What Are We Praying in the Our Father?

Most of us know the “Our Father” by heart. Therefore, we spew it out many times without thinking of the words that we are saying. This is short in order that, when we pause between the petitions, we may have a quick meditation.

Our Father who art in heaven. We do the works of our father. If we are born again of God through Baptism, we do the works of God. God is Life; therefore, we are born into Life in Baptism, and we do the works of Life. Prior to Baptism we were dying, the product of death; therefore, our father was the devil—for we did the works of our father. Jesus told the Pharisees in John 8:41 and 44, “You do the works of your father…You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. We do the works of our father. If our Father is God, we do good works; if our father is the devil, we do evil works.

Hallowed be Thy name. We are born again into God through Baptism, but still have a tendency to sin, are bent to sin (concupiscence); however, we desire with all our hearts to hallow God’s name. Therefore, we are asking God to hallow His name through us.

Thy Kingdom come. We pray that God causes Christ to reign in us, and that sin may not reign in our mortal body (St. Jerome).

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Thomas Aquinas’ “Catena Aurea – Gospel of Matthew,” this reads Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. I like this rendering best because “in earth” means “in our earthy bodies. Therefore, we are asking God to cause His will to be done in our earthy bodies as it is in those who are in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. Although there is more to this petition, we are mainly requesting that Christ enter us in the Eucharist, either actually or spiritually.

And forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. If we are not careful, we could be calling a curse down upon ourselves, because we are saying, “If I do not forgive others, do not forgive me.” Because it is our desire to forgive others, we pray as we do, imploring God to cause forgiveness of others in us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. St. Cyprian says, “Herein it is shewn that the adversary can nothing avail against us, unless God first permit him; so that all our fear and devotion ought to be addressed to God.” St. Augustine writes, “When then we say, ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ what we ask is, that we may not, deserted by His aid, either consent through the subtle snares or yield to the forcible might, or any temptation.” We are asking God to help us avoid falling into the traps of temptation, and to deliver us from Satan.

--Tommy Turner

This theological reflection courtesy of the parishioners of St Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola, Florida: stpaulcatholic.net

Musing a week after All Saints' Day

The feast of All Saints Day is not one of my favorite feast days, although it should, because it is a day that the Church attempts to motivate us, encourage us to take steps forward in becoming what we are. As a protestant, the bar, the standard, to becoming a Christian was very low, about ankle-high. You didn’t have to jump; you just stepped over it by saying the “sinner’s prayer” and “accepting Jesus into your heart.” It does often give many a superficial joy; however, I don’t think many really believe it. I recall when I was Baptist and my wife and I were at Books-a-Million, and we met a fellow Baptist. He told me that his spiritual life was going down the proverbial drain. I told him that he must not be saved. He said, “Oh, yes, I am, because you can’t lose your salvation. I said, “Well, the Holy Spirit must not have any power.” I tell this to reinforce what I said about protestants not really believing the standard is that low. If a person is a Christian, there must be a change.

I have a very bad habit of being a “fruit watcher,” trying to see the fruit I bear to assure myself of salvation. I see mostly bad fruit, very little “good” fruit. That was troubling. When the Baptists had no answers to the mounting questions coming to mind, I turned to other churches. Someone had to have the answers. I liked Martin Luther, especially his view on justification: We are like manure, and Christ’s righteousness covered it. That could be an explanation as to why I did not see much good fruit. That was comforting—for a while. Then other questions began to mount—which I will not go into here

As I said, the bar, the standard, for being a Christian, for protestants, was very low—about ankle-high. The standard for Catholics is about head-high. It is extremely easy to become a Christian—through Baptism—however, you are expected to be what you have become: a child of God, who has the divinity of God. Many times in my meditations I feel as though I am hammering the final nails into my own coffin because I feel I am not even living up the things I write. This is true especially today, All Saints Day, because I feel I am so far below sainthood that I would need a twenty-foot ladder to just look a snake in the eye—and I will allow you to contemplate how far a snake is from sainthood. Therefore, my first thought when I saw the words, “All Saints,” was to not write anything—until I read the words, “Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face,” the response to the Responsorial Psalm. How do we seek the face of God, who is spirit?

I think, first, we need to understand what it means to seek God’s face, to see God face-to-face. God is spirit; He has no face. Jesus tells us, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” Of course, He is not saying that the Father has a human face that looks like Jesus’. Jesus is relating that He and the Father are the same in everything except the Incarnation. God the Father did not take on human nature. They think alike, work alike, love alike, hate alike, etc. To seek Gods face, then, is to seek to be the image of God, to be the image of Jesus.

