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Sunday, October 25, 2020
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 148
Reading 1
Thus says the LORD:
"You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,
I will surely hear their cry.
My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;
then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
"If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people,
you shall not act like an extortioner toward him
by demanding interest from him.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge,
you shall return it to him before sunset;
for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body.
What else has he to sleep in?
If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (2) I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
The LORD lives and blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake.
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord,
receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit,
so that you became a model for all the believers
in Macedonia and in Achaia.
For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth
not only in Macedonia and in Achaia,
but in every place your faith in God has gone forth,
so that we have no need to say anything.
For they themselves openly declare about us
what sort of reception we had among you,
and how you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God
and to await his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead,
Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord,
and my Father will love him and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him,
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
Loving God in everything that we say and do in our lives can never lead us to doing anything wrong. God, being the ultimate good and our creator, means that whatever we do with Him will also espouse that goodness. There is no evil in good. There is no bad that comes from good. We are invited into a relationship with God for a simple purpose: to love God and to be good. Good begets good. Evil begets evil. When we ignore God we are actually promoting evil and only bad things can result. Keeping our focus on God will influence all of our relationships and actions; all of them will lead to good things and bear fruit. All of us have been created with an innate knowledge of what is good and what is bad. This is something that is not taught but is a natural part of our being. Realizing the difference between what is right and what is wrong is an awakening of sorts that happens to every human being. It is called the Age of Reason. Some would argue it is proof of the existence of God. We have to look no further than the wantonness of people to do good as proof enough that there is a God and He is the ultimate good.
To love God means to love everything that comes from Him. There is a simple Code of Conduct that is set forth as a guide for us to follow if we wish to walk with God. Jesus summed it up in the Gospel Reading today:
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
Everything that has been read before and afterward in Sacred Scripture; all that has been revealed is based on these two simple commandments. We are told to apply these to our thoughts, actions, and our entire faith-life. To not do so means that we have failed to do what God has asked us to do and therefore only sin will result. We cannot have it both ways. We cannot be considered good Christians in right relationship with God if we do not obey these two commandments which are the foundation of God’s creation. We were created to love and to be loved. To receive the full experience of God we must do both.
Being of human estate we will definitely fall short of God’s expectations and our own. It is inevitable. When this occurs we should recognize what we had done wrong and make the adjustments necessary. This is when we depend on God more and seek His guidance when correcting these failures. We will never be perfect and God is not asking us to be. He wants us to let Him do the work within us that is necessary so that we can begin the process of transformation into a better version of ourselves. In the meantime our relationship with Him will prevent us from continuing to make errors and mistakes. We may stray but we will never be lost forever if only we heed the voice of our God and respond to it. He can be our strength and our power that will enable us to overcome all obstacles, especially the ones that we erect ourselves.
God set forth commandments and laws for us to follow as guideposts to a better way of living and a better way of life. These enable us to enter into relationship with Him and also enable us to live our lives to the fullest potential the way that God wanted us to. The commandments, laws, and instructions set forth in Sacred Scripture are not there in the form of crime and punishment. They are presented out of love to insure that our lives can be lived to the fullest. When Jesus reiterated the two greatest commandments the emphasis was on love. Love should always be the central part of our faith-life and our life with God. Without experiencing and giving love whatever we do is for naught. It is love of God, his creation, and our fellow human beings that brings everything together and makes sense of it all. It is important to be open to being loved and to love with abandon. When this is done everything else falls into place.
Deacon Tom
My sisters and brothers in Christ,
All that God wants of us is to love Him and to love one another. Why can we not fulfill these commands? Why do we find ourselves so incapable of such a simple commandment? When we are honest with ourselves, we admit that there is something broken in our humanity. Our Catholic Tradition calls this “original sin” and because of our sinfulness, the Father sends His Son to save us in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The first reading today is from the Book of Exodus. This particular passage speaks to us of the mercy and compassion that God has for the orphans, the widows and the poor. God tells us that we must be like Him and also have mercy and compassion in a special way for the orphans, the widows and the poor. This is a requisite of those who belong to the “covenant.”
