“When I found your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and the happiness of my heart, because I bore your name, O LORD, God of hosts.” (JER 15: 16)

Our Lord always talks to us. The Bible, the Liturgy, books and sermons are common tools He uses to communicate with us. Still this requires some activity from us: looking for His words and when we find His words—devouring them. One word found in our daily readings could bring “joy and the happiness to our hearts” and make our days.

“I call you my friends, says the Lord, for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me.” (Gospel Acclamation) 

“We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness, the guilt of our fathers; that we have sinned against you. For your name’s sake spurn us not, disgrace not the throne of your glory; remember your covenant with us, and break it not.” (JER 14: 20-21) 

When we come to Our Lord with excuses and blaming others, He comes to us with judgment; when we come to Him as sinners, bringing to Him all our weaknesses, He comes to us His with mercy and salvation. He is always faithful to His “covenant with us” when “we recognize our wickedness, that we have sinned against” Him.

“The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower; all who come to him will live forever.” (Gospel Acclamation) 

“We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.” (2 COR 4: 7)

The glory of God is revealed in human and fragile persons—“treasure in earthen vessels.”  All the good we are able to do and all the beauty of His beloved children comes from Him—that “the surpassing power may be [recognized as] of God and not from us.”  It is not a story about our limits and weaknesses; it is a story about how unbelievable God’s love is and how important we are for the spreading of the Good News and for “bearing fruits”—we, “earthen vessels.”

“I chose you from the world, to go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord.

“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” (LK 11: 1)

Prayer is the way that we can be in relationship with God, like dialog is the way that we can be in relationship with our family, especially between spouses. Dialog is not easy—we remember subject no. 5 from our Program 1—so many traps and so many mistaken patterns of interpretation in our inner dialog. It could be the same problem with prayer—a wish list, a list of claims about a badly organized world, or an amazing occasion to close our eyes 😉 and rest a bit. What we can do is to ask Jesus—“teach us to pray”! He will lead us, guide us and help us to be with God in real relationship when we respect each other and do everything to be a sincere gift of selves like children of God.

“You have received a Spirit of adoption, through which we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” (Gospel Acclamation) 

“‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, ‘First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (MT 13: 28-30)

One of my favorite scenes from the New Testament speaks about our conditions. We’d love to be perfect, with no weaknesses, always honest, humble, one hundred per cent givers of selves, respecting, gentle, remembering about anniversaries and experts in rituals, fantastic communicators and patient listeners. “Let them grow together until harvest; then I will say to the harvesters, ‘First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.’” The judgment of God alone will eliminate the sins. Until then there must be patient and the preach repentance. God loves us and can see the difference between weeds and wheat in us.

“Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.” (Gospel Acclamation) 

“Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni,’ which means Teacher.” (JN 20: 16)

We are called by name. We are not anonymous believers, members of an organization; we are His children, chosen from our mothers’ wombs; we are known by our names from our beginning. When recognized and called and when in relationship with Him, we can lead others to Him.

“Tell us, Mary, what did you see on the way? I saw the glory of the risen Christ, I saw his empty tomb.” (Gospel Acclamation) 

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (MT 13: 16-17) 

We received the privilege of discipleship—“many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” The value is not in the ability of seeing or hearing, but in the possibility to look on Jesus’ love for us and to hear His words of love to us. When we celebrate Mass or when we adore Him in the Blessed Sacrament or when we read the Bible, we are eye witnesses of His love.

“Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.” (Gospel Acclamation) 

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” (JER 1: 5) 

We can listen to these words again and again. It doesn’t matter how it was with our conception from a human point of view; from HIS point of view, we were expected, chosen, loved and important to Him. There were no accidents and no surprises on His side—only God’s love at the beginning—“before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you.” We are loved and we were expected; we were formed by Him to bring forth multiple fruits based on our sincere gift of selves.

“The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower; all who come to him will live for ever.” (Gospel Acclamation) 

“You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (MIC 6: 8)

God’s expectations for us are so simple—“to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.” “To do justice” refers to human behavior in relationship to others. “To love goodness” refers to the kind of love and concern which is at the heart of the covenant between the Lord and Israel; it is persistent faithfulness. “To walk humbly with your God” means to listen carefully to the revealed will of God. Everything is to protect our dignity and our relationship with God and with others. Righteousness and goodness with humbleness protect every kind of relationship, and for sure we will find many occasions to practice it every day.

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” (Gospel Acclamation) 

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church, of which I am a minister in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the word of God, the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.” (COL 1: 24-26) 

The mission of St. Paul and the other Apostles— “to bring to completion the word of God”—now needs our service. With His word we can understand ourselves, our vocations, our assignments and our future. The most basic duty is to “keep the word with a generous heart,” and with God’s help, we will be able to “bring a harvest through perseverance.”

“Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and bring a harvest through perseverance.” (Gospel Acclamation)