21st Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture: II Thessalonians 1:1-5,11-12. Psalm 96:1-5. Matthew 23:13-22

Today God is calling you and me to fulfill every good purpose by initiating our efforts through faith in order to glorify Jesus our Lord and Savior. This is the way I am reading and praying about the passage from II Thessalonians. It helps me to approach the harsher tone and condemnatory language of the Gospel in which Jesus passes judgment on those who do not live up to their talents and responsibilities. I am helped by the first reading to take his words as a challenge to live out my life today in integrity and holiness. This will be tested in the people I meet today and those with whom I interact at work or in the ministry I share with others. These challenges are little callings from Our Lord to live up to the bigger ones we have made. God's grace and loving tenderness is always there when we are aware of God working in our lives.

Today's Psalm tells me to announce God's salvation day after day. The Alleluia verse asks me to listen to the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd and to follow him.

Then, in turning to the Gospel, Jesus words are meant for me not for the Pharisees or for hypocrites--those days are past and the Gospels speak to us Christians who may have some hypocritical dimensions in our lives. I must listen to what Jesus is saying in his judgments and apply them to my own behavior in words and actions. And this leads me to pray, " Lord, may your grace and peace be with us today as we take up another normal day with its responsibilities toward others, toward you, and toward ourselves. Amen."