Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

You can find today's readings by clicking here!

For those in public positions of preaching, the responsibility can be daunting. That is one reason that some preachers usually settle on one audience. To put into the words of a parable, “the harvest is great, but the laborers are few”. This is one reason Moses said, “Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!"

Those that have received sacraments in the Church have been gifted with God's spirit. In Baptism and with Confirmation, we are anointed priest, prophet and king. We are called to sanctify, teach, and govern. Our priestly duty of sanctification is to bring holiness into our relationships. We do this by doing good deeds, acting with humility and praying for others. Our prophetic duty of teaching can be done by witnessing our faith and the love of Christ to others. Our kingly duty to govern includes ensuring just governance and ordering society according to Jesus' teachings.

Moses and our pastor try to fulfill these duties on their own. However, they only reach those who sit in the pews. Moses' audience only listened when he was present. Remember what happened when he went up on the mountain to get the Commandments? With Moses gone, the people made a golden bull to worship! The church is full of people who already believe or who are trying to believe. Our pastor preaches to inspire us, give us a message to tell others. They can't do it on their own, they need backup!

We regularly go out into the world: school, work, the Metro and movie theater. In each of these places, we are faced with people who turn away from God. Moses and our pastor can't get to those people as readily as we can. They have their mission and their audience. We have ours.

We are called to full participation in our faith. God has given us His Spirit and strengthened us by Baptism and Confirmation. We are called to lives of action. When Jesus left this world, he gave his apostles what they call, “the Great Commission.” It wasn't the great suggestion. We are called to serve God and our community by acting as priest, prophet and king. We are to act as a gift to our pastor by taking the words we hear today into the world so that all may hear.

6th Sunday of Easter

In today's readings we learn that all who hear God's word and obey it are welcome to the salvation offered by God. We are also reminded of the reoccurring theme of the Easter season: obey the commandments and love one another.

Some people might view the 10 commandments as a "do not do" list that God gave to Moses. However, the list of commandments are really guidelines that teach us how to love. The first three commandments show us how to love God and the final seven show us how to love others.

The second reading tells us, "God is love." Therefore, God equals love and love equals God. Did you ever think of that before? Not that God is love, but that love is God.

God is the source of love for the whole world. Just as water cycles around the world in clouds, rain, rivers, oceans and into clouds again, God's love cycles through us and our neighbors. As we love, we are really spreading God and sharing God with others.

Part of God, part of love, is forgiveness. The second reading tells us, "God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him." When we hold a grudge or will not forgive another person, we withhold love from them. When someone is angry with us, or holding something against us, they withhold love from us. In these instances, both parties
are losing the heart of the relationship with each other and they are without the life of the other.

When Jesus died to free us from sin, it was to open us to love and forgiveness, and introduce us to God the Father as pure love. He died for us to show us a better love than the love we often live. In the Gospel, Jesus instructs us to "remain in His love". We must remain with God to be able to love others and be forgiving. In his commandments, God isn't trying to hold us back or squash our zeal for life, he is trying to help us live more fully. Jesus tells us to remain with Him so that our "joy may be complete." He summarizes the one lesson that we need to hear over and over again by saying, "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you."