Tuesday, 23C: "you inflict injustice and cheat"

... and this to brothers.
Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the Kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived;
neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers
nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves
nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers
will inherit the Kingdom of God.

-- 1 Cor 6:1-11

"You shall not steal" (Ex 20:15; Deut 5:19). "Neither thieves, nor the greedy . . ., nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:10).

-- CCC 2450

There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. The Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit: "Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God."

-- CCC 1852

Labor Day, Monday 23C: "On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught"

"I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?"

-- Lk 6:6-11

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work.

The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.

The third commandment of the Decalogue recalls the holiness of the sabbath: "The seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD."

-- CCC 2168

In work, the person exercises and fulfills in part the potential inscribed in his nature. The primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and its beneficiary. Work is for man, not man for work. Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of providing for his life and that of his family, and of serving the human community.

-- CCC 2428

Sunday, 23C, First things first: "If anyone comes to me without hating ... even his own life he cannot be my disciple"

"If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple."

-- Lk 14:25-33

"Christ is the center of all Christian life. The bond with him takes precedence over all other bonds, familial or social. From the very beginning of the Church there have been men and women who have renounced the great good of marriage to follow the Lamb wherever he goes, to be intent on the things of the Lord, to seek to please him, and to go out to meet the Bridegroom who is coming. Christ himself has invited certain persons to follow him in this way of life, of which he remains the model:

'For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.'

-- CCC 1618

Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone, and bids them "renounce all that [they have]" for his sake and that of the Gospel. Shortly before his passion he gave them the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on. The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of heaven.

-- CCC 2544

"Give, and it shall be given to you ..."

"The virtue of solidarity goes beyond material goods. In spreading the spiritual goods of the faith, the Church has promoted, and often opened new paths for, the development of temporal goods as well. And so throughout the centuries has the Lord's saying been verified: 'Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well':

"For two thousand years this sentiment has lived and endured in the soul of the Church, impelling souls then and now to the heroic charity of monastic farmers, liberators of slaves, healers of the sick, and messengers of faith, civilization, and science to all generations and all peoples for the sake of creating the social conditions capable of offering to everyone possible a life worthy of man and of a Christian."

-- CCC 1942

Sunday 23C. “Be My Disciple”: At holy Mass we “sit down” and “calculate the cost” of a discipleship which puts the Lord and heaven first

Did you ever meet someone who said constantly, “I’m going to do this”, I’m going to do that”, or “I want to do this”, “I want to do that” but when the time came for action they were nowhere to be found? They were probably with a different group of people saying, all over again, “I”ll do this” and I”ll do that”. We call this superficiality. And the consequences can be disastrous for relationships.

When a man and woman say “I do” on their wedding day, they can say so only with the complete trust and love of God that comes through Faith, because it is impossible for them to know on that day just what exactly the future will bring and what will be the demands it will place upon their love and fidelity. But they say “I do” all the same with hearts full of the love and hope that also comes with the grace and gift of faith. But if the day comes that “I do” no longer means coming home at night to the one we have chosen above all others then we place ourselves in an occasion of infidelity to the promise. If the day comes that a spouse is no longer able, as a matter of the will, to say “I love you” and to act on that love then the relationship is in danger of failure.

No human being has ever been happy merely going through the motions of love with an empty and broken heart, although for some this burden has been endured for many years. We have been made for love and a life lived in denial of that truth is a life which does violence to its very self. The God of infinite love and compassion, fully revealed in Christ, knows us best and knows what we truly need to be happy. And He is also Truth itself, and will not tolerate a lie, a falsehood, a sham, a paltry substitute for real love.

God is telling us today that He will not tolerate superficiality because to say one thing and do another is not honest. Actions which do not match words are lacking in integrity. He will not call our lives in love of Him if we say “yes” on the day of our child’s baptism, but then fail to raise that child in the Faith by bringing her to Sunday Mass in accord with God’s command. He will not call it love if we commit a mortal sin and then present ourselves for Holy Communion on Sunday morning without first telling Him we are sorry in the Sacrament of Confession. And he will not call it love if we remain aloof from the communion of life and love with Him in the holy Catholic Church by rejecting His teaching on the sacredness of human life, the truth about marriage, and the dignity of every human person.

But He will never withdraw His love from us. He remains committed in Christ, espousing Himself to us through the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ who, now raised up, continues to draw every human person to Himself. God will never stop loving us, and in that love will always beckon us with the truth, for He cannot deny Himself. God’s love is not superficial: one look at the broken Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, remaining committed on the Cross for us until His last drop of Blood and His last breath, easily silences that erroneous notion.

If our goal is heavenly glory, the happiness that will never end, then God tells us today that we must sit down and calculate the cost to us of choosing that goal. The means of reaching that goal is a way of life which we call “discipleship” and the evidence that we are disciples is the Cross that we carry each day out love for Christ who carried His Cross to the very end for love of us.

Every week, especially at holy Mass each Sunday, we “sit down” with the Lord and with the help of His loving Word and the grace of His Eucharistic Body offered to the end on the Cross and raised up to heaven, we “calculate the cost” once again of placing Him first in our lives, so that, having sought the Kingdom first, we continue to trust that He will surely give us all other things besides. God bless you.

Praised be Jesus Christ.

((((..))))

First Saturday 22C: "Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers,"

... for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.

-- 1 Cor 4:6b-15

For the bishop, this is first of all a grace of strength ("the governing spirit": Prayer of Episcopal Consecration in the Latin rite): the grace to guide and defend his Church with strength and prudence as a father and pastor, with gratuitous love for all and a preferential love for the poor, the sick, and the needy. This grace impels him to proclaim the Gospel to all, to be the model for his flock, to go before it on the way of sanctification by identifying himself in the Eucharist with Christ the priest and victim, not fearing to give his life for his sheep:

Father, you know all hearts.
You have chosen your servant for the office of bishop.
May he be a shepherd to your holy flock,
and a high priest blameless in your sight,
ministering to you night and day;
may he always gain the blessing of your favor
and offer the gifts of your holy Church.
Through the Spirit who gives the grace of high priesthood
grant him the power
to forgive sins as you have commanded
to assign ministries as you have decreed
and to loose from every bond by the authority which you
gave to your apostles. May he be pleasing to you by his gentleness and purity of heart,
presenting a fragrant offering to you,
through Jesus Christ, your Son. . . .

-- CCC 1586

Thursday, 22C: "Let no one deceive himself."

... If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise.

-- 1 Cor 3:18-23

The economy of law and grace turns men's hearts away from avarice and envy. It initiates them into desire for the Sovereign Good; it instructs them in the desires of the Holy Spirit who satisfies man's heart. The God of the promises always warned man against seduction by what from the beginning has seemed "good for food . . . a delight to the eyes . . . to be desired to make one wise."

-- CCC 2541

Wednesday, 22C: "While there is jealousy and rivalry among you"

are you not of the flesh ?

-- 1 Cor 3:1-9

Because man is a composite being, spirit and body, there already exists a certain tension in him; a certain struggle of tendencies between "spirit" and "flesh" develops. But in fact this struggle belongs to the heritage of sin. It is a consequence of sin and at the same time a confirmation of it. It is part of the daily experience of the spiritual battle:

For the Apostle it is not a matter of despising and condemning the body which with the spiritual soul constitutes man's nature and personal subjectivity. Rather, he is concerned with the morally good or bad works, or better, the permanent dispositions - virtues and vices - which are the fruit of submission (in the first case) or of resistance (in the second case) to the saving action of the Holy Spirit. For this reason the Apostle writes: "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."

-- CCC 2516

Saint Fiacre, patron of gardeners, pray for us.