Love God Love Others

You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.
Mt.22:37-39

Jesus answers the Sadducees trick question with a concise description of mankind's purpose in life... love God and love others.

Dare I add to Jesus' command by saying, I love God by loving others. Today is a fresh opportunity to do just that. If I am able to express love to another in word or deed, my day will have been successful. 

Jesus, help me be a channel of your love to the people I meet today.
Saint Stephen, please pray for me.

Stumbling Follower

Then Peter spoke. ‘What about us?’ he said to him ‘We have left everything and followed you. What are we to have, then?’ 
Mt.19:27

Following on from the rich young man walking sadly away, Jesus teaches how difficult it is for us to let go of material things in order to follow him. Peter expresses all our concerns. What about us getting into the kingdom? Is it impossible?

Jesus assures Peter, and me, that the kingdom of God is attainable to all who follow him. It just won't be in the order we are used to. The first will be last and the last first. My focus is to simply keep on following. Yes, I will stumble. But the getting back up and doggedly following will result in what at first appeared impossible, my walking through the very gates of heaven. 

Saint Peter, the first stumbling follower, please pray for me.

Clear the Path

If you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.

Mt.19:21

The rich young man leads a pious life but Jesus calls him to more, to a sacrifice he is unable to do. He is recorded as the only genuinely seeking person to walk away from Jesus sad.

I was a huge Beatles fan (showing my age). At great expense, my wife bought me the complete boxed set of Beatles albums. As I grew in my faith I started feeling uneasy about my Beatles mania. It wasn't so much their music that I worshipped , it was their lifestyle. For me, they had become gods. To rid myself of this I gouged a screwdriver across each record in the boxed set and then threw them in the bin. 

Extreme? Maybe. I certainly felt freer afterwards. My wife was sympathetic. She understood my motive. Now, I'm not saying Beatles music is from the devil. It's not. But  for me it had become an obstacle I had to remove. We all have different obstacles I guess and even these can change over the years. What's important is that I'm aware stuff can get in the way of me moving further up and further in. I don't want to be the one sadly walking away from Jesus.

Saint Pius X, please pray for me.

Let the Little Children Come

Let the little children alone, and do not stop them coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.
Mt.19:14

Jesus rebukes the disciples who are stopping children from coming to him. He elevates children to level of primary inheritors of the kingdom of heaven.

I help lead Children's Liturgy in our parish. For me, it is the most fulfilling of all ministries. Children are blank slates, carrying no baggage. They are so open to the Gospel it is breathtaking. Their openness and faith in the Good News challenges me. Truly they are ready candidates for the kingdom. 

Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Forgive Outrageously

I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?
Mt.18:32,33

Jesus is answering Peter's question on how many times we must forgive. Peter thinks he is being generous  with suggesting seven times and I would agree. Jesus shockingly ups the ante. We should never stop forgiving.

This is another facet of the amazing grace of God over which Jesus keeps circling back. Why so much emphasis on grace, mercy and forgiveness? Because we're so bad at it. 

I like to think I'm a forgiving sort of chap, but I'm not. I love the black and white of the law. I love to see perpetrators suffer in their repayment. There's nothing much outrageous about my grace. Jesus expects better of me. As CS Lewis said, "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you."

Jesus, help me to let go of resentments and to forgive outrageously.
Saint Stephen, please pray for me.

Me and Church

For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.
Mt.18:20

Jesus makes a solemn promise to the Church. All we have to do is turn up, in his name, and he is there.

Does this mean our individual prayer is not received by Jesus? Of course not. It's just that he is present in a different way in a Christian gathering, in a way that is not better but in a way that is essential. Jesus never intended for most of us to be Lone Ranger Christians. We are intended to gather. I need others and others need me. 

This "group power" is found in my family prayer time, in my meeting with other Catholic brothers and in my parish. Thank God for Church.

Jesus, thank you for my Church. Help me be present to my brothers and sisters in faith and so present to you.
Saint  Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Die to Live

If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Mt.16:24

Jesus clarifies what it takes to be his follower. Death of the old self and birth of the new.

We tend to think of a cross as a heavy burden. Jesus' listeners knew the cross for what it was, a cruel instrument of torture and death. Jesus' call to take up your cross would have been shocking to them. It should be shocking for us.

Being a follower of Jesus means dying, pure and simple. The old me has to die to allow the new me to live. This is a daily process, at least for me.

Saint Claire, please pray for me.