“Beloved: I am writing you, although I hope to visit you soon. But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.” (1 TM 3: 14-15)
“I am writing you . . . [because] you should know how to behave in the household of God.” The whole Bible is concerned with helping us to grow in our relationship with Our Lord: “how to behave,” how to pray, how to praise God and how to be a member of “the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.”
“Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life, you have the words of everlasting life.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, ‘Young man, I tell you, arise!’ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.” (LK 7: 12-15)
How deeply Our Lord understood this mother: “when the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her.” At this moment Jesus was in the same situation: “the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.” And He knew how difficult it would be for His blessed Mother to see Him on the Cross. But Our Lord also knew that death would be defeated, and we would live forever with Him because God’s love is stronger, and His love triumphs forever.
“A great prophet has arisen in our midst and God has visited his people.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all.” (1 TM 2: 5-6)
As God’s children, we are invited to spend an eternity with Him in Heaven. The only way we can get there is God’s merciful love and “the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all.” He is the center of our lives; He is “one mediator between God and men,” and He is our hope and our life.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life.” (1 TM 1: 15-16)
We are loved not because we are perfect, but because we are limited and weak: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Our Lord doesn’t look at us with reservations, but with “full acceptance,” because He created us and knows our potential and possibilities. He is patient and can wait for the fruits from “whoever loves Him [and] will keep His word.”
“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (LK 2: 34-35)
God, Who is love and Who gave Himself for our salvation, knows that Heaven’s economy is very simple: heart for heart, life for life. Our Lady’s heart “a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed,” and Our Lord’s “is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted.” On a micro scale, it happens every day within parents who give their lives to protect their children and to help them grow.
“Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary; without dying you won the martyr’s crown beneath the Cross of the Lord.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (JN 3: 13-15)
The sign of torment, abandonment and disgrace has become a sign of salvation. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” Instead of the symbol of the serpent, Our Lord came “down from heaven” to die for us, “so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” His life for ours. “We adore you, o Christ…”
“We adore you, O. Christ, and we bless you, because by your Cross you have redeemed the world.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (COL 3: 1-3)
Created by God, Who is in Heaven, “where Christ is seated at the right hand of God,” and with the cooperation of our parents, we belong more to heaven than to earth. We should “seek what is above”; we should “think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” Every moment of prayer, every thought directed to Our Lord and every kind of gift of selves brings us closer to our Home.
“Rejoice and leap for joy! Your reward will be great in heaven.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.” (LK 6: 17-19)
Two activities can meet every day: ours and His; we can come to Him to hear Him; He can heal us of our diseases. There are so many ways we can “touch him”: reading and meditating on the Bible, attending a Holy Mass, receiving Holy Communion or staying with Him in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. All these ways give us a chance “to hear him and to be healed.”
“I chose you from the world, that you may go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“For I want you to know how great a struggle I am having for you and for those in Laodicea and all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged as they are brought together in love, to have all the richness of assured understanding, for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (COL 2: 1-3)
When we are knit together in love, we are courageous, and we are strong, and there is nothing difficult for us; unity gives us access to “the mystery of God, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” This is why every couple suffers when spouses can’t understand each other or when there is silence, separation and loneliness. Only love can make us happy because we are His sheep, children of God, Who is Love, and Life and Truth, and we follow Him.
“My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, ‘and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” (ROM 13: 8-10)
Life would be less complicated if people would believe that the commandments “are summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Adultery, murder, stealing and coveting are self-oriented actions, seeing reality from our own perspective. Love helps us to see the world from a different perspective.
“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (Gospel Acclamation)
