{"id":5439,"date":"2017-06-25T10:05:45","date_gmt":"2017-06-25T14:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=5439"},"modified":"2017-06-21T16:54:11","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T20:54:11","slug":"reflections-on-the-scripture-readings-for-this-weekend-20170625","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=5439","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on the Scripture Readings for this Weekend — 20170625"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Our readings this weekend are again taken from St. Paul\u2019s Letter to the Romans and St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel. In Romans we hear these words of Paul: \u201cThrough him [Jesus] we have gained access by faith to the grace in which we now stand, and we boast of our hope for the glory of God.\u201d He then reminds the Romans and us that \u201caffliction makes for endurance, and endurance for tested virtue, and tested virtue for hope.\u201d Paul ends this section of his letter by sharing this thought: \u201chope will not leave us disappointed, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us\u201d.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure that this message is not new to any who read this Bulletin. I have, over the course of a number of years, attempted to share with my readers that \u201clife\u2019s challenges\u201d are meant to be opportunities for us to place our hope and trust in God. Life\u2019s challenges have no real moral value. They are given by life to us to help us grow and it seems that life knows exactly how to challenge us so that we might spiritually grow.<\/p>\n

Our second reading this weekend, taken from the fifth chapter of Matthew\u2019s Gospel, deals with the true riches of life. It encourages us not to worry about the things that are needed for everyday living but, rather, \u201cseek first his [God\u2019s] kingdom over you, his way of holiness, and all these things will be given you besides.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Matthew strongly suggests that when we spend time \u201cworrying\u201d about how we will survive in life, we forget about the needs of our souls. Worry debilitates us. We are unable to enjoy life and unable to achieve the meaning and purpose of our lives, namely to become\u00a0true children of God. If our life is centered around the things of this world, we can never truly come to know God. Also, if our life is filled with worries and anxieties, we cannot achieve interior peace and we surely cannot concentrate on our own spiritual growth.<\/p>\n

What is interesting about this teaching is that it presents true insight into the psychology of humans. Think about it. If a person is filled with worries, they cannot even experience the love of others. People whose lives are filled with worries, are unable to experience the goodness and beauty of life and are in constant misery. And guess what? Worrying also never changes anything!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our readings this weekend are again taken from St. Paul\u2019s Letter to the Romans and St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel. In Romans we hear these words of Paul: \u201cThrough him [Jesus] we have gained access by faith to the grace in which … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-liturgy-of-the-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5440,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5439\/revisions\/5440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}