“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” (LK 6: 37-38)
The message for proactive only! We are the first person to start new behaviors, to start new rituals and new rules: “stop judging, stop condemning, forgive, give…” Then we can expect “not be judged, not be condemned, will be forgiven and gifts will be given to us.” The more we will give, the more we will receive. Everything is so simple. It doesn’t mean—easy, but still simple, doable and very good for our relationship.
“If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh…” (LK 6: 20-21)
How often people are looking for happiness outside of them and expect that only with goods they can be happy. Happiness comes from inside, from our hearts and the environment has nothing to change it; we can be poor, hungry, or weeping, people can hate us, exclude and insult us, but 0ur strength and dignity come from Our Lord and His love to us. His presence in our lives and His blessing gives the right happiness. We are happy when we are giving not expecting or demanding, we are happy when we are gentle and when we respect others instead of trying to change them on our own vision and being upset when they are different from what we expect. Love is in action not in emotion and we can always ask the source of every love—Our Lord—for help.
“Rejoice and leap for joy! Your reward will be great in heaven.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.” (MT 1: 15-16)
Today we celebrate the feast of Nativity of Our Lady. Behind every nativity, we have parents, like the genealogy “of Joseph, the husband of Mary.” They were chosen by God to become parents of Our Lord: She was her mother, and St. Joseph took care of Jesus like His father. Our Lord received the best parents ever. We also are children and some of us are parents. We can’t change as children our parents, but we can change the parents of our children. Not physically of course, but spiritually and morally; we can change how we are parenting them and we can improve ours as their parents. And the most important is to be spouses who love each wonderfully and together love their children, supporting them and helping them to be courageous, open-minded and responsible, loving God and others. The home of Our Lady and St. Joseph is the best place to learn from them.
“Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise; from you rose the sun of Justice, Christ our God.”
“The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.” (LK 6: 7)
We know this strategy perfectly; how often do we do exactly the same thing to our spouses or relatives: “they might discover a reason to accuse him.” And because we know, we implemented in Program 1 the strategy to protect our spouses from us- the defender of the spouse. It is so important to learn how to always look for love, even love that is fully covered by our emotions, bad words, or bad behavior. Only love can save our relationships, definitely not “watching closely to see a reason to accuse him or her.”
“My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (MT 18: 20)
Our Lord wants to be with us, “in the midst of us;” not far away, happy in heaven. Whenever we are connecting with others, whenever we are “gathering together in His name,” Jesus is with us. This happens in a very special way in marriage and family; they naturally invite Our Lord to them.
“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?’” (LK 6: 1-2)
Again, like yesterday, Our Lord reminds us of what is really important and what is not. Our faith is not a healthy, heavenly diet; it is a powerful life-changer. What we really need is to grow in love day after day.
“I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, ‘The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.’” (LK 5: 33)
Our Lord came to save us and to lead us to heaven. We were saved because of His unconditional love and on that love is based our way to heaven. To love totally, to love unconditionally, to love without expecting anything back is not easy. It seems much easier to “fast often and offer prayers”— and to think that by doing this scrupulously, we can expect a nice reward. This was not Our Lord’s intent; Jesus expects from us unconditional love. If we fast, it is because we want to love more (not to look thinner), and if we pray, it is because we want to be closer to Him, not to buy ourselves merit. Love is the best way to reach God, Who is love.
“I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.” (LK 5: 10-11)
Sometimes people think of leaving everything as a very difficult condition. But actually, it is not about “leaving everything”; it is rather about “following Him.” Our Lord has much, much more than we can imagine and the more we leave behind, the more we can receive. We need to leave our premises, our visions, our why, and our strategies because we will start a totally new life, a totally new dimension.
“Come after me, says the Lord, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“But he said to them, ‘To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.’” (LK 4: 43)
Good News needs to be spread. We can’t keep it only for us, for our friends, or for our relatives. This is the natural beauty of Good News—it wants to touch every heart, every nation, and every creature. This is the news about God’s love for us and our dignity; we are His children. Our Lord is always on the way, always moving, and always looking for people in need. When we serve with our Programs, when we look for new places and new cities, we are following Our Lord’s mission: “because for this purpose I have been sent.”
“The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“They were all amazed and said to one another, ‘What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.’” (LK 4: 36)
“Authority and power” comes only from love. The more we love, the more we have authority and power. When people do things by force, they are focused on themselves; when we do things using power, we are focused on others and our motivation comes from love.
“A great prophet has arisen in our midst and God has visited his people.” (Gospel Acclamation)
