One time, my officemates and I went out for lunch. They knew that I was serving as a ministry leader at The Feast. So out of nowhere, one of them asked me, “Mike, you’re a spiritual person, right? Tell me, how many books are there in the Bible?”

I was stumped. I didn’t know there was going to be a pop quiz over lunch. But I found their question interesting. Perhaps, for many, their idea of spirituality is about knowledge, facts, and rituals. There’s nothing wrong with that. We need them to grow in our faith, but that wasn’t the main measurement of spiritual growth for Jesus. He said, in His greatest commandment, “Love each other as I love you” (John 15:12).

Friends, for Jesus, love is the most important metric of holiness. Love is the highest goal. To love like Jesus is the maturity metric that measures one’s spiritual growth. So if we want to grow spiritually, let’s love faithfully. Let’s grow in loving God and loving people. 

Mike Viñas (mikemichaelfcv@yahoo.com)

reflect

Reflect on the difference between religious maturity and spiritual maturity. What do you think are signs of spiritual maturity?

Lord Jesus, help us to mature spiritually and to love selflessly, sacrificially just like You. Amen.

Saint Elizabeth, pray for us.

Paul tells us that growing in love is the most important thing we can do in life. He challenges us to compete against one another in loving God and others. Our growth in love is an important measure of how well we are doing in our spiritual lives.

⁸ Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ¹⁰ Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 112:1-2, 4-5, 9

R: Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.

¹ Blessed the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commands. ² His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth; the upright generation shall be blessed. (R) ⁴ He dawns through the darkness, a light for the upright; he is gracious and merciful and just. ⁵ Well for the man who is gracious and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice. (R) ⁹ Lavishly he gives to the poor; his generosity shall endure forever; his horn shall be exalted in glory. (R) 

Gospel | Luke 14:25-33

Jesus does not mean that we have to literally hate our family. He is using a teaching device to emphasize that we need to prefer God over everyone else. Our most important relationship is with God. May this fact reflect our choices.

Gospel Acclamation 

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of God rests upon you.

²⁵ Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, ²⁶ “If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? ²⁹ Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him ³⁰ and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? ³² But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. ³³ In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read PSALMS 6 - 10 today.

If you’ve ever built a house or been involved in a construction project, you know how much time and energy it takes to see a project to its end. In far-flung mission settings, a simple church that can sit 300 people takes as long as two years to build because of limited resources and the remoteness of locations. Other larger-scale projects can, of course, take even longer. An extreme example is the legendary architectural icon, the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, which has been in construction since 1882 and is not expected to be completed before 2026. 

Today’s readings remind us of the lifelong work of building the interior architecture of our own persons. The Ten Commandments are the foundational structure of this inner dwelling, but Jesus reminds us that there is much more to just following the law—of doing good and avoiding evil—that growing in the Spirit entails. 

Firstly, there is love: of self, of neighbor, of God, and of the world given to us. But there is also detachment: from the worldly gifts that we receive, which, despite being blessings gifted to us out of God’s boundless generosity, can also become our idols. By growing in spiritual freedom, we learn that the gifts we receive should never be more important than the giver. And then there is the even deeper love of the disciple who hears Jesus’ call to follow Him more closely, to love ever more radically, and to surrender to the Father’s will.

Don’t be discouraged if you find yourself so far from the ideal—we all are! But when we call out to Jesus in our desire to grow in love, He meets us wherever we are, journeys with us toward growth, and works patiently with us in building our interior castles. 

Fr. Mark Lopez, SJ

Reflection question

If your spiritual growth is likened to a building project, at what stage do you think you’re in? 

Jesus, walk with me as I build my interior castle. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ___________________________________