Matthew 20: 1-16 (Wednesday, August 22, 2007)

It is never too late to become a Christian. We are all familiar with the story of the good thief in the Cross. He repented the last minutes of his life and Jesus said to him, “this day you will be with me in paradise.” Most of us are cradle Catholics. Sometimes we cradle Catholics think we know so much of the faith. For that reason, we do not take it serious. We come to Mass when we want and leave early; we undermine the church’s teachings on moral issues. On the other hand, we have the very zealous converts who have gone through the RCIA process. They are regularly at Mass, they take seriously the church’s teaching on abortion and contraception; they believe in the true presence in the Eucharist; etc. Sometimes the cradle Catholics are even resentful of the converts. Today’s gospel warns us cradle Catholics to be very careful. We might be the last and the converts might be the first. This is because we have failed to treasure the gift of faith that we received at our baptism.


Prayer:
Jesus, help us to treasure the faith of the Church. May we never lose our place in your plan of salvation. Keep us always close to you.

Matthew 20: 1-16 (Wednesday, August 21, 2007)

It is never too late to become a Christian. We are all familiar with the story of the good thief in the Cross. He repented the last minutes of his life and Jesus said to him, “this day you will be with me in paradise.” Most of us are cradle Catholics. Sometimes we cradle Catholics think we know so much of the faith. For that reason, we do not take it serious. We come to Mass when we want and leave early; we undermine the church’s teachings on moral issues. On the other hand, we have the very zealous converts who have gone through the RCIA process. They are regularly at Mass, they take seriously the church’s teaching on abortion and contraception; they believe in the true presence in the Eucharist; etc. Sometimes the cradle Catholics are even resentful of the converts. Today’s gospel warns us cradle Catholics to be very careful. We might be the last and the converts might be the first. This is because we have failed to treasure the gift of faith that we received at our baptism.

Prayer:
Jesus, help us to treasure the faith of the Church. May we never lose our place in your plan of salvation. Keep us always close to you.

Matthew 19: 20-23 (Tuesday, August 21, 2007)

Who then can be saved? Anyone who has made Jesus Christ the central part of his or her life. Jesus’ promise to his followers is that anyone who follows him would be saved. Sometimes we put our hearts so much on the earthly rewards that do not endure. So often people have told me how dumb I am that I chose a vocation to the priesthood rather than a career in the sciences where I will make money. People who think like this are thinking in worldly terms. I know that there is something beyond the world and that is my aspiration. It is more rewarding for me to build riches that would endure forever than those that are temporal. While everyone is not called to become a priest or religious, we are all called to give completely of our lives to God in our different professions. This means that you must bring your Christian values to whatever you do and be that difference.

Prayer:
Lord, help us to be the Christian difference in our different professions. Make out a way that we might truly live our Christian vocation in our place of work and become that difference you have called us to.

Matthew 19: 16-22 (Monday, July 20, 2007)

True religion is not only staying away from the prohibitions, but it is also being at the service of others; it is working actively to change our society. The young man in the gospel of today was doing a good job staying away from the prohibitions. Jesus says that was not good enough. If he truly wants to be perfect, he needs to go sell his possessions and give them to the poor. The man walked away sad because he had so many possessions. The problem is not that he had many possessions, but he was attached to his possessions. In a sense, the possessions became his own little God. This story can be contrasted with the story of Abraham who had only one child, the child of promise and had no hope of getting another, but when God demanded of this child for sacrifice, he generously wanted to sacrifice him. While Abraham was blessed due to his faith in God, the young man walked away sad.

There are things that we sometime hold on to that prevent us from being the people that God wants us to be. We need to spend some time today reflecting to see what those things are. For some of us, it might be our time, for others it might be our cars; our electronic gadgets, etc. Begin to let go of you attachment to these things and attach yourself to Jesus. When you do this, then you are practicing true Christian religion.

Prayer:
Lord, draw us closer to you that we might take our hearts off the things of these world and put our hearts on you alone who is the Lord of our lives. Give us the graces we need that each day, we will become the people you want us to be.