How many times have you thought that you’re a good person? You don’t cause harm to others; you don’t take advantage of anyone, and you don’t push God away from your life.
“I’ve got nothing really to confess to a priest,” you might say. “I’ve followed the commandments. I’ve been a good Catholic and abiding citizen all my life.”
Thoughts like these remind me of the rich young man in the Gospel. He told Jesus that he had been good all his life. He wanted to assure himself of entering the Kingdom of God and receiving eternal life by knowing more about what to do. He might have presumed that he had lived a perfect life of not sinning.
If you have the same attitude as this young man, you must think again, search your heart and reflect deeply on your life. You may not be as good as you think you are.
Take, for instance, a time when you go to a room full of people from varied backgrounds, looks, gender, and ages. Do you tend to judge people right away by their physical appearance or accent? Do you come with preconceived ideas about them? Do you go out of your way to talk to a stranger?
Two weeks ago, I attended a 3-day conference of incardinated priests of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. I came with a spirit of openness and excitement to spend time with my fellow priests and talk and listen to them. But I must admit that there were moments when I caught myself making a judgment about some of them. And I was not as friendly and welcoming as I thought I was.
Yes, we’re not good as we think we are. But, if we are, we would be conscious of relating with people with love, solidarity, empathy, kindness, and non-judgmental attitudes. If we’re good, we’ll go out of our way to speak with strangers. At church after Mass, for example, we make it a point to get to know people in our community and see what we could do to help our church instead of immediately going to our cars. If we’re good, we should be taking the initiative to share our time and talents with our parish, not just our treasures. And yes, if we’re good, we should sacrifice more of our wealth to give to the needy.
I’m sharing these thoughts with you given this Sunday’s Gospel, whose message is one of repentance. We’ll all have something to repent and attitudes to throw away. We’ll all have a reason to ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness like the Prodigal Son in the Gospel.
We’ll all have sinned in one way or another. The Good News is that God would forgive us if we accept our sinfulness and his love with complete humility.
Let’s keep praying for one another and receive each other with love, openness, mercy, and compassion.
Your loving pastor,
Fr. Rodel “Odey” Balagtas
“I’ve got nothing really to confess to a priest,” you might say. “I’ve followed the commandments. I’ve been a good Catholic and abiding citizen all my life.”
Thoughts like these remind me of the rich young man in the Gospel. He told Jesus that he had been good all his life. He wanted to assure himself of entering the Kingdom of God and receiving eternal life by knowing more about what to do. He might have presumed that he had lived a perfect life of not sinning.
If you have the same attitude as this young man, you must think again, search your heart and reflect deeply on your life. You may not be as good as you think you are.
Take, for instance, a time when you go to a room full of people from varied backgrounds, looks, gender, and ages. Do you tend to judge people right away by their physical appearance or accent? Do you come with preconceived ideas about them? Do you go out of your way to talk to a stranger?
Two weeks ago, I attended a 3-day conference of incardinated priests of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. I came with a spirit of openness and excitement to spend time with my fellow priests and talk and listen to them. But I must admit that there were moments when I caught myself making a judgment about some of them. And I was not as friendly and welcoming as I thought I was.
Yes, we’re not good as we think we are. But, if we are, we would be conscious of relating with people with love, solidarity, empathy, kindness, and non-judgmental attitudes. If we’re good, we’ll go out of our way to speak with strangers. At church after Mass, for example, we make it a point to get to know people in our community and see what we could do to help our church instead of immediately going to our cars. If we’re good, we should be taking the initiative to share our time and talents with our parish, not just our treasures. And yes, if we’re good, we should sacrifice more of our wealth to give to the needy.
I’m sharing these thoughts with you given this Sunday’s Gospel, whose message is one of repentance. We’ll all have something to repent and attitudes to throw away. We’ll all have a reason to ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness like the Prodigal Son in the Gospel.
We’ll all have sinned in one way or another. The Good News is that God would forgive us if we accept our sinfulness and his love with complete humility.
Let’s keep praying for one another and receive each other with love, openness, mercy, and compassion.
Your loving pastor,
Fr. Rodel “Odey” Balagtas