23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Reconcile With One Another, God is There

Today's readings remind us that we need to reconcile with one another.

The first reading tells us that the son of Man is appointed as the watchman for the house of Israel. This watchman must warn the people of anything the Lord warns about. He is a mediator.  This of course is a foreshadowing of Jesus who is the one mediator between God and man. Many Protestants often present the lie that we place Mary as a mediator between God and man, effectively replacing Jesus. This is not so. Jesus is the one and only mediator between His Father and humanity. Mary mediates to her Son Jesus on our behalf.  Jesus, as mediator, pleads for us to His Father for mercy. However, justice must be served when the wicked do not change. God gives chances. Man has to shape up and use those chances to turn away from his wickedness.  He must not harden his heart, as the responsorial Psalm tells us.

This Psalm is used in the Liturgy of the Hours for the morning prayer as the invitatory. We begin the day by singing joyfully to the Lord and acclaiming Him as the rock of our salvation.  We come into His presence with praise and thanksgiving and sign joyful songs to Him. If we praise and love God, we must show it. We show this by not hardening our hearts like those Hebrews in the desert at Meribah where they still did not believe even though they saw God work. How may times people see or witness God's power and are all joyful. They are elated and in shock praising God. Then a few days or months pass and they forget about it. The sensationalism of the event or experience fades away and they start behaving like they were before the experience. We must be genuine. We must follow the commandments genuinely like the second reading reminds us.

We must owe nothing to anyone other than to love them. This is the only thing Christ commands. We must love one another. This love cannot exhibit evil. It must be authentic. Again, this all goes down to reconciliation. Some Catholics seem to ignore this important feature of the faith. How many times have I witnessed alleged Catholics on social media block one another over petty things. The Sacerdotus account has been blocked by some as well just for adhering to the teachings of the Catholic Church and pronouncements of Pope Francis.  This is not authentic Catholicism. It is a self-made brand some people hold for some psychological purpose. We must be authentic to the true Catholic faith, not one we create.

In the Gospel, Jesus reminds us that we must reconcile with one another. If our brother sins against us, we must bring it to his attention. In other words, we must reach out to makes things straight again and not leave it in the state of animus. If this brother does not listen, then we bring it before other witnesses. If that does not work, then we go to the Church.  If he refuses to listen to even the Church, then we must treat him like an outsider.  Now, this does not mean shunning the person like the Amish do. It simply means that we leave it in God's hands. We did our best to reconcile and the other party rejected the attempt. It is now our fault now. We tried.  They will get their reward just like we will get ours. God is always there watching. Jesus says that when two or three are gathered in His name, He is there in the midst of them. So while we try to reconcile with others present, Jesus is present observing. Similarly, when we gather to pray, have Bible study or engage in some parish activity, Jesus is there present. This is awesome to think about. Right now many parishes are starting their catechism courses for children, teens and adults. When they are gathered to learn the faith, Jesus is there!  We must think of this always and always try our best to be Christian with one another; not hold animus and try our best to reconcile when problems do occur. Things happen. Humans are humans. They get emotional, may say bad things without meaning it or something else may happen.  However, this should not be the end of things. If we truly believe in Jesus and the Catholic faith, then we must be brotherly and reconcile. Forgive and forget even if they are difficult to do.  May Jesus Christ be praised!



Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090620.cfm


Dear supporters.  Covid-19 Coronavirus has hit all of us hard. It has hit the Sacerdotus ministry hard as well. My stipends were cut and donations have slowed down. We are concerned about paying for the domain names we use to host the sites, as well as, not being able to ship Rosaries and other things to people who contact us asking for one. One or two envelopes is not too bad; however, when you have 10 or more asking for Rosaries, the shipping and mailing adds up and is expensive.  Please help us by donating to our gofundme here: www.gofundme.com/sacerdotus or by becoming a monthly patron at www.patreon.com/sacerdotus.  There are different tiers of membership with unique rewards for being a patron. Moreover, those who become a donating monthly member will be allowed to post on our Faceobok books without limitations, other than the obvious rules for the groups.  So please, donate and consider becoming a monthly donor.  God will reward your efforts.  We are also looking for guest writers for the site and those who can volunteer their graphic and design skills to help create memes and other graphics to post on social media for the purpose of evangelization.   

4th Sunday of Lent: God's Mercy

Today's readings are on how God cares for us, feeds us and is merciful.

