Patty recently shared with me that she used to be very active in her parish. But her commitment to the community slowly faded when she started climbing the corporate ladder. 

I was surprised at how she now subscribes to woke ideologies on gender, marriage, and family and even taught them to others. She now thrives in her career, but her Catholic values were replaced by worldly values as she became more successful. Following earthly wisdom seems reasonable when you want to be accepted by the world. Still, no matter how successful you become by believing in these ideologies, there will always be a gaping hole in your heart that only God can fill.

Saint Augustine, who was successful before becoming a Christian, found that God’s presence was the only thing that completed his life.

JPaul Hernandez (jpaulmh@yahoo.com)

reflect

Reflect on the line of Saint Augustine in his book Confessions: “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” What does this mean to you?

Deliver me, Jesus, from the distractions of the world. Worldly wisdom can only give me temporary answers. I’m yearning for the eternal truth that only You can provide. Amen.

St. Leo the Great, pope and Doctor of the Church, pray for us.

In this text from the Book of Wisdom, the reader is instructed in the basic principles of discovering God and having a relationship with Him. Just as one cannot have fellowship with both darkness and light, neither can one participate in evil and injustice, and be close to God. Since God’s Spirit dwells in the innermost self, He knows all that goes on in our hearts and so He cannot be deceived or misled.

¹ Love justice, you who judge the earth; think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart; ² because he is found by those who test him not, and he manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him. ³ For perverse counsels separate a man from God, and his power, put to the proof, rebukes the foolhardy; ⁴ because into a soul that plots evil, wisdom enters not, nor dwells she in a body under debt of sin. ⁵ For the holy Spirit of discipline flees deceit and withdraws from senseless counsels; and when injustice occurs it is rebuked. ⁶ For wisdom is a kindly spirit, yet she acquits not the blasphemer of his guilty lips; because God is the witness of his inmost self and the sure observer of his heart and the listener to his tongue. ⁷ For the spirit of the Lord fills the world, is all-embracing, and knows what man says.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 139:1-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-10

R: Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

¹ O Lord, you have probed me and you know me; ² you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. ³ My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar. (R) ⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know the whole of it. ⁵ Behind me and before, you hem me in and rest your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain. (R) ⁷ Where can I go from your spirit? from your presence where can I flee? ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I sink to the nether world, you are present there. (R) ⁹ If I take the wings of the dawn, if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand shall guide me, and your right hand hold me fast. (R)  

Gospel | Luke 17:1-6

Our behavior has an impact on those around us, either for good or evil. If our actions are good and upright, we will encourage others to do good as well. On the other hand, if we are involved in evil, we will weaken others’ efforts to be good. Let us always be vigilant and set a good example through our words and deeds.

Gospel Acclamation 

Shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life.

¹ Jesus said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur. ² It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. ³ Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴ And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.” ⁵ And the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” ⁶ The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read PSALMS 31 - 35 today.

When he was still a young deacon, the now Reverend Bishop Mylo Vergara was assigned to our parish. In talks, he would comically remind us: “Wala ka ngang kasalanan, pero wala ka ring ginagawang mabuti? Ano naman ang ikinaganda nu’n?” (roughly translated: “What benefit is it if you are able to avoid all sin but don’t do any good either?”).

Today’s readings give us beautiful reminders of how various aspects of the moral life on the one hand, and the spiritual life on the other, may stretch us but ensure creative tensions in our Christian living.

We work for justice but must seek our grounding in faith. Otherwise, we risk becoming part of a movement that cannot sustainably propel itself. We seek the holiness of being freed from sin, but we also know that holiness comes only when we become deeply forgiving of the sins of others and of ourselves. We depend on God for everything, but we must embrace the power that grace gives us to do the Lord’s heavy lifting.

At any given time, we can only be doing one thing or the other, but we are made whole by living joyfully amidst these creative tensions; and finding that, at these intersections, love is born.

In prayer today, look upon the cross as such an intersection—where the divine and the human were one; where hands outstretched to the east and the west desired to embrace the whole world; and where died a heart that belonged to heaven but went out to the lowliest of the earth. From that tension, the pull between opposing sides and the ups and downs, the love of which there is no greater, came forth. 

Fr. Mark Lopez, SJ

Reflection question

Have you focused too much on avoiding sin but failed to do the good that you must do as a follower of Jesus?

Lord Jesus, from the ways life stretches us, teach us to love. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ___________________________________