Today many of us Christians forget that we belong to the “new covenant” with Jesus Christ. We inherit the promises of the Old Covenant and have the gifts of the New Covenant. It is our baptism into Christ that makes us members of this Covenant. It is important for us Christians to remember that in this New Covenant we have the promise and commitment of God Himself for our salvation and for our well-being.
The second reading is from the First Letter to the Thessalonians. In this passage of this Letter, Saint Paul reminds us that we must always give example of how to live our Christian faith. When we live with joy and gladness the New Covenant, others are drawn to come to know the Lord. Most of us know at least one or two people that we would consider models for living a Christian life. We ourselves need to become models of how to live. We do that we striving to live as Christ lived, striving to be faithful to our Covenant with Him and by each day renouncing all that is against the Lord.
Today’s Gospel from Saint Matthew is very short but also very clear. What is the greatest commandment? To love God and to love one another. This message of the Lord Jesus is very clear: to live is to strive to love! If we want to be faithful to the God who created us, then we must love all others. We know that in the tradition, it is easy to love those who love us. Jesus calls us to love everyone and that proof of that love is the special love that we must have for our enemies and those who try to destroy us.
We are invited today to live more profoundly the love given to us in Christ Jesus. We are invited to show that love for all people and especially for those who are our enemies in any way. The promise for us, the Covenant, is that we shall possess everlasting life and be with the Lord forever.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip
Jesus pulls a fast one in today’s Gospel. A lawyer comes up to him with a simple question: choose from all the commandments one that is the greatest. Jesus answers the lawyer but instead of choosing one commandment he chooses two. And if we look carefully at his response we can find in one of the commandments a third commandment. Instead of coming up with one commandment that is the greatest, Jesus offers three. First, we are to love God with all of our strength. Second, we are to love our neighbor. But we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. So the third commandment is that we love ourselves. If you were to ask Jesus, then, what is the great commandment, he would offer this triple commandment of love: love of God, love of self, love of neighbor. He would suggest that this is God’s greatest revelation of how we should act. It is that upon which everything else hangs—both the law and all the prophets. So since this is so important and central a revelation, we should spend a little time reflecting upon it. We can do so by asking ourselves why does Jesus choose three commandments and what are their relationships to each other?
We can start with the command which is most obvious, the commandment to love our neighbor. Now neighbor here is not the person who lives next door. Neighbor is anyone we meet, anyone at all. Our neighbor is everyone in the world. The commandment is we are to love our neighbor. The necessity of this commandment is clear, and its impact cannot be underestimated. Imagine what a different world we could live in, if we could follow this one commandment, if people could relate to one another out of love instead of out of jealousy, greed, and resentment. To follow this commandment would truly change our world. Yet it is a difficult commandment to follow. Why is it that so often that we are unable to love our neighbor? We move now to the second commandment: love of self.
We are so often unable to love our neighbor because we do not have a genuine love of self. Only those who genuinely love themselves are able to love others. Those who consider themselves unworthy and unlovable have no love to give. Those who dominant attitude is one of failure or anger can only strike out to others in jealousy, hatred, or perhaps even violence. In order to genuinely follow the first commandment we must follow the second. We must love ourselves so that we are able to extend love to others. But then how do we establish an adequate love of self? Here the believer knows where to turn – to the third commandment: we are to love God with all our strength.
It is when we understand God’s love for us and can respond to God in love that we discover our worth and our value. God’s love is unconditional and transformative. When we embrace God’s love for us despite all of our mistakes and failings then we understand our true worth and value. Then we can love ourselves, and through that love others.
The great commandment according to Jesus is the triple commandment of love, to embrace God’s love for us, so that we can come to an adequate love of self, so that we can extend that love to others. This commandment of Jesus is not only striking poetry. It is a very practical truth that we can apply to our own lives. When we face other people who are difficult to love, people who irritate us, people who have hurt us, people whose attitude and stance is contrary to what we understand or can appreciate, we sometimes try to love them by finding good in them. But often it is our blindness to their goodness that is the problem in the first place. Therefore, a more successful way to love those that are difficult to love is by finding goodness in ourselves, by remembering that we are chosen sons and daughters of God. By remembering how we have been blessed, how often we have been forgiven for our failings, how frequently we have been lost and God has found us and saved us, how God’s love for us is unconditional, we can gain a sense of how we are worthy and lovable in God’s eyes. It is by claiming God’s love for us that we can find the freedom to spread love to others, even when they are difficult to love.
