440.doc Sept. 8

440.doc

Scripture: Lectionary 440. Colossians 3:12-17. Psalm 150:1-2.3-4.5-6. Luke 6:27-38:

Paul now exhorts us to put on the new nature and to put away the old nature with its vices. Christ is to be all in all. Paul is listing the virtues which will make of us righteous and holy persons—saints. We take the positive aspect of building upon the virtues in order to become more and more the image and likeness of Christ in us. We are parts of his Body and each one of us has a specific role within the Body of Christ, the Church. Together with our prayers, hymns and psalms we have a practical lesson in how to become holy before God and our neighbor.

Thomas Kempis wrote that if we eradicated one vice a year we would soon be saints. Paul gives it the positive dimension and we can say that if we continue to grow in the virtues he has listed that even one of them at a time, we would soon be holy and pleasing to God in Christ. The lesson today is one of putting into action the practical dimension of holiness through a living faith rooted in our belief in Christ.

Like the Evangelist John, Paul emphasizes that it is love that binds all of the virtues together. God is love and those who live in love, live in God. Thanksgiving is essential to responding to love in God and through our neighbor. Thanksgiving is also the meaning of our Eucharistic celebrations where we are in the Presence of Christ and receive Christ who informs us and develops the virtues within us. Paul helps us to understand the meaning of thanksgiving when he says, “Whatever you do, whether in speech or in action, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

The magnificent closing Psalm of the Psalter is our response to the lesson Paul is entrusting to us today. It is a perfect prayer and hymn of praise and thanksgiving. We are to join in the music and celebration of this praise with all of our hearts and souls and voices. Paul tells us to do this while praying with joy. “This Psalm is more than an artistic close to the Psalter; it is the prophecy of the last result of a devout life.” Halleluiah! Amen.