Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time (September 25, 2018): Are you related to Jesus?

Oh, how wonderful to hear in Christ’s words of today’s Gospel passage that we are as dear to him as his own Blessed Mother and his other relatives! But oh, how hard it is to hear the Word andact upon it!

We think we agree with what the psalmist prays in today’s responsorial: “Guide me, Lord, in the way of Your commands.” We have heard God’s commands and we do want to obey them, so why do we keep breaking away from our true desires – why do we keep breaking our heavenly family ties?

The first reading says that “all our ways might seem right in our own eyes, but it is the Lord who proves hearts.” No matter how right we think we are in our daily decisions and relationships, God proves how much or how little we’ve allowed his Word to transform us. How? Our actions reveal the truth: Are we acting upon his commands or not?

It takes humility to be teachable. It takes a willingness to be changed. We have to distrust our own discernment about right and wrong. We can only trust the ways of God, because often we simply don’t understand why something right is right and why something sinful is sinful.

It’s difficult to see how disobedient we really are and to realize how this hurts our brotherly or sisterly relationship with Jesus. We actually prefer being blind to the truth when we’re busy insisting that we’re right. We fail to see the harm we do to others while protecting our pride. It’s the power of denial. We prefer to avoid noticing how our agendas or our lusts or our addictions are destroying our work or ministries or relationships. We blindly ignore how our impatience or anger is killing the dignity and spirit of those around us.

This is why Jesus said from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Humility involves constantly asking the Holy Spirit to teach us how to be like Christ. Humility means wanting our eyes to be opened to the sins that are still infecting us, because we look forward to the joy of becoming holier.

We already know we’re not wearing halos. Why are we afraid to find out how “bad” we really are? Why are we so afraid to be wrong? Do we think we’re so bad that we’re not redeemable? Do we think we’re not good enough to be loveable? If so, we need to ask Jesus to heal our sight. When we’re totally honest about ourselves, we discover not only what needs to be forgiven but also what God appreciates and admires in us!

Christian living is an action, not just an attitude. Holiness means DOing whatever is Christ-like (being a true brother or sister of Jesus) and taking action against temptations, day by day, moment by moment, so that we build up the bond between us and Jesus and his entire family.

Today’s Prayer:

Making Your Word the goal and purpose of my life unites me to You, Lord, as nothing else in this world could. Amen.

© 2018 by Terry A. Modica