Somewhere in his writings, St. Augustine says, “To see God face-to-face is to no longer live by faith, but by sight” (paraphrasing). This is to be as He is. To seek God means to work towards that end, not merely to want it. We search by working to be like Him and by removing those things that are not like Him. This is what we see the saints have done. If you lose your keys, you will not find them by wishing you had them; you have to physically move things around in order to find them. You have to look on top of things, under things. So, to seek God, we must seek to be as He is, work to that end. Jesus, in our gospel reading, the Sermon on the Mount, is telling us about the Father and Himself and that we will be happy if we are like them.

Repeating what I said at the beginning: As protestants, we were told it was easy to get to heaven, just “accept Jesus into your heart;” however it was difficult to really be holy, which you should try to be, although it wasn’t necessary. Those that tried to be holy, we called “super Christians.” Jesus does not teach that, nor did His saints. Why do we have all the commands in the gospels and the epistles if they were not really necessary. Jesus raises the Law to where it truly is: Impossibility. From our perspective, grace does not make it easy, but it does make it possible. “Pick up your cross and follow Me” does not denote ease; it denotes hardship, suffering.

When we were born, what would have occurred if we did not eat, drink, learn, etc.? Would we have been fruitful to society? How well would we have matured? In Baptism, we are born of God. Being born of God, having the nature of God, it is adamant that we “increase in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man” (Lk 2:52).

The Lord’s are the earth (man) and its fullness (man born of God, the Catholic). For God founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. When God created the earth, He created it engulfed in the waters. The waters “opened up” (receded), allowing the earth to “burst forth,” it and its fullness. This scenario occurs also in Baptism. If man (earth) is not fruitful (full of the works of God), he is dead, fit for burning because it is not what it was created for. “Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, a reward from God his savior. Such is the race that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.”

Jesus and His Catholic Church are not placing a heavy burden upon us, a burden too heavy to bear. Jesus tells us, “You can do nothing without me.” Hear Jesus and His Church pray in the Collect: “Almighty every-living God…bestow on us, we pray, through the prayers of so many intercessors, an abundance of the reconciliation with you for which we earnestly long…” Oh, the sweetness, the love—God is only trying to make us happy. Since we are born in His image in Baptism, we can only be happy if we remain in His image. “Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure (1 Jn 3:1-3).

The Prayer After Communion is a great summation: “As we adore you, O God, who alone are holy and wonderful in all your Saints, we implore your grace, so that, coming to perfect holiness in the fullness of your love, we may pass from this pilgrim table to the banquet of our heavenly homeland. Through Christ our Lord.” Amen.

--Tommy Turner

This theological reflection courtesy of  the parishioners of St Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola, Florida: stpaulcatholic.net

This is what I want you to focus on today; this is important

7 He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, 9 and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. 10 Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

In the past when I read this passage (Lk 14:7-11), I’d be on cruise control and cruise right on by, putting a check mark in my mind, marking this as being accomplished, nothing to be concerned about. Being Catholic has changed the way I read. I love the Lectionary because it is like bullets: This is Jesus saying, “This is what I want you to focus on today; this is important.” Many times I might be so thick-headed I can’t get much out of it, but sometimes—oh, what a blessing! What is it?

I’ve always interpreted this as the men trying to get a seat closest to the head of the table. That is not in my character makeup; therefore, I would pass this passage by—probably, subconsciously patting myself on the back. However, on second thought, is this still a passage for me and those like me? Absolutely. Verse 10 is the powder keg: “When you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher’.” We are invited through Baptism. The “lowest place” is the place of the slave. We balk at that.

Jesus is the host. Jesus left the place of honor, that at the right hand of the Father, and became man. He came not to be served but to serve, to be a slave to all. Remember when James and John approached Jesus and requested to be seated at His right and left hand? What did He reply? “He who desires to be first must become the [slave] of all.” This slavery is not forced slavery, but it is a slavery of love, where one is attempting to elevate everyone above himself, making himself the least important.

This is an impossibility for sinful man. It can only come about through prayer, asking our Lord—especially through Mary—to make us a slave to all. Many people cannot bring themselves to even pray for this, but this is what our Lord is telling us when He tells us to “go and sit in the lowest place.” Then, when the host, Jesus, comes, He may say to you, “Friend, go up higher.” “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt 11:29). He became a slave for all; so should we.

