FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION: TWENTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR

FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION:

TWENTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR

Matthew 19:16 to 23:12: Themes: We must be willing to give all for All; to be affluent is a danger and a disadvantage; in everything we do, our goal should be to help others; failure to express is failure to appreciate; love is the great commandment; in the body of Christ function does not determine dignity.

Invitation:

To live sincerely by love, seeking only this.

Our faith: How many of these statements do you believe? And live?

Matthew 19:16-22: To those who mourn the “more” they are missing, Jesus offers the “perfect” way of life which is Christianity. Our short-sightedness holds us back.

Matthew 19:23-30: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Matthew 20:1-16: Ministry to others should pervade everything we do, especially in our work or business. We are consecrated and committed to love always and “all ways.”

Matthew 22:1-14: The “bread” we ask for in “Give us this day our daily bread” is Jesus himself, the Bread of Life and joy of heaven. The one thing we should desire and ask God for every day is the joy of union with Jesus himself. Not to express our faith, desire and appreciation in the liturgy is to insult God.

Matthew 22:34-40: What gives life is love. So the way to bring the Church to life again is to preach, practice and pray for love, and trust in the power of love in everything we do, more than in the observance and enforcement of laws.

Matthew 23:1-12: Every external detail Jesus warned the “scribes and Pharisees” against in this text is something Catholics take for granted in the behavior of priests and bishops. We can distort truth by protocol, because ordination to a sacred function does not make any divine member of the body of Christ more sacred than any other.

Decisions:

Rejoice in anything that lets you show love, no matter what it costs.

Live to give life to others by expressing the truth of faith, hope and love.

Treat every baptized person in the same way.