There is not enough love in our world. All of us can come up with excuses why other people do not deserve our love. It is then that we must remember that we do not deserve God’s love and yet God loves us nevertheless. When we can claim that unconditional love that God has for us, we will be free to love others. Then, and only then, will we know the mystery of living Jesus’ greatest commandment.
There is a peculiar twist in today’s gospel, and it is intentional. When one of the teachers of the law asks Jesus, “Which is the greatest commandment?” he poses the most important question that a Jew could ask. For Jews of the first century, like Jesus and the teacher who questioned him, saw in the law the revelation of God’s will. To know the most important commandment of the law, then, was to know what was most important to God and also to discover what was the secret of living. Here is where the twist comes in. When Jesus is asked to give one commandment, he gives two instead: we are to love the Lord God with all of our hearts, and that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Giving two commandments instead of one is intentional. Jesus’ point is that these two commandments are actually one—like two sides of the same coin, like two hands working together, like the way that the sun is both light and heat.
So what is most important to God? What is the secret of living? It is to know that God is a God of love and that we are asked to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and with all of our mind and to know that if our love of God is to be real, then it must be expressed in our love for others. This is the great double commandment of Jesus. To say that we love God is to commit ourselves to love others, and in our love of others, we express our love for God. This great commandment of Jesus is at the heart of Christianity. It has always been so.
I want to share with you a remarkable quotation that was written by a Greek philosopher living in Athens in 125 C.E.—that is about a hundred years after Jesus’ death. His name was Aristides. He was not a Christian. But he wrote a letter to the emperor Hadrian describing the Christians in the city of Athens. His remarkable letter has come down to us. Here is what Aristides says:
“Christians love one another. They never fail to help widows. They save orphans from those who would hurt them. If one of them has something, he gives freely to the one who has nothing without boasting. If they see a stranger, Christians take him home and are happy as though he were a real brother. And if they hear that one of them is in jail or persecuted for professing the name of their redeemer, they all give him what he needs and, if it is possible to redeem him, they set him free. And if there is among them any poor or naked, if they have no spare food, they fast for two or three days in order to supply the needy. Truly, this is a new people and there is something divine in them.”
Aristides was able to see something divine in the Christians living in Athens, because he saw how they loved others.
What about us? We’re here today because we believe in God. We come together today to show our love of God. This is good, but when we leave this church, is our love of God visible? Can others see something divine in us? If you want to know, ask your neighbors. Ask your neighbors how they see you. Would they say, “Mrs. Brown? Oh, she has a beautiful yard. She is a wonderful cook.” Or would they say, “She’s somebody who would welcome a stranger, who would never judge anyone by their condition or the color of their skin.” Ask the people you work with how they see you. Would they say, “Oh, Mr. Farmer? He’s smart. He’s a climber. He’s very efficient.” Or would they say, “He’s a person I can trust. He’s a person who gives others a fair shake. He cares for people more than money.” Ask your friends. Would they say, “Joey? Oh Joey’s a good athlete. He’s the life of the party. You always have fun with Joey.” Or would they say, “Joey is someone you can count on. He’ll give you his time if you’re in trouble. He’ll never tear down another person.”
In order to see the divine in us people must see our love of others.
Jesus’ great commandment is a double commandment. Each part is essential.
To say that we love God and not to love others is following only half the
commandment. And following half the commandment is not following the
commandment at all.
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Sunday, October 18, 2020
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 145
Reading 1
Thus
says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus,
whose right hand I grasp,
subduing nations before him,
and making kings run in his service,
opening doors before him
and leaving the gates unbarred:
For the sake of Jacob, my servant,
of Israel, my chosen one,
I have called you by your name,
giving you a title, though you knew me not.