--Tommy Turner

This theological reflection courtesy of  the parishioners of St Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola, Florida: stpaulcatholic.net

Love God and Hate Your Neighbor???

Now great multitudes accompanied him; and he turned and said to them, “If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace. So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Lk 14-25-33 RSVCE)

From a quick reading of our gospel, it can appear that our Lord is trying to dissuade the great multitudes that followed Him. Picture this: Great multitudes of people are following a great leader. The man stops, turns, looks at them, and says: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple…Therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” It sounds as if the man was trying to discourage the people from following him. We, of course, know that He is not, because there is salvation in none other and it is His desire that all men be saved. Secondly, it appears that He has done a 180. The great commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. So, what is our Lord telling us?

St. Gregory has given me some insight on this when he says, “For then we right hate [ourselves] when we indulge not its carnal desires, when we subdue its appetites, and wrestle against its pleasures.” St. Chrysostom says regarding bearing our crosses, “He means not that we should place a beam of wood on our shoulders, but that we should ever have death before our eyes.” Now that we understand what it means to hate our own lives, I think it gives us better understanding of what our Lord is referring to when He says for us to hate your father, mother, wife, etc. I think that He is referring to those times when they are in sin and we, out of love for God and them, do not consent or tolerate the sin(s) they are committing. The world will see us as being bigoted or intolerant, not understanding that we hate what they are doing and, out of love, we confront them, which they see as “hate.”

Let’s take another example: We’re watching a movie. There is a cop, trying apprehend a murderer. The murderer grabs the cop’s wife, and puts a gun to her head, saying, “Put your gun down or I will shoot her.” What should the cop do? If he “loves” his wife and puts his gun down, the murderer goes free to murder again; or, if the cop “hates” his wife (from the world view), he kills the murderer, hoping his wife does not get hurt. Which is justice? Is it justice to allow a murderer to continue to kill? You cannot just “hope for the best.”

Now I want to focus on the words, “he turned.” Why are those words there? Why did not the evangelist just write, “Now great multitudes accompanied him, and he said to them…”? He very well could be emphasizing, “You are following Me, but you are not FOLLOWING me; you are not conforming yourselves to Me.” It is as if I was walking with my son and we were talking; then he stops, turns to me, not desiring that I misunderstand, and speaks to me. Because of the words, “he turned,” He is “turning” to us and saying, “You are not FOLLOWING me; you are not conforming to Me.”

We are not the Judge as to whether we are conformed to Him; He is. Therefore, we need to hit our needs, imploring His help. It would be better for us to go through our Blessed Mother, therefore loving her (our neighbor), allowing her to love us by interceding for us, and loving God also. We also can ask for help by going to Confession and asking others to pray for us, and we should be praying for others—even though they are not asking for prayer—because Jesus is speaking to them also—He is speaking to the great multitudes.

Jesus gives the example of building a tower. Is He saying that, if you deem you do not have sufficient means, you should not build the tower? This, then, would not fit what He has just put forth regarding hating your father, mother, wife, etc. The tower must be built, and we must find the means in which to build it. St. Gregory teaches: “Because He had been giving high and lofty precepts, immediately follows the comparison of building a tower, when it is said, For which of you intending to build a tower… For everything that we do should be preceded by anxious consideration. If then we desire to build a tower of humility, we ought first to brace ourselves against the ills of this world.”

The sufficient means is Jesus Christ and His Church. We must utilize these means at all times, because as St. Cyril says: “For we fight against spiritual wickedness in high places, but there presses upon us a multitude also of other enemies: fleshly lust, the law of sin raging in our members, and various passions, that is, a dreadful multitude of enemies.”

Then Jesus gives the example of the two kings. The Venerable Theophylact says regarding this example: “The king is sin reigning in or mortal body, but our understanding also was created king. If then he wishes to fight against sin, let him consider with his whole mind. For the devils are the satellites of sin, which being twenty thousand, seem to surpass in number our ten thousand, because that being spiritual compared to us who are corporeal, they are come to have much greater strength.” The “natural” impulse is to give up and give in to sin because sin is double our strength. For this reason, Jesus is telling us to do the seemingly impossible, which is not impossible because we will be turning to the King and His Church for aid.

--Tommy Turner

This theological reflection courtesy of the parishioners of St Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola, Florida: stpaulcatholic.net

What Do You Want Me To Do For You?

“What do you want me to do for you?” This is what our Lord asked Sts. James and John when they brought their petition to Him (MK 10:35-45).  Is this not the question, also, that our Lord asks each of us, especially when we approach Him in the Eucharist? “What do you want Me to do for you?

