Parishable Items

Readings: Isaiah 1:10-17, Matthew 10:34-11:1

Today’s readings reflect three truths of Christian discipleship:

The first reading from Isaiah shows us that we must do good if we are going to worship of God:

Though you pray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good.

The first half of the Gospel shows us that we will sometimes need to leave good things behind in order to follow Christ:

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me… and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.

The second half of the Gospel encourages us that no good thing that we do or sacrifice will go unrewarded by the Lord:

And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple–amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.

These three truths of Christian discipleship are reflected in the life of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. She practiced penances to root out her sins and train herself in goodness. After her Catholic baptism, she was rejected by her own kin. And when she died, it is reported that the small pox scars she bore from childhood faded away, pointing to her spiritual beauty and her heavenly rewards hereafter.

This entry was posted on July 14, 2014 at 9:02 am and is filed under Christian Perfection, Homily, Weekday Homilies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.