Today’s Thoughts: Our Gospel story for today is a rather start forward one. A man had two sons who disappointed him in different ways. The first one rebelled but then had a change of heart. The second one was full of yeses but did not follow through with his yes!
In the time of Jesus, this story was addressed to the religious leaders of his time, the chief priests and elders of the people, who were always seeing themselves in “the right.” They, indeed, were doing God’s will. They were the yes men of Jesus’ time. But they were failing to show up. They didn’t respond to John the Baptist’s challenge and they were not responding to Jesus’ invitation. There is a familiar phase, “action speak louder than words!” Perhaps, this is what Jesus is getting at in our Gospel today. The religious leaders had all the right answers, but their actions did not reflect their words. Jesus’ invitation to follow is not easy. It is demanding and sometimes like the first son in our story today we don’t want to engage. The commitment of faith is too hard, too difficult, and always the most pleasant of experiences, it is demanding of our time and our actions. The hope of faith is that when we pause to think about the alternative, we have a change of heart and respond to God’s call, God’s challenges, God’s invitation to be a person. We cannot just say “yes” and think that is enough. We cannot stand in front of a church and hold up a bible and think that makes us a person of faith. It is how we live out our faith that is most important and that faith calls us to be more concerned about other than ourselves. It calls us to see God in others. As St. Paul reminds us today, as true followers of Jesus we are invited to place the well-being of others before our own and to do it with humility and selfless love. Being a person of faith is not easy. It demands action not just words and at times we will come up short, but we have an infinitely patient and merciful God who stands always ready to forgive, bless and grace us with his love if we change our mind or most importantly change our heart! Have a blessed, holy, and safe Sunday everyone!
1 Comment
Mary E
9/27/2020 05:42:24 am
The thought that struck me this morning is how very patient God is with me. In spite of all the invitations He offers me, He will wait patiently for me to follow through.
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Fr. Paul R. Fagan, C.P. "Preacher on the Run"Just a few thoughts to help you on your journey through life...let me know from time to time what you think... Archives
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