What do we want from Him? Do we temporal things? Do we desire an “easy” life? Do we want healings? What do we want from Jesus? One may say, “Heaven, eternal life.” That would be an outstanding answer. However, are we only concerned about our individual selves? What about our spouses and children?

Look around the parish. What about each one of them? Are you absolutely positive they are going to “make it”? Go to the different Masses in the city. What about each of them? Are we willing to just say, “Well, that is their choice?” All these people are part of the same Body that we are, the Body of Christ. Are we not concerned about the Body? To paraphrase Moses, “Lord, if you don’t save my fellow Israelites, then blot my name out of the book of the living.” That is loving thy neighbor as thyself. Listen to Apostle John: “If you can’t love the one you can see, how can you love the One whom you cannot see?”

There are many things we cannot do, but there is one thing we can do: Pray for each other, especially all the Baptized, because they are in the Body. When we do pray for ourselves individually, let it be in our minds whether it benefits the entire Body.

--Tommy Turner

This theological reflection courtesy of the parishioners of St Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola, Florida: stpaulcatholic.net

Free, But A Slave?

Free, but a slave—now, that is a paradox. In the gospels, our Lord offers us freedom, tells us that He will make us free indeed. Last year, our Bishop asked us to consecrate ourselves to Jesus through Mary. This year, it is my desire to renew this Consecration because, frankly, I forgot all about it after I completed it last year. That is not good; therefore, I want to “take another stab at it.” This entails one making himself a slave of Mary. Now, there were some who told me that that did not mean in the sense we think of being a “slave”—the true meaning of “slave.”

Webster defines “slave:” A person who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who has no will of his own, but whose person and services are wholly under the control of another. A slave, therefore, has no possessions except those that he is allowed to possess. The difference between a slave and a servant is: A servant receives pay for services rendered, and a servant can have possessions. Therefore, the question becomes: How can one be a slave yet be free?

In order to answer this question, I had to ask myself other questions. (Do you sense that I like questions?) Is Jesus God? Was, and is, He free? Was He a slave? Was He happy? These were pretty easy questions to answer. Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Yes, Jesus is God, the Son of God. Yes, Jesus was free; and, yes, He is free. God is free, for He is God. He answers to no one. If anyone would be free, it would have to be God. Jesus was under the Law, but He was still free because the Law was a verbal picture of God. Was He a slave? This question may cause someone to pause, but Jesus made it clear: He came, not to be served, but to serve. The serving He was referring to was to be a slave. One way He proved this was by washing His disciples’ feet. He proved this also by undergoing His passion, crucifixion, and Resurrection. In another way that He was a “slave” is He had no will other than to do the Father’s will. He made His Father’s will His will. And, yes, Jesus was happy.

In the Beatitudes, the “man” is Jesus and all who are in Him through Baptism. We become “not happy” when our wills take us outside the character of God. Because Jesus is free, we are free in Him; because Jesus is a “slave” because He loves the Father with all His heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loves His neighbor as Himself, so are we “slaves.” Because Jesus is a “slave,” He is free. Because we are “slaves” in Him, we also are free.

--Tommy Turner

This theological reflection courtesy of the parishioners of St Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola, Florida: stpaulcatholic.net

The Great Banquet

Today’s gospel reading begins at Luke 14:15. Because we’ve had a break from Luke for a few days, let’s refresh our memory on what is happening.

This is occurring on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the day our Lord “rested” in the tomb, not lying dormant but working: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24). Because of our Lord’s Passion and “rest,” the result is the Resurrection, and an abundance of fruit is produced. The healing of the man with dropsy is a picture of us being healed in Baptism. Then our Lord relates a parable of a wedding feast, telling us to take the lowest place, the place of the slave. He then tells the man who had invited Him that, when he has a feast, he should invite the lowest, those that cannot repay him. Jesus is the Head, and we are the lowest that cannot repay.

Now we come to today’s passage, which begins: “One of those at table with Jesus said to him…” This is a rendering from the NAB which, from what I understand is a paraphrase. This means, for example, that the name, Jesus, is not in the original manuscript, however the editor’s put “Jesus” in for clarification. What, historically, is occurring: Jesus is illustrating the rejection by Israel to share in the banquet in the Kingdom and the extension of the invitation to the Jews who saw the need of salvation and to the Gentiles. However, his is this going to benefit you and I today. We already believe that Israel rejected Christ and His invitation was offered to the Gentiles. How is this, then, important and beneficial to me?

