Living Sacrifice: Growing in Faith Through Scripture and the Mass

The Christian life involves avoiding evil and  practicing the virtues as disciples of Christ.  This weekend's readings allow us to reflect on two of the Cardinal Virtues: Justice and Prudence.  How are we allowing the life of virtue to be formed in us as we embrace the Kingdom of God and eternal life?

Christ has been "lifted up" on the cross to change and transform us in the Christian life.  The cross is the exalted love of God through which we are redeemed and become new creatures in Christ.  

The way to heaven is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit and by the wisdom that God imparts.  Jesus, this weekend, reveals that path as the way of discipleship.  We must count the cost and see if we are ready to be disciples of the Lord, and we ask for the grace to follow Christ to eternal life.  

Humility, the great spiritual masters teach us, is the foundation for prayer and Christian life.  The Book of Sirach invites us to embrace that virtue and Christ challenges us to take the lowest place so that we can be exalted by God.

The Fathers of the Church define the Christian life as a " status viatoris ," the "state of being on the way" to eternal life with God.  We are invited by God this weekend to join that pilgrimage and the be prepared for the final destination, the wedding banquet of the Lamb.

God gives us His favor, unmerited help, to cooperate with His call and to become His children and partakers of the divine nature.  This is grace.   Are we open to this remarkable gift that allows us to share in God's own life?

We are called to be watchful and ready for the encounter with Christ.  We do this by being attentive to Christ in our daily lives and practice of our faith, in our Christian service and in the Sacred Liturgy.

Jesus gives us Himself as a remedy for greed and selfishness.  With Him living in us we can overcome and live the generosity of the cross at every moment.

God invites us into an intimate conversation and experience of grace in Christian prayer.  We ask for the grace to open the door to this experience, to "take the better part" and to allow our contemplation to be transformed into active service in the Lord.

God draws intimately close to us in the person of Christ.  He cares for us and heals our wounds by His compassion and mercy.  We are called to do the same and recognize that if God is near, our neighbor is also near.  

In the Liturgy this weekend we pray, "O God, who in the abasement of your Son have raised a fallen world . . ."  It is through the mystery of the cross that God redeems the world.  How are we called to unite ourselves to that cross and participate in His work of redeeming the world? 

Saints Peter and Paul are the Patrons of the Diocese of Providence.  They watch over and care for our Church by their prayers, their witness and their teaching.  May we also acknowledge God's providence in our lives and offer witness to our Catholic faith in words and in deeds.

The Corpus Christi or Body of Christ, the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, is the "source and summit" of the entire Christian life (Lumen Gentium, Ecclesia de Eucharistia).  Jesus offers Himself for the salvation of the world, but He also invited us to offer ourselves in union with Him.  We pray for the grace to make that offering and to be more united to Christ in our daily lives, be...

God's innermost secret is that He is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and He has now destined us to share in that exchange (CCC, #221).

The Gospel of St. John is a story of the re-creation, a recapitulation of Genesis in which the Evangelist is showing us the healing work of God in restoring the brokenness of creation.  The high point is Christ breathing on the disciples in the upper room and saying "Receive the Holy Spirit."  We pray, "Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth." 

Christ calls us to be one, as He and the Father are one.  This unity participates in the creative and redemptive work of God.

The Church is Apostolic in her origin, in her teaching and in her structure.  God guides and directs the Church in every age and sends us out to make Him known in the world we live in.

The road to heaven is difficult, described by Jesus as a way that is narrow and hard.  Along this road Jesus accompanies us and, even now, gives us a glimpse of His glory.  

Jesus is the lamb that shepherds us to the source of life-giving waters.   His sacrifice on the cross is precisely what guides and directs our should to new and everlasting life.  He is the Lamb of Sacrifice and the Good Shepherd.

In the Apostle's Creed we profess that we believe in the "Communion of Saints."  The Communion of Saints consists in the Church on earth or the Church Militant, the Church Suffering and the Church Triumphant.  God calls us strive and cooperate with His grace here on earth so that we can be with Him forever in heaven.  

St. Paul tells us that " God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).   Divine Mercy is living proof that God exists and that He has given us grace, forgiveness and a new beginning.  

The empty tomb sets everything in motion as we see Christ risen from the dead.  God moves us to love Him and our neighbor like never before.  In the Easter Season we embrace the movement of God in our lives and in our world. 

Christ came on the ultimate journey from heaven to earth to grant us forgiveness and renewal of life.  St. Paul tells us how "God greatly exalted him," and He now invites us to join Christ on this journey towards Easter and to everlasting life. 

Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.  God invites us to leave the past behind and to begin a new life with Christ in freedom, grace and love.  

St. Paul tells us that "Whoever is in Christ is a new creation."  God reconciles us in Christ and restores us once again to new and everlasting life.