In the first reading we are told of how God fed his people with the manna from heaven; this bread of heaven and bread of the angels (Psalm 78:25).  God does not abandon His people (Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:15). He gave them to eat even when they did not deserve it. They complained of the harsh conditions of living in the desert and were very stubborn (Numbers 20:13). Despite this, God was there for them and met their needs. This reading should remind us to "taste and see the goodness of the Lord" as we shall read in today's responsorial Psalm.

We must bless and thank the Lord always.  It is because of God that we exist (Acts 17:28). Our being, our self exists because He wills it (Psalm 139:13).  God gives us what we need, not what we want. In response, we should thank Him not simply with words, but with actions by repeating and sharing His love with others.  We must look to God.  It is in God that we find joy; a joy that never ends (Nehemiah 8:10).  God provides always. We must trust in Him and be that new creation as the second reading tells us.

We are a new creation in Jesus Christ.  The things of old have passed away so we should not be repeating our sinful lifestyles of the past (Matthew 9:17). We must be a new people. Like the Hebrews in the first reading, we passed the Red Sea of Baptism, are now in the desert of Lent (1 Corinthians 10:2).  Though we may go through hardships, we must not look back at the 'Egypt" of our lives which had us imprisoned in slavery (Zephaniah 1:6, Hebrews 3:7-19). Rather, we must look to the promised land which is heaven itself with God, the angels, our Lady and the saints (John 14:23). The reading tells us of the ministry of reconciliation.  In this year of Mercy, I cannot stress enough the need to go to confession and get the grace of absolution.   We must make use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation which comes from God and was given to the priests and bishops of our Catholic Church (James 5:16).  We must reconcile with God.  Christ became 'sin' without sinning just to make us right with God.  God is always merciful and waits for us as we read in the Gospel with the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

In the Gospel, we see the Pharisees and scribes complain about Jesus because He was eating with sinners. Their arrogance and sanctimonious attitude was not representative of the Jewish faith.  Similarly, we see some so-called 'traditionalist' Catholics who behave in similar ways.  They attack the Pope today for reaching out to the pariahs of society. To them, it is not 'dignified' for a Roman Pontiff to do these things. When the rite of the washing of feet was updated, many of them had a fit. It is just ridiculous, in my opinion. Jesus I am sure felt the same and it why He resorted to a parable to explain to them their evil and selfishness.  He tells them of a man who had two sons, a young and an older one. The father gave them their share and the younger one immediately leaves and spends it on parties and friends.  When the money runs out, those friends who he thought were loyal abandoned him.  The young man ended up working for a local citizen and saw that the swine had better food that he did.  He reflected on how his life hit rock bottom and returned to see his father with the idea in mind that he would no longer be his son but just a hired worker. However, when his father saw him.  His father ran to embrace him and kissed him.  He immediately asks his servants to dress his son with the finest robe, put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Moreover, he orders the fattest calf be slaughtered so they could have a feast.  The older brother sees all this and gets upset saying that the younger brother was an ingrate and selfish; he deserved nothing of what the father was doing.  However, the father replied that this son was dead and is now alive; been lost and now found so he must celebrate.  The father reminds the older son that all he has is his as well and that he should not be sad but should celebrate that his brother returned.

This parable is one that has so much wisdom in it that it could only come from God. The young man represents the sinners Jesus hung out with while the older brother represented the Pharisees and scribes.  God is merciful.  Notice how the father when he sees the son does not even ask, "where have you been!?"  He does not even care.  All he was concerned about was embracing the son and bringing him back to the life he had before he wandered off.  This is how God is. God just cares for humanity to come back (Leviticus 26:12).  That is all that matters.  In this year of Mercy, we should meditate on this Gospel and remind ourselves how endless is God's mercy. There is no sin that God will not forgive unless it is the sin against the Holy Spirit which is the sin of not wanting forgiveness and mercy (Mark 3:29).  Moreover, we must not be like the older brother who felt the father was being unfair. We must see that when someone returns, it is good news.  Human beings make mistakes.  God will not hold that against them.  What matters is that the human repents and comes back (Matthew 18:12-14, Luke 15:7).  Like the father in the parable, God will not even ask where you have been.  He will bring you home and celebrate.  Let us pray for God's Divine Mercy, trust in God, be the new creation that baptism has made us and realize that God loves us so much.


Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/030616-fourth-sunday-lent.cfm