Author: admin

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Gospel: Matthew 7:21-29

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not drive out demons in your name?
Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’
Then I will declare to them solemnly,
‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.

The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

When Jesus finished these words,
the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority,
and not as their scribes.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Have you ever tasted a Sour Patch Kid? 

It’s a gummy candy covered in sugar. When you first chew it, a Sour Patch Kid tastes incredibly sour like a lemon. 

But the more you chew it, the sweeter it becomes.

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That, to me, is an image of the Christian life.

It isn’t always easy to do the Lord’s will. In fact, sometimes Christ’s words can leave a very sour taste in our mouth. “Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Turn the other cheek.”

But the more we follow him, the easier – the sweeter – his will becomes.

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What might following the Lord look like concretely?

Telling the truth when it’s difficult… reaching into our pockets when there’s not much left… letting go of a grudge when we’d rather nurse it… forgiving someone who’s hurt us… Surrendering our future to Him.

This is the sour-sweet path of love.

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“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus says. “Only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

You might say, those who’ve developed a taste for Sour Patch Kids, trusting that the sour always becomes sweet.

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Image credits: (1) Adobe Stock (2) Sour Patch Kids (3) Grace Evangelical Society, YouTube, 5:14

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Genesis 15: 1-12, 17-18

The word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:

    “Fear not, Abram!
        I am your shield;
        I will make your reward very great.”

But Abram said,
“O Lord GOD, what good will your gifts be,
if I keep on being childless
and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?”
Abram continued,
“See, you have given me no offspring,
and so one of my servants will be my heir.”
Then the word of the LORD came to him:
“No, that one shall not be your heir;
your own issue shall be your heir.”
He took him outside and said:
“Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.
Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”
Abram put his faith in the LORD,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.

He then said to him,
“I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans
to give you this land as a possession.”
“O Lord GOD,” he asked,
“how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
He answered him,
“Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat,
a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought him all these, split them in two,
and placed each half opposite the other;
but the birds he did not cut up.
Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses,
but Abram stayed with them.
As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,
and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.

When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.
It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying: “To your descendants I give this land,
from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River the Euphrates.”

The Word of the Lord.

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All week our first reading has come from the Book of Genesis, as we witness the faith journey of Abraham. He’s an old man now and his wife, Sarah, has borne no children.

So, Abraham grumbles before God, saying, “What good will your gifts be, if I keep on being childless?”

It seems Abraham’s on the brink of despair. God has made an impossible promise: to bless his descendants, something that cannot happen if Abraham has no children.

“Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can,” the Lord says to him today. “Just so, shall your descendants be.”

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Strangely, God tells Abraham to look up and count the stars in the middle of the day. 

It seems cruel. Although Abraham knows the stars exist, he cannot see them now. God is inviting him to trust. If the Lord has worked wonders before, then why would he not work wonders again?

Before he dies, Abraham has eight sons. Today more than half of the world’s population – over 4 billion people – call Abraham their father in faith. 

His descendants as numberless as the stars, as God foretold.

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Like Abraham, do I feel insecure about my future, as if I cannot see the stars? 

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In those moments, the same God who blessed Abraham is inviting us to trust. Pray until “dusk.”

Then, God’s plans will be revealed.

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Image credits: (1) iStock (2) Adobe Stock (3) BBC Sky at Night Magazine

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Gospel: Luke 1:57-66, 80

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child
she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and relatives heard
that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,
and they rejoiced with her.
When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother said in reply,
“No. He will be called John.”
But they answered her,
“There is no one among your relatives who has this name.”
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,”
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.
Then fear came upon all their neighbors,
and all these matters were discussed
throughout the hill country of Judea.
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
“What, then, will this child be?”
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
The child grew and became strong in spirit,
and he was in the desert until the day
of his manifestation to Israel.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Mark Twain once said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you were born… and the day you know why.”

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In today’s Gospel, we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist. From the moment of his birth, people were wondering, “Why was this child born? What will he become?”

They intuit John will do something great for God, simply because of the circumstances that surround his birth.

First, Zechariah was struck mute by the angel Gabriel in the Temple; then Elizabeth miraculously conceives this child in her old age; finally, the boy is not named after his father. 

Instead, his name is John.

In Hebrew, Jehohanan – or “John” – means, “God has been gracious.” After praying for their entire adult lives to have a child, God gives Elizabeth and Zechariah a son, whose mission will be to prepare the way of the Lord. 

Certainly, God has been gracious.

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John reminds us that we all have a “why,” a reason for our lives given to us by God. My mother used to say, her “why” was simply becoming a mom, much like Elizabeth and Mary.

My “why” has been serving God and his people as a priest. 

What is your “why”?

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Perhaps the answer changes, even simplifies, over time. 

But we can all be sure of this: the same Lord who breathed air into our lungs at birth also gives us a purpose – not only in the grand scheme of things – but also in the little tasks we are called to do each day.

May we discover his will – and do it joyfully today. 

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Your Daily Cup of Inspiration (2) Adobe Stock (3) Daily Word, Terry Gillespie