The Book of Sirach, the Psalm response, and the Gospel of Matthew all highlight the crucial power we have to choose the course of our lives. May we put Christ at the center of our hearts, so that everything we say and do will be touched by his grace.
Adam and Eve experience the natural consequences of sin as they face new challenges in their lives and leave the Garden of Eden; Jesus looks on the crowd with pity and responds to the natural consequences of their needs with compassion – inspiring us to face the consequences of our own sins with the compassion of Christ.
The temptation of Adam & Eve illustrates for us how sin can erode our relationships with God and one another. As we come to understand their temptation, we seek the Lord in our moments of trial, asking for the grace (and when necessary, forgiveness) of Jesus Christ.
A Greek woman who is Syrophoenician by birth expresses a mother’s love through her simple and direct faith in the healing power of Christ. Her one line response to Jesus inspires us to embrace our faith with conviction and power as we face the challenges in our lives.
Jesus points out that it is within our hearts that destruction and defilement take place. The solution? Turn away from sin, making a change of heart so that the grace of Christ can make us whole.
Jesus reminds us in the Gospel of Mark that we are called to keep our focus fixed on God, so that all our actions – big or small – do not take on a life of their own but always point back to the Lord.
Jesus proclaims to his disciples that they are the light of the world, an uplifting testament to the opportunity we have to make a difference in our world as we offer the gift of our lives to God.
Christ, the Great Shepherd, looks upon our weakness with compassion and reaches out to guide and strengthen us for the journey through this life and into the next.
The death of John the Baptist recalls the fact that doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason does NOT mean that life will always be easy. In fact, our faith in Jesus Christ will sometimes put us squarely in the face of opposition…and we recognize that we might suffer even as we serve the Lord with all our heart.
As Mary and Joseph present their infant son in the Temple, they encounter Simeon and Anna who give praise to God for the fulfillment of the Lord’s promises – the Messiah has come bringing light into the world! As his disciples may we continue to share this light as we present ourselves for service to God and one another.