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Brothers and sisters:
I, a prisoner for the Lord,
urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the spirit
through the bond of peace;
one Body and one Spirit,
as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The Lord's are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Jesus said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once: 'A shower is coming.' And so it happens. And when the wind blows from the south, you say: 'It will be hot'; and so it is. You superficial people! You understand the signs of the earth and the sky, but you don't understand the present times. And why do you not judge for yourselves what is fit?
When you go with your accuser before the court, try to settle the case on the way, lest he drag you before the judge and the judge deliver you to the jailer, and the jailer throw you in prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the very last penny."
Dear Friends:
The readings proposed to us in today’s liturgy call us to live consistently and to discern the signs of the times in which we are immersed. In the first reading, St. Paul exhorts us to live according to our vocation, which is a call to unity and love. He invites us to be humble, gentle and understanding, reminding us that we are one body in Christ, guided by one Spirit. The apostle urges us to maintain unity through peace, aware that there is one God, Father of all, who embraces and permeates all.
This unity is not an abstract ideal, but a concrete commitment lived in charity, in the effort to understand and bear with one another. It is a call to reflect in our daily lives the communion that God desires for his people, knowing that our faith, our baptism and our hope deeply unite us in the same Lord.
In the Gospel, Jesus challenges us to be people who know how to interpret the signs of the times. He reproaches us for not knowing how to discern what is happening around us, even though we are able to foresee climatic changes. This challenges us: do we know how to discern the needs of our time, do we listen to the cry of the impoverished of our world, are we able to judge what we should do, to make just decisions and act responsibly?
The Lord invites us to reorient our lives from the Gospel while we are “on the way”, while we have the opportunity to reconcile and to do good. He calls us to be wise, not only in the affairs of the world, but also in the affairs of the kingdom of God. The Christian life is a constant journey of discernment, of seeking peace and justice before it is too late. It is a call to personal responsibility, to live in truth and to build reconciliation where it is needed.
Following the words of St. Paul, may we strive to live in the unity of the Spirit and, attentive to the teaching of Jesus, may we know how to interpret the times and act with justice and love in every situation we face.
Edgardo Guzmán, CMFLord our God,
when today's world hungers
for justice, truth and spiritual values,
perhaps disguised and distorted
in a form hard to recognize,
open our eyes and give us
your Spirit of wisdom and discernment.
May we thus learn to understand this world,
to feel at home in it,
and to discover the stepping-stones
that could lead us all to you
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
First Reading Introduction
The letter to the Ephesians insists on unity. Everything in our faith is a call for unity in Christ, as there is one Church, one Spirit, and one Father of all.
Gospel Introduction
In its introduction, the Vatican II Constitution on the Church in the Modern World says: "The Church must continually examine the signs of the times and interpret them in the light of the gospel. Thus she will be able to answer the questions that people are always asking about the meaning of this life and of the next and about the relation of this life and of the next and about the relation of one to the other, in a way adapted to each question." By signs of the times we mean currents of thought and attitudes behind events, aspirations, and the like. Take the hippies, the Jesus movement, Pentecostalism, women's lib, the hunger for liberation, the rebellion of many of the young against consumerism and hypocrisy. Can we discover points of contact and of openness to the values of the gospel?
- Lord, may the Church of today speak to the people of today the gospel in the language of today, we pray:
- Lord, let the ministers of the Church be familiar with the needs and aspirations of today's world and people, we pray:
- Lord, make us transform a world of injustice into a world of integrity, a cold and indifferent world into a warm world of love and mercy, we pray:
Lord our God,
these gifts speak of life and care,
of growth and sharing.
Let them also speak to our hearts
of the self-giving love of Jesus your Son,
and commit us to the growth of his kingdom.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Lord our God,
you have called us again
through the body of your Son
to make the body of his Church more and more
the living sign of your presence
and of your action in this world.
Make us also receptive
of all the good there is in this world.
Help us to dialogue with our times
and with the people of today,
that this world may be yours
and you our God for ever.
If we want to be people living in our times, we must be open-eyed to what is going on in the world around us. "No one is an island." No one should live in a world apart. This attitude will open our eyes too to understand our faith better. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
