meet the Lord at the banquet in heaven? Or do we just live out our lives by ignoring the eventual time when we will meet the Lord face to face?

As followers of Jesus Christ, we need to always live out our lives as God centered Christians by receiving our Lord in the Eucharist often and by the regular use of confession when we fall short of our call to love God and to love our neighbor.

The people in our lives may think we’re foolish for our faith in the salvation that comes from Jesus Christ. But we are always to remain focused on the Lord in our lives and pray for the conversion of those we hold dear in our lives that they, too, may turn to the Lord to seek salvation and forgiveness of their sins.