St Paul reminds of us our target. What we should be focused on. We are called to be saints. Each of us and everything we do and say, everything we fill our minds with, should be selected and performed with the target of being holy and saintly people.
That isn’t just a goal for St Paul or other saints we read about. It is what Jesus Christ expected from each of us.
If we as Catholics lived by St Paul’s words of encouragement and followed the path Jesus set for us as saints, the world would be a different place indeed.
Jesus in our Gospel today reminds us of how much we fall short and to warn us not to be quick to judge others when we fail to see how far our own life has strayed off the path.
Being a successful follower of Jesus Christ means to live among others and in this same world as others. But what we do, how we live, how we pray….should be drastically different, and in most occasions, should be in conflict with the world around us.
The world is sinking deeper into darkness and it is our role in the kingdom to be the light. We only have the light of Christ in us, when we are striving to live a saintly life and follow his teachings. It doesn’t matter what position we hold, how many times we attend mass or how many prayers we say. If we do not aim at the bull’s eye which is to be a saint, we will miss the mark completely.
Let us remember the words of St Paul and Jesus today and take steps to avoid anything that gets in our way of eternal life.
It will require we review what we do, what we say, what we watch and how we treat others. Lots of work to do for most of us. Including myself. For we all must renew our goal of living a holy life. The road is narrow. Those who will reach heaven are few. It is time to refresh our direction and aim in life. Seek first the kingdom of God!
Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 441
Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast,
for an obligation has been imposed on me,
and woe to me if I do not preach it!
If I do so willingly, I have a recompense,
but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
What then is my recompense?
That, when I preach, I offer the Gospel free of charge
so as not to make full use of my right in the Gospel.
Although I am free in regard to all,
I have made myself a slave to all
so as to win over as many as possible.
I have become all things to all, to save at least some.
All this I do for the sake of the Gospel,
so that I too may have a share in it.
Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race,
but only one wins the prize?
Run so as to win.
Every athlete exercises discipline in every way.
They do it to win a perishable crown,
but we an imperishable one.
Thus I do not run aimlessly;
I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing.
No, I drive my body and train it,
for fear that, after having preached to others,
I myself should be disqualified.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young—
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
their hearts are set upon the pilgrimage.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
For a sun and a shield is the LORD God;
grace and glory he bestows;
The LORD withholds no good thing
from those who walk in sincerity.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your word, O Lord, is truth;
consecrate us in the truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus told his disciples a parable:
“Can a blind person guide a blind person?
Will not both fall into a pit?
No disciple is superior to the teacher;
but when fully trained,
every disciple will be like his teacher.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’
when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.”
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