9th Sunday ordinary
Doing the will of God
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
After Sept. 11th, one company invited the remaining members of other companies who had been decimated by the attack on the Twin Towers to share! At a morning meeting, the head of security told stories of why these people were alive... and all the stories were just the little things.
As you might know, the head of the company survived that day because his son started kindergarten.
One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.
One of them missed his bus.
One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
One’s car wouldn’t start.
One had a child that dawdled and didn’t get ready as soon as he should have.
One couldn’t get a taxi
One man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid.
Yes dear brothers and sisters when we are stuck in traffic(God alone knows what all things come out off our mouth), miss an elevator, turn back to answer a ringing telephone…at all the little things that annoy us. Think to yourself this is exactly where God wants us to be at this very moment. God is at work watching over you. Just follow his will.
Make Jesus as our Rock and hang on to Him doing His will. The story is told about a shipwreck. One of the sailors, thrown from boat, flailed about in the water, thinking he would surely drown. As he moved his arms, trying to stay afloat, he felt something solid about a foot below the water level. He grabbed it and, even though the sea was churning around him, he managed to hold on. When dawn finally arrived - and the tide had gone out - he realized he was holding onto a rock some distance from the shore. A boat came to rescue him. They asked him, "Didn't you shake with fear when you were hanging on that rock."
"Yes," he replied, "but the rock didn't."
In today's responsorial psalm we prayed, "Lord, Be my rock of safety." You and I are like that sailor - tossed about on a dark sea. Like him, our one hope is reaching out for that rock - and holding tight when we find it. There will ship wreck even if we are doing the will of God, but God will be there as the rock. Morning will arrive.
It is not enough that we hear God's Word, but that Word must touch every element of our life. We can prophesy and that is not enough! We can do might deeds and that is not enough. True conversion means that our actions, our thoughts, our feelings—everything about us—must be firmly and clearly formed by God's Word.
Through the Gospel Jesus is asking us to do the will of God the Father. In Matthew 6:10 Jesus taught us to address the Father in these words” Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in Heaven” And Jesus is the real example of His teachings. In Luke 22:42 in The Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed to His Father in these words” Not my will but yours be done”.
Jesus did not say that no one who says "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom. He said, rather, that not all who say that will enter.
So, who among those who say "Lord, Lord" will enter? Answer is very simple; those who do the will of the Father.
What does God want us to do?
First and foremost, God wants us to follow the teachings of His son Jesus. At the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you”(Luke 6:27-28). In his sermon on the Last Judgment, Jesus tells us; to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked.”(Mat. 25: 31-46)
Mahatma Gandhi once compiled a list of the seven sins of the modern world. Those sins are: wealth without work, business without morality, science without humanity, pleasure without conscience, politics without principle, knowledge without character, and worship without sacrifice. We know that there is nothing fancy there, just the basics.
Secondly God wants us to live out the plan he had in mind for us when he created us. To use the talents God gave us, not for our own selfish interests and pleasures, but for the advancement of God’s kingdom on earth.
It is not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who does the will of God the Father.
Let us end this reflection today with the famous prayer of St. Ignatius. It has to do with God’s will. “Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will- all that I have and call my own. You have given it all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
After Sept. 11th, one company invited the remaining members of other companies who had been decimated by the attack on the Twin Towers to share! At a morning meeting, the head of security told stories of why these people were alive... and all the stories were just the little things.
As you might know, the head of the company survived that day because his son started kindergarten.
One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.
One of them missed his bus.
One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
One’s car wouldn’t start.
One had a child that dawdled and didn’t get ready as soon as he should have.
One couldn’t get a taxi
One man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid.
Yes dear brothers and sisters when we are stuck in traffic(God alone knows what all things come out off our mouth), miss an elevator, turn back to answer a ringing telephone…at all the little things that annoy us. Think to yourself this is exactly where God wants us to be at this very moment. God is at work watching over you. Just follow his will.
Make Jesus as our Rock and hang on to Him doing His will. The story is told about a shipwreck. One of the sailors, thrown from boat, flailed about in the water, thinking he would surely drown. As he moved his arms, trying to stay afloat, he felt something solid about a foot below the water level. He grabbed it and, even though the sea was churning around him, he managed to hold on. When dawn finally arrived - and the tide had gone out - he realized he was holding onto a rock some distance from the shore. A boat came to rescue him. They asked him, "Didn't you shake with fear when you were hanging on that rock."
"Yes," he replied, "but the rock didn't."
In today's responsorial psalm we prayed, "Lord, Be my rock of safety." You and I are like that sailor - tossed about on a dark sea. Like him, our one hope is reaching out for that rock - and holding tight when we find it. There will ship wreck even if we are doing the will of God, but God will be there as the rock. Morning will arrive.
It is not enough that we hear God's Word, but that Word must touch every element of our life. We can prophesy and that is not enough! We can do might deeds and that is not enough. True conversion means that our actions, our thoughts, our feelings—everything about us—must be firmly and clearly formed by God's Word.
Through the Gospel Jesus is asking us to do the will of God the Father. In Matthew 6:10 Jesus taught us to address the Father in these words” Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in Heaven” And Jesus is the real example of His teachings. In Luke 22:42 in The Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed to His Father in these words” Not my will but yours be done”.
Jesus did not say that no one who says "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom. He said, rather, that not all who say that will enter.
So, who among those who say "Lord, Lord" will enter? Answer is very simple; those who do the will of the Father.
What does God want us to do?
First and foremost, God wants us to follow the teachings of His son Jesus. At the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you”(Luke 6:27-28). In his sermon on the Last Judgment, Jesus tells us; to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked.”(Mat. 25: 31-46)
Mahatma Gandhi once compiled a list of the seven sins of the modern world. Those sins are: wealth without work, business without morality, science without humanity, pleasure without conscience, politics without principle, knowledge without character, and worship without sacrifice. We know that there is nothing fancy there, just the basics.
Secondly God wants us to live out the plan he had in mind for us when he created us. To use the talents God gave us, not for our own selfish interests and pleasures, but for the advancement of God’s kingdom on earth.
It is not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who does the will of God the Father.
Let us end this reflection today with the famous prayer of St. Ignatius. It has to do with God’s will. “Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will- all that I have and call my own. You have given it all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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