I go to the RSV, and I read, “When one of those who sat at table with him heard this, he said to him…” Because of the pronouns, “he” and “him,” I change the characters around a little. Let me explain.

When one of those who sat at table with him (Jesus) heard (understood) this—which is me, as a result of Baptism and the Eucharist—he (Jesus) said to him (me), “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” Jesus is telling me that I am blessed because of the Eucharist. The kingdom of God is the Catholic Church. However, Jesus continues, “But…” Now Jesus is warning me to be watchful and pray that I don’t expel myself from the Kingdom, in the way that Israel did.

St. Augustine tells us: “Now there were three excuses, of which it is added, The first said to him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. The bought piece of ground denotes government”—perhaps, for us, “authority” might be a better word. “Therefore pride is the first vice reproved. For the first man wished to rule, not willing to have a master.” I hear Jesus asking me, “Do you want to be the authority, or do you want Me to be the authority? Do you want to say what I mean, or do you want to listen to Me through My Church?”

St. Gregory says that “by the piece of ground is meant worldly substance; therefore he goes out to see it who thinks only of outward things for the sake of his living.” St. Ambrose cautions: “Thus it is that the worn out soldier is appointed to serve degraded offices, as he who intent upon things below buys for himself earthly possessions cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. Our Lord says, Sell all that you have, and follow me.” Hence, Jesus cautions, “Do you want to possess things of the world or heavenly things? You cannot possess both.”

Going to the second excuse, St. Augustine says: “The five yoke of oxen are taken to be the five senses of the flesh: in the eyes, sight; in the ears, hearing; in the nostrils, smelling; in the mouth, taste; [and], in all the members, touch. But the yoke is more easily apparent in the three first senses: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils. Here are three yoke. And the mouth is the sense of taste, which is formed to be a kind of double, in that nothing is sensible to the taste which is not touched both by the tongue and palate. The pleasure of the flesh which belongs to the touch is secretly doubled. It is both outward and inward. But they are called yoke of oxen because, through those senses of the flesh, earthly things are pursued.

For the oxen till the ground, but men at a distance from faith, [who are] given up to earthly things, refuse to believe in anything but [that] they arrive at by means of the five-fold senses of the body. ‘I believe nothing but what I see.’ If such were our thoughts, we should be hindered from the supper by those five yoke of oxen. But that you may understand that it is not the delight of the five senses which charms and conveys pleasure but that a certain curiosity is denoted, he says not, I have bought five yoke of oxen and go to feed them, but to go prove them.” I take it that, by “oxen,” St. Augustine is referring to the priests and religious of the Catholic Church.

The third excuse is: “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” Saint Gregory admonishes us: “Although marriage is good and appointed by Divine Providence for the propagation of children, some seek therein not fruitfulness of offspring but the lust of pleasure, and so by means of a righteous thing may not unfitly an unrighteous thing be represented.” St. Ambrose says, “Marriage is not blamed, but purity is held up to greater honor since the unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord that she may be holy in body and spirit but she that is married cares for the things of the world.” I think we see what the saints are referring to: When people marry only based upon outward appearances and emotions, it is based upon lust, and that marriage usually fails. Marriages based upon lust can contribute to keeping us out of the Kingdom.

St. Augustine goes on to teach us: “Now John, which he said all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, began from the point where the Gospel ended. The lust of the flesh, ‘I have married a wife;’ the lust of the eyes, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen;’ the pride of life, ‘I have bought a farm.’ But proceeding from a part to the whole, the five senses have been spoken of under the eyes alone, which hold the chief place among the five senses. Because though, properly, the sight belongs to the eyes, we are in the habit of ascribing the act of seeing to all the five senses.”

The early Church father, Origen, gives us a mystical interpretation: “They who have bought a piece of ground and reject or refuse the supper are they who have taken other doctrines of divinity but have despised the word which they possessed. But he who has bought five yoke of oxen is he who neglects his intellectual nature and follows the things of sense; therefore, he cannot comprehend a spiritual nature. But he who has married a wife is he who is joined to the flesh, a lover of pleasure rather than of God.”

If we reject the teachings of Christ and His Church, our places will be given to another who is more fitting. We will be fitting if we “see” what St. Paul and the psalmist are telling us:

“So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited.” Romans 12:5–16 (RSVCE)

“O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.” Psalm 131:1–3 (RSVCE)

--Tommy Turner

This theological reflection courtesy of  the parishioners of St Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola, Florida: stpaulcatholic.net