Saint for the day; Pio of Pietreccina (May 25, 1887 – September 23, 1968)
Today’s “saint,” is better known as Padre Pio a visionary who healed many people in his lifetime. Be sure to “click” on the above “link” to read more about this present-day saint.
Scripture readings for today’s Liturgy:
1 Timothy 6:13 – 16 – Psalm 100 – Luke 8:4-15
“Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs.” Matt. 5:3
In our first reading for today we hear Paul exhorting us to ‘hold fast to the faith that we have received’ and always give glory to God who is all in all. (my own ‘loose translation.’)
The Gospel gives us the Parable of the seed which we often hear – and probably need to hear over and over again – in order to see how we fit in to all the categories mentioned. Again, we have to be careful not to think, “well, this applies to me, but certainly not that or that.” Most of us, if we were honest, would be able to see that we are all of those examples at one time or other in our life and journey following the Lord.
So, there are many ways for us to gain some insight into our “spiritual journey” that we might more closely follow the Lord. The seed that falls on stony ground reminds me of the passage in Ezk (11:19) where he says, “I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.” How many times have we heard people say to us, “Don’t be such a hard-ass! Lighten up a little! Have a heart” So, we ask ourselves, “How have I kept a ‘hardened heart’ in my dealings with those around me and even with my relationship with God?”
In the same way we can see how we have let those around us trample us into the ground by not walking proudly on the road that the Lord has placed us. Or have we allowed “weeds of the world” to choke the life of Christ out of us.
One of my commentaries today suggested that we use Paul’s ‘check-list’ in Galatians 5:23 f to see how we are doing in our Xtian walk. This is where Paul gives us the attributes of the HS: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, self-control, etc. to which we need to ask ourselves: “how – or am I – loving, joyful, peaceful, etc.
One of the commentators said that she keeps this list taped to her bathroom mirror so that she can go through it on a daily basis. Good idea!
The ‘Bottom line’ here seems to be that we need to realize that we wane in and out of our relationship with God and are in constant need to renew that in order to keep it fresh. We’re never there until we’re there so this is a life-long process. “Hang in there, buddy, we’re not there yet!” Amen!