Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death
and he has proclaimed life through the Good News. 2 TIM 1:10
2 TIMOTHY 2:8-15
My Soul's Beloved,
We who are baptized into Your Body, the Church You founded with Peter as the Rock, are called to be saints. Woe to us, O Lord, when we stand before You at the end of our sojourn on earth, which is a preparation for eternity, if we have not sought with all our might, soul, and strength to strive after holiness and perfection. Even if we fall far, far short of this goal, we would still be most pleasing in Your sight. You will reward greatly our desire, our willingness, and all our striving to obey Your command in emulating our heavenly Father, for the Holy Spirit will provide every grace we need to assist us in this call to holiness and godliness.
Being a saint will never be easy, as the lives of every saint who has left us a model to follow testify. You have forewarned every disciple who comes after You and follows You that we ought not to be surprised if we are called to suffer and die for the sake of the Good News, for we are not better than our Master, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Lord, and our God. In fact, we are to expect it and glory in the suffering and persecution, even death if necessary, for being thought as worthy to follow in Your footsteps. To lay down our lives for You and for the Good News so that another may believe and be saved would be a gracious gift from God.
All that St. Paul writes to Timothy is written for us as well. To teach, preach, and live the Gospel must be our food and our drink. How well St. Paul summarises the whole of the life of a true disciple:
Here is a saying that you can rely on:
If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.
If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him.
If we disown him, then he will disown us.
We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful,
for he cannot disown his own self.
If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.
If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him.
If we disown him, then he will disown us.
We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful,
for he cannot disown his own self.
The divisions that have arisen from those who broke away from Holy Mother Church, and continue to fragment steadily, are because of St. Paul's prophetic words:
...... in the name of God that there is to be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening.
Thank You, Lord, for St. Peter and his successors and the successors to the Apostles. In Your great wisdom, You have given us the teaching authority of the Church, and we know that those who listen to Peter listen to You, and where Peter is, there is the Church You founded and established. In the bosom of Holy Mother Church and faithful to her teaching, we will arrive safely at the eternal shores of the Kingdom of God.
Remember the Good News that I carry, ‘Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David’; it is on account of this that I have my own hardships to bear, even to being chained like a criminal – but they cannot chain up God’s news. So I bear it all for the sake of those who are chosen, so that in the end they may have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus and the eternal glory that comes with it.
Here is a saying that you can rely on:
If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.
If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him.
If we disown him, then he will disown us.
We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful,
for he cannot disown his own self.
Remind them of this; and tell them in the name of God that there is to be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening. Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through his trials, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life’s work and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth.
MARK 12:28-34
My Soul's Beloved,
Here is a saying that you can rely on:
If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.
If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him.
If we disown him, then he will disown us.
We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful,
for he cannot disown his own self.
Remind them of this; and tell them in the name of God that there is to be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening. Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through his trials, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life’s work and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth.
PSALM 24(25):4-5,8-10,14
Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my saviour.
In you I hope all day long
The Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who stray,
He guides the humble in the right path,
He teaches his way to the poor.
His ways are faithfulness and love
for those who keep his covenant and law.
The Lord’s friendship is for those who revere him;
to them he reveals his covenant.
Lord, make me know your ways.
My Soul's Beloved,
We see how different the approach of this scribe who questioned You, asking, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ than the lawyer who asked You the same question in Matthew 22:34-36, but his motives were suspect. He, at the behest of the Pharisees, wanted to test You, and You gave him the same answer as You gave the scribe mentioned in today's Gospel. The scribe acknowledged You as a rabbi, and this is why he approached You and put the question to You, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Praising Your response, he added, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ You saw into the depths of this sincere man's soul, and said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ Seeing You speak with such quiet conviction, no one dared to question You further.
We see the same thing on social media when Protestants question Catholic teaching and doctrine, too many of them do so with the sole purpose of mocking or denouncing Catholic beliefs. A few may have a genuine desire to learn, but by and large, their motives are almost always bad. I am always filled with awe at many Catholics who engage with them intelligently, quietly, gently, with conviction, and do not take offence despite the belligerent and often foul way in which they engage with Catholics. They show genuine love to their attackers.
Grant us all the grace to be ready to take on our opponents with wisdom, compassion, and love.
One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’ The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And after that no one dared to question him any more.
No comments:
Post a Comment