“Teach me your paths, my God, and guide me in your truth.” – PS 25: 4b, 5a

 

Today’s Gospel Acclamation gives a perfect one-line summary to remind us of what St Paul and Jesus are sharing with us in today’s Scripture Passages.  We are each called everyday to be open to what God wishes to reveal to us and allow it to guide our path.  This path we journey on in life is to make our way back home to Him.

 

Jesus makes it very clear today that the essence of God's Law, His Commandments and way of life, must be fulfilled. God's law is true and righteous because it flows from His Love, Goodness, and Holiness. This allows for us to boldly say, with confidence, today’s Response Oral Psalm from Psalm 99, “Holy is the Lord our God.”  His Law is one of Grace, Love, and Freedom for us. That is why God commands us to love Him above all else and to follow in The Way of His Son, the Lord Jesus who taught us how to love by laying down our lives for one another.  Although this may actually require some of us to do so, as Jesus did, it is not necessarily true for everyone.  Laying down one’s life can simply mean to stop doing something in your day as a sacrifice to help another.  It can even mean not pursuing a certain career you thought you wanted until you heard a call to answer another Vocation, perhaps even the Priesthood, Diaconate or Religious Life.

 

God gives us the Grace, help, and strength to love as He loves, to forgive as He forgives, to think and judge as He judges, and to act as He acts with Mercy, Loving-Kindness, and Goodness. The Lord loves Righteousness and hates wickedness. As His disciples we must love His Commandments as they were intended and hate every form of sin and wrongdoing.  Remember, we are called to hate the sin, not the sinner.

 

The word which best describes the feeling or attitude of deep respect or love we are to come to understand and achieve by obeying the Ten Commandments is, reverence.  Jesus taught reverence for God's Law; reverence for God Himself, reverence for the Sabbath, reverence for our parents (as Jesus had for our Blessed Mother and St Joseph).  This reverence leads us to know value and honor.  Thus, we will have a respect for life, for property, for another person, respect for ourselves.  So much so that we will stand up for ourselves and what we believe rather than succumb to the peer or mob pressure we have seen enslave others. Reverence and respect for God's Commandments teach us the way of Love, a Love of God and Love of neighbor. You may think that I am dreaming or expecting the impossible.  Never forget, what is impossible to humans is possible to God, who gives generously of His Gifts and the Holy Spirit to those who put their Faith in Him.

 

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to fill our heart with reverence for God's Word so that we may grow daily in a love that develops us in the Wisdom and Knowledge of God's Truth and Goodness.

 

"Lord Jesus, grant this day, to direct and sanctify, to rule and govern our hearts, minds, and bodies, so that all our thoughts, words, and deeds may be in accord with your Father's law and wisdom. And thus may we be saved and protected through your mighty help."

 

May God’s Grace and Blessings Always be with you and yours!!  Our Lady of Guadalupe – Pray for us!!  

Yours in Christ,

Deacon Bob

St. Clare of Assisi

Houston, TX