Sharing Our Gifts

Brothers and sisters:
We, though many, are one Body in Christ
and individually parts of one another.
Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,     

let us exercise them:
if prophecy, in proportion to the faith;
if ministry, in ministering;
if one is a teacher, in teaching;
if one exhorts, in exhortation;
if one contributes, in generosity;
if one is over others, with diligence;
if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Let love be sincere;
hate what is evil,
hold on to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection;
anticipate one another in showing honor.
Do not grow slack in zeal,
be fervent in spirit,
serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope,
endure in affliction,
persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the holy ones,
exercise hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you,
bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice,
weep with those who weep.
Have the same regard for one another;
do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.

When I read the daily readings available at the USCCB site each day, I will take a few sentences of one of the readings and write my thoughts in it. Several days a week I will share my thoughts here on blogger hoping that my words might be of some use to someone. I am a fairly competent wordsmith and it is a talent that God gave me and I must share it with others.  Today the reading from Romans stands on its own with very little comment needed from me.  The author has laid out in easy to understand terms what we should be doing if we are to live a good Christian life.  We are to use the gifts that God has given us to better the lives of those around us.  We are to love good, hate evil and we are to love one another with a love that is mutual, we are to honor the other as they honor us.  In good times and bad, we are to put on love as our cloak and we are to endure in affliction and persevere in prayer.  Our love must extend to friends and enemies alike and we should share the joy and the sorrow of those around us, laughing when they laugh and weeping when they weep.  And of course, as for us, it should matter not what a person has in their wallet, or what car they drive, or what office they occupy for they all are brothers and sisters to us, the rich and the poor alike.  

What a great way to live a happy fruitful life. 

Today you can make a difference in someone's eternity!   Not everyone that dies goes directly to heaven.  Some of us, when we die, are still attached to things of this world or we have not paid the temporal punishment for the sins we have committed.  If this is the case we choose Purgatory when we die to prepare ourselves for heaven.  The poor souls cannot pray themselves out of purgatory, they need help from us.  Our prayers and sacrifices for them help them and bring ever closer the day they will be lifted up to the bliss of heaven. 

How can you help?  Offer a prayer for the poor souls, an Our Father, Hail Mary and a Glory Be for their sake means so much for them as do your voluntary sacrifices.  Today, please take a moment and devoutly recite this prayer.  1,000 souls in purgatory will be released every time you do.  

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen

Following Along the Path of Jesus

While they were all amazed at his every deed,
Jesus said to his disciples,
"Pay attention to what I am telling you.
The Son of Man is to be handed over to men." 
But they did not understand this saying;
its meaning was hidden from them
so that they should not understand it,
and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

Can you imagine being there with Jesus, following Him as he went about day by day?   You would point at this man and relate how Jesus expelled a demon from him or point at another and explain how that child was raised from the dead by Jesus.  You might share the story of how He fed the five thousand with just a few fish and some barley loaves and how there were twelve baskets left over.  Your heart would skip a beat as you observed all of these things.  Then He goes and spoils it all by telling you one day He would be handed over to the authorities and they would kill Him by putting Him on a tree. What could these spoken words mean and why was he saying them?  He was a man that did wondrous deeds what did this talk about being crucified mean? 

As human beings, we are always ready to believe what our eyes can see.  But when what we see with our eyes does not compare favorably with what we have heard we get confused.  The people in our reading saw all of the good and amazing things Jesus did but they did not understand the true mission of Jesus and they were afraid to ask him what His words meant.  Jesus was here to serve us and He did by curing the sick, casting out demons, telling us with authority about the Kingdom of Heaven but He also told us what His ultimate service to us was going to be, death, death on a cross.  We could marvel at the good things but we could protest like Peter when Jesus revealed His ultimate goal. 

Today, in our lives, we can clearly see the good things God has provided for us.  We have all of the things that the world can give us at our fingertips and we marvel at the goodness of the Lord.  Most of us are appropriately thankful for all of these goods but we sometimes fail to hear what Jesus says our obligations are.  He is delighted to provide for us but we have to read what He wants us to do.  He wants us to share for we reap what we did not sow and we drink water that we did not carry.  We experienced the sweetness of the Lord but we have shied away from the bitterness of accepting our cross and following along the Via Dela Rosa with our Lord, walking in his bloodstained footsteps as He gives His all for us. To know Christ is to be a cross-carrier and follower of the One who has shown us the way.

The gifts that God has given you are yours and you can do one of two things with them.  These gifts can be kept hidden and locked away or they can be shared.  If we share them, they will not run out but if we hide them away, rust and moth will change them to the dust that they were made of in the first place.