Good morning. We plan for many things in our lives - college and post-graduate education, careers, businesses, and even marriage and family. These are all good things but, as Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel, even more important than all these is for us to be “rich in what matters to God.” And what is it that matters to God? Saint Paul gives us the answer to this question in his First Letter to the Corinthians when he wrote these words: “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (2:2).
Pope Leo XIV, in his recent General Audience, said that Jesus is “the destination of our journey. Without his love, the voyage of life would become wandering without a goal, a tragic mistake with a missed destination. We are fragile creatures. Mistakes are part of our humanity; it is the wound of sin that makes us fall, give up, despair. To rise again instead means to get up and stand on our feet. The Risen One guarantees our arrival, leading us home, where we are awaited, loved, saved.” The Holy Father’s words echo those of Saint Paul, in today’s first reading, when he wrote to the Romans, saying: “Abraham did not doubt God's promise in unbelief; rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God and was fully convinced that what God had promised he was also able to do.” Our relationship with God, our trust in His promises in our Lord Jesus Christ, and our desire to follow His will for our lives with the grace of the Holy Spirit, these are ways in which we become “rich in what matters to God,”
Saint Paul of the Cross, whose memorial we celebrate today, is an example for us to follow. “After much waiting and prayer, Paul discerned his vocation: God was calling him to start a new religious order dedicated to Jesus’ passion. He spent 6 more years studying for the priesthood as preparation, during which time he still had doubts. He wrote in one of his letters: ‘I experienced interior desolation, depression, and doubts. It seemed to me that I would never be able to persevere in my vocation. . . Everyone seemed happy except me.’ Despite his doubts, Paul persevered and kept his faith” (Dynamic Catholic). “God called him to form a group of men dedicated to preaching parish missions. These men, called Passionists, would preach the mystery of Christ crucified—the mystery of the Father’s love—in hopes that Christians would turn from their sins and rededicate their lives to Christ” (Loyola Press). “Paul of the Cross died in 1775, and was canonized in 1867” (Franciscan Media).
Like Saint Paul of the Cross, Jesus calls us to live our lives in a way that we “store up treasures in heaven. . . For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Matthew 6:20-21). And so, my sisters and brothers in Christ, let us go forth from Mass, having received our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and be strengthened to be “rich is what matters to God” and, in doing so, glorify God by our lives.
Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102025.cfm
No comments:
Post a Comment