I am the LORD and there is no other,
there is no God besides me.
It is I who arm you, though you know me not,
so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun
people may know that there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, there is no other.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (7b) Give the Lord glory and honor.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. Give the Lord glory and honor.
For great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
awesome is he, beyond all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are things of nought,
but the LORD made the heavens.
R. Give the Lord glory and honor.
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
Bring gifts, and enter his courts.
R. Give the Lord glory and honor.
Worship the LORD, in holy attire;
tremble before him, all the earth;
say among the nations: The LORD is king,
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. Give the Lord glory and honor.
Reading 2
Paul,
Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians
in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
grace to you and peace.
We give thanks to God always for all of you,
remembering you in our prayers,
unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love
and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,
before our God and Father,
knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God,
how you were chosen.
For our gospel did not come to you in word alone,
but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Shine like lights in the world
as you hold on to the word of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia
Gospel
The Pharisees went off
and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech.
They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying,
"Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion,
for you do not regard a person's status.
Tell us, then, what is your opinion:
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?"
Knowing their malice, Jesus said,
"Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?
Show me the coin that pays the census tax."
Then they handed him the Roman coin.
He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?"
They replied, "Caesar's."
At that he said to them,
"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God."
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
There are some things in our life that we might find ourselves doing out of obligation. We have to work so as to earn money to pay bills and eat. We need to contribute to society so that society can function. There are laws to obey and things to do to advance ourselves. We then have the demands of our faith and those things we do because God has asked us to do them. Sometimes these things overlap and at other times they remain separate. We are reminded in the Gospel Reading today that part of being a good Christian is that we are asked to excel in all things that we do and fulfill all obligations that are asked of us. We are not revolutionaries. If we are acting out our faith-life correctly rarely will any of the demands put on us come into conflict with each other. Being a good citizen is part of being a good Christian. In fact it can be argued that being a good Christian makes us a better citizen of the society we live in and it actually makes it better as a result.
When we see an injustice that injustice can be corrected through the promotion of the Gospels and addressing it through the mechanisms set forth within the society. Knowing that God is above all things we can go forward with the understanding that He will afford us all the protection necessary to persevere in the face of obstacles and opposition. The end result will always be victory through God and triumph through the Will of God. Even when a defeat is perceived it is actually victory for it is when the Church is persecuted that it becomes stronger. There is no need for anxiety, fear, or loathing for what comes next. There should be no worries that our vision of what we want through God might not be fulfilled. God’s Will defeats everything that opposes it. This includes any timetable that we might want to put on things. As long as we are doing God’s Will and not our own then things will turn out correctly.
Everything created by human hands has an expiration date. Everything created by God is eternal. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection even death itself was conquered. We can learn a lesson from the Cycle of the Seasons. Spring brings new life and rebirth. Summer is the climax of life. Autumn foreshadows the coming of the end while winter brings darkness and death. What comes next? Spring then returns with life and beauty. All is renewed. We are a part of this cycle and we will experience rebirth as we journey towards our God. Meanwhile what is created on this earth through the ingenuity of the human mind never escapes an expiration date regardless of its perceived greatness.
The Holy Mother Church is known as The Bride of Christ here on this earth and is a testament to God’s greatness. As long as we operate under the direction of the Church and live our lives with its teachings at the center of our lives we will be able to flourish as it has throughout eternity. It is a mechanism created by Jesus and set into motion throughout eternity. Wherever the people of God were and are there is the Church. Wherever and whenever people gathered and gather in God’s name the Church has manifested and will manifest itself; triumphing over any opposition. It is mystical in nature and thus cannot be destroyed in any physical sense by human power. With the resurrection of Jesus Christ the Church was fully revealed in both its physical and spiritual sense while its presence has always been throughout God’s creation in one form or another. It is being part of the Church where we gain wisdom, knowledge, and understanding which then can deepen our relationship with God.
