Gospel Reflections for July 15 2018
Meeting only good people?
It would be so much easier to be good Christian if there weren’t so many bad people around!
I understand when people tell me this, and I hear it a lot. Of course it would be easier but it doesn’t look like a wonderfully Christian world is going to happen anytime soon! Those who want to be sincere Christians often must work with or even live with people who have beliefs completely opposed to our faith. How should you respond?
Jesus offers practical advice in today’s Gospel as He prepares disciples to go to neighboring villages to persuade them to follow Him. However these villages include very difficult people. He keeps His advice simple: travel light, do something good that truly helps people, and simply move on if the message is not received.
That last idea is helpful. Jesus recognizes there are all kinds of people out there and some are not so good.
He affirms that you should never let someone else’s lack of faith, hope, or love …affect your faith, hope, or love!
If others accept Our Lord, great; if not, well …just move on! Do not take it personally. Jesus always respects freedom, even of those who reject Him. But rejection never changed His own faith, hope, and love, nor should it ever change yours either. After all, why would you ever let someone with little or no faith affect your faith?
The real sign that someone has the presence of Our Lord is their visible presence of joy. You can experience that joy by focusing on simply doing something good for everyone around you, no matter what. It does not matter if the world has some bad people in it. As a Christian, you know what to do …and you can do good things no matter what!
This joy remains our mission here at St. Bruno and at your parish also. All our events are meant to accomplish something good that helps people, whether at our school, our new Religious Education Program, our new Young Adult Ministry, our Sunday masses, the University Series in Lent, or even the Carnival. We want to do everything with a deep sense of joy, and never let anything, or anyone, ever distract us from the joy that comes in meeting Our Lord and helping others do so as well.
God Bless!
Fr. Dave
thank you
God bless
Hello Fr. Dave,
Your sage advice about how to protect our own faith while evangelizing others helps this weekends gospel come to life. It reminds me of how “The Imitation of Christ” helps us to see the wisdom of the monastic life. Even timeout for a retreat whether for a week or just 3 minute prayer offerings on-line can keep us sane in these post-modern times. God bless you for keeping us focused on our own souls in order to reach out to others prayerfjlly.
You are very welcome!
When we /I, do good., others was not satisfied,they dont believe or just envy enough to twist you.
As if you dont have the right to be good. .for my case , at present, i am a lector ./ commentator in our Parish and i am not a perfect reader, sometimes , and for a single word that you missed, it is a bad carma. instead of fighting back & explaining further,, i remain in silence and go on servicing the Lord.. thats what happened to Jesus.., being blame,, they do not believe to him. But later on, thru miracles & magnetic word
I am glad you are serving as a Lector. That is a wonderful and important ministry. You are also wise in responding the way you do to others criticisms.
Fr. Dave
That is good advise that I have taken to heart many many times. Never let someone else’s lack of faith , hope , or love affect your faith , hope, or love. At times , kind of like a mantra used in meditation. I also really like Jesus I trust in YOU. And of course you saw where the biggest attention was indicated.
I also smile and see Jesus smiling with the “no matter what” part.
God Bless
Jane
I am glad that you also have been following this Gospel for some time. Jesus always has the best advice.
Dear Father Dave,
Once again, thank you for your insightful synopsis of this Sunday’s Gospel.
So many of my friends and acquaintances are not Catholic, and I’ve often wondered how much I should or shouldn’t say about my beliefs. As a result, I speak about those beliefs only when the time seems right and the opportunity presents itself.
Once, in the middle of a writers’ genre meeting, a lady started talking about her favorable pro-choice position. When she finished, many of the other people present began nodding their heads in affirmation. When they were finished, I simply said (in a soft voice) that I disagreed. Every head turned my way and there was complete silence. Thereafter, we moved on with the meeting. Interesting….
God bless you.
I think you handled that situation very well. You waited for the right moment and spoke softly but directly. Well done!
Dear Father, Dave, Beautiful commentary as always!!! Dick and I so love our Faith and we come in contact with many that have opposite views!!! I feel we should overwhelm them with love and joy and speak graciously but say the truth with conviction!!!! They can only agree or disagreee but we can win them over in LOVE!!!
Have a beautiful day in our Jesus and our Blessed Mother’s sweet Divine love of joy!!!! Loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it and we so loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee you for sharing our Jesus beautifully with us!!!
Loveeeeeeeeeeee, franca and Dick
Thank you!
A spirit-filled reflection on how we can help one another, including the “nones”
on how to meet the Lord, as we walk with Him on the road to His kingdom.
Philomena: In deed, we walk with Him every day, and we are blessed to have the wisdom of the Gospel to let us know when we should walk away. And thanks for reminding me about Father Dave’s commentaries!
Enjoy!
When listening to this scripture it reminds me of the Mass. It is a reestablishing my commitment to our Lord. The Lord also calls us to a relationship and that relationship0 is a reminder to us during the mass. Then at the end the last statement is that the Mass is ended and to go out and serve the Lord. It is not to thank God the Mass is over but to take out what word we heard and how God has spoken to each individual and share with others that word. Others may not receive it but others will. I keep hearing to persevere.
By the way, at St. Paschals you had these sheets on different subjects in the back of the church for anyone to take. Do you still have those sheets on line?
Your understanding of the “Go, the Mass is ended” line right on! Yes, all of my articles are on my website at daveheney.com. Some are listed on the lower right of the site, and all the rest are at the link at the top “More Articles.” Hope that helps!