Your light must shine in the sight of men,
so that, seeing your good works,
they may give the praise to your Father in heaven. MT 5:16
2 CORINTHIANS 1:18-22
My Soul's Beloved,
How wonderfully consoling it is to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that You are the abiding Yes of God in our lives. We who are baptized into Your Body are sealed with the Holy Spirit eternally. We are irrevocably Yours, we are marked by the Holy Spirit, and no one and nothing, save our deliberate turning away from You, can snatch us away from You and from the inheritance that is ours through You.
We have this assurance, Beloved, that the fullness of Truth abides in the Church You founded, and it is this Truth that sets us all free. We place all our faith, hope, and trust in this Truth, the Second Person of the Trinity and the Son of the Living God, for You are the Eternal Word of the Father. In this Word of God, we find and possess the Treasure hidden in the field, the Pearl of Great Price. Possessing You, Lord, and being possessed by You, we are more than conquerors, for in You are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and by abiding in You, we are invincible. Bathed in the Blood of the Lamb and anointed by the Holy Spirit, we who are born of the Truth are the first fruits of this faith that we have received as Your gift to us in Baptism. Thank You, Lord, for without this faith it would be impossible for us to please God.
I swear by God’s truth, there is no Yes and No about what we say to you. The Son of God, the Christ Jesus that we proclaimed among you – I mean Silvanus and Timothy and I – was never Yes and No: with him it was always Yes, and however many the promises God made, the Yes to them all is in him. That is why it is ‘through him’ that we answer Amen to the praise of God. Remember it is God himself who assures us all, and you, of our standing in Christ, and has anointed us, marking us with his seal and giving us the pledge, the Spirit, that we carry in our hearts.
PSALM 118(119):129-133,135
Let your face shine on your servant.
Your will is wonderful indeed;
therefore I obey it.
The unfolding of your word gives light
and teaches the simple.
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men.
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven.’
I swear by God’s truth, there is no Yes and No about what we say to you. The Son of God, the Christ Jesus that we proclaimed among you – I mean Silvanus and Timothy and I – was never Yes and No: with him it was always Yes, and however many the promises God made, the Yes to them all is in him. That is why it is ‘through him’ that we answer Amen to the praise of God. Remember it is God himself who assures us all, and you, of our standing in Christ, and has anointed us, marking us with his seal and giving us the pledge, the Spirit, that we carry in our hearts.
PSALM 118(119):129-133,135
Let your face shine on your servant.
Your will is wonderful indeed;
therefore I obey it.
The unfolding of your word gives light
and teaches the simple.
I open my mouth and I sigh
as I yearn for your commands.
Turn and show me your mercy;
show justice to your friends.
Turn and show me your mercy;
show justice to your friends.
Let my steps be guided by your promise;
let no evil rule me.
Let your face shine on your servant
and teach me your decrees.
let no evil rule me.
Let your face shine on your servant
and teach me your decrees.
Let your face shine on your servant.
MATTHEW 5:13-16
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
The tragedy of our lives is that so many of us who have been privileged to be cradle Catholics are often not just mediocre Catholics but are ignorant of our faith, or are so poorly catechised that we easily fall away from the demands faith makes of us as we see them as obstacles to our freedom. Deliberately ignorant Catholics are so in love with concupiscence, so attached to their particular sins, so lacking in self-discipline and self-control, so filled with moral apathy that they welcome their spiritual blindness because the Truth demands a complete metanoia. Purposefully blind, they reject their faith because they are in love with their sins and their addictions, and they viciously abhor those who speak the truth to them in love.
Ignorance of the God of love who emptied Himself for love of us is the root cause of their denial of Catholic doctrine, and the sad paradox is that they simply do not want to know the Truth. They fear the demands that faith will make on them and so reject it completely, pretending all the while that whatever form of idolatry they embrace offered by the world, the flesh, and the devil, they find fulfilling.
Today, we are reminded that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Those of us who believe should not hide our light of faith under the bushel for fear of rejection. As salt of the earth, we are called to savor our communities with the life that comes from keeping the two great commandments of love. Help us to be faithful, Lord, in the face of any opposition or rejection we may face in living our faith fearlessly.
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men.
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven.’
No comments:
Post a Comment