Living our lives as Christians means that we have accepted the direction of God and have also accepted His will above our own. We live our lives in accordance with His will and fulfill our earthly obligations under His direction and protection. In many ways we live in accordance to society’s dictations but at the same time separate from society because we are answerable to God. We will stand out because of this. We will face ridicule and judgment but also respect and accolades. Whichever it is there should be an understanding that whatever the case may be, suffering or joy, God is indeed with us so nothing can really be against us. We are on a journey to perfection and it is impossible for anything stand in our way except for ourselves.
There will always be a threat of something going wrong but nothing can really go wrong unless we take our will back from God. When this happens we end up turning our back to God. This is when we start sinning and journeying further from God. Crisis starts when our relationship with God is weakened by our own choices and malfeasance. To prevent this we must realize when this is happening and run back to Him. If we look for Him we will find Him. If we ask we will receive from Him everything that we need. Relying on our will and the support from a broken society will only bring about temporary relief that in itself is defective. To achieve perfection God must be embraced because He is perfect. Being with the perfect is the perfect solution to any of our problems.
We have been commissioned by Christ to live our lives guided by Him and by walking with God. Acting accordingly and doing things in God’s name instead of for us will bring about betterment in all things that we say and do in this life and the next.
Deacon Tom
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
The entire universe, including us, belongs to God. He created everything and we were made in His image. This is what we truly believe as Christians. It is the starting point of our faith. Once this is acknowledged, we can then focus on living with Him and experiencing Him. When we put this belief into action and let it mold our lives, it becomes a surrendering to His will and what He wants for us instead of what we want for ourselves.
God reminds us in the First Reading today that He is Lord and there is no other. He also reminds everyone that He was the one who rose up King Cyrus and gave him all the power and might that he held. It was through King Cyrus that God was to be glorified even though Cyrus did not know Him. God chooses us in much the same way. He will use us to reveal His Kingdom to others and display His eternal glory. We become instruments of peace and love. Even when, at times, we do not recognize God’s presence, He is there drawing us to Him and developing the salvation story of us and others. There will be occasions when we are unknowing participants and, when we do acknowledge Him, we then becoming knowing participants. Knowing participants is always better but there is comfort knowing that God is with us even when we become selfish enough to ignore Him.
With our free will, an imperfect society has been built over thousands of years. It started with a broken and faulty foundation designed with the influence of Original Sin, and continued to be built in the same defective manner. God, on the other hand, is perfect and always will be. As citizens of the world, we have to live within this society and have to obey its rules and laws. Yet, at the same time, we are also called to a higher state of being by obeying what God has asked us to do. There are many wrongs in society but there is nothing wrong in the scope of God’s Law and His perfection. All the negative, horror, and sadness have its roots in us and the temptations of evil. There are many times and circumstances where we react to these temptations in the wrong manner and bad things result. Life can and will be unfair. Society is unfair but Jesus tells us that we are not revolutionaries. We make a difference by living and preaching the Christian way of life that Jesus has taught us. It is through this behavior that all peoples we come in contact with will be transformed and the Kingdom of God is then realized.
There are injustices that need to be corrected and we do this in the scope of the framework we live in even though we may be insulted and hurt as a result. When this happens we unify ourselves to the Crucified Christ; continuing to do what He wants us to do in all circumstances. Focusing on perfection in society will bring about disappointment and an emptiness that can never be filled. This society is not forever. Whatever is built will eventually crumble into dust. Only God remains eternal and us with Him.
Every day we should pray and celebrate God. He is the one who brings love into our life and has the ability to right so many wrongs, starting with our own imperfections. We have the ability to live good lives as citizens in this society but do not need to make what society offers the most important thing. Paul tells us in his letter to Timothy that as long as we have clothes to wear and food to eat, nothing else material should matter. As we already know, you cannot serve both God and Mammon.
We know what is God’s and what belongs to man. Us being the property of God demands that we focus on Him above all and return the love that He has for us. When we do this, everything else will fall into place.
Deacon Tom
My sisters and brothers in Christ,
Today’s readings insist that we must be aware that God is at work even in politicians and in those who govern countries. God is truly almighty and is able to bring about good in every situation—even when we or those who govern resist His Word. Always we are called by the Scriptures to acknowledge that God is truly God and all powerful and in charge of all that happens. Such a view of our world does not leave out our own self will by which we choose either to follow the word o God or to reject that word.
The first reading today is from the Prophet Isaiah. This passage tells of the presence of the God of Israel in the life of Cyrus. There are many references to Cyrus in the Old Testament because it was under Cyrus that the Babylonian Captivity came to an end and the Jewish people were able to return to their own land and rebuild the temple. What is important in this reading is that it is God who is acting through Cyrus. Even non-Jewish—and later even non-Christian—rulers can be and are used by the Lord God to bring about His will and His plans.
The second reading is from the beginning of the First Letter to the Thessalonians. We can look again at the sentence: “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.” The Gospel—the Good News of Jesus Christ—always comes to us in people, not just in words, but in deeds. There are some people who are able to read the Scriptures and be converted, but most of us are baptized into the Church by our families or we convert because of the example of someone. When we meet a person who is on fire with faith and who is able to speak clearly and correctly about the Scriptures, we meet the kind of person that Saint Paul wants to bring the Gospel to others. You and I should be that kind of person: able to speak about our faith and believing so deeply in the Lord Jesus that His presence radiates out of us.
Of course we might not be that way all of the time, but it is a goal because in that way the Gospel is brought to people and people are brought to Jesus Christ and His Church.
Today’s Gospel from Saint Matthew brings us back to the challenge of living in a world that is not Christian and learning how to live with politicians and civil governors. The Gospel gives us the account of the Herodians trying to trap Jesus by having Him be against the government. Instead, Jesus goes right around their arguments and simply tells them that civil government has to be obeyed insofar as it is not a Church matter.
Today in many countries, civil governments are beginning to make laws that will make Christians have to live against the law. In the areas of sexuality, sexual identity, marriage, abortion and euthanasia, the civil governments are moving in directions completely against the teachings of our Lord. And there is very little civil discourse about these matters. Societies are being polarized and Christians who want to be faithful are being seen as old fashioned, out of date and against others. We can give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but we cannot give to Caesar that which belongs to God.
So we are called today to prepare ourselves for conflict and for being judged badly and for being seen as old-fashioned. In fact, we might even have to suffer for our beliefs. Let us trust that God will always give us the strength to be faithful to the Lord Jesus and His Church.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip
My Brothers in Christ,
How I wish I could give this greeting in person, to see your faces, extend my hand in the touch of friendship. One blessing I have experienced during this pandemic is to clearly see in my mind the faces of those I miss and long to spend time with. Your faces so often come to me and I lift you up in prayer. The concern I have for you and the hope you are coping well during these difficult times helps me weather the challenges I have. This has lifted me from moments of my despair knowing we are all in this together and God is holding us very close in His love and care. I have been able to experience these past seven months; God’s promise of always being with us especially during the most difficult of times. This has strengthened my faith, renewed my hope and helped me face the future with courage. As Romans 8:28 tells us; And we know that for those who love God all things work together for the good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Not too long ago, my family experienced a sudden unexpected death that left us all reeling. Having to deal with grief and loss during this time of social distancing was especially painful and challenging. It was in turning to Jesus, drawing close trusting in His love and mercy could to walk those difficult days. Amazingly, I was able to see through tears and sadness many moments of blessings that buoyed me. I continue to find strength in the peace and comfort that comes from resting in Jesus’ care when grief threatens to overtake me again. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I am reminded often these days of how much Jesus desires to be with me during all the experiences of my life. In times of joy as well as struggles and sorrows. All we need to do is invite Him into whatever we are experiencing and He will do the rest.
I hope you will turn to Jesus whenever you are in need, He promises to be all you need in whatever you are experiencing, in any circumstance because of His never ending love. If you need a confidant, best friend, counselor, healer, consoler or teacher He desires to be all these things and MORE to you!
Stay well, be strong in faith, continue to preserve in hope I am praying for you and your families and look forward to the day we can share the warmth of a smile, the touch of a handshake in friendship and the encouragement of words of caring conversation. God Bless you!
Peace and Blessings,
Kathy