One Minute Reflection – 4 September – “Month of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Readings: Ps 83:10-11, Ps 83:2-3, Gal 5:16-24, Matt 6:24-33
But seek first the Kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be given you besides.
Matt 6:24-33
REFLECTION – See what benefits Jesus Christ promises and how beneficial his commands are to us since they set us free from such great evils. The misery caused you by riches, he says to us, is not just that of arming thieves against you and filling your mind with impenetrable gloom. The great wound they inflict is to snatch you away from the blessed service of Jesus Christ to make you slaves of a piece of senseless, soulless metal.
“You cannot serve both God and money.” My brethren, let us shudder at the thought that we are forcing Jesus Christ to speak to us about money as though it were an alternative divinity to God ! But surely, you will say, didn't the patriarchs of old find it possible to serve God and money at the same time? Certainly not. But how, then, was it that Abraham and Job set such store by their wealth? I reply that there's no question here of invoking those who possessed riches but those who were possessed by them. Job was a rich man; he made use of money without being its slave; he was its master, not its worshipper. He considered his wealth as though it had been another's and saw himself as its administrator, not its proprietor. That was why he was not the least bothered when he lost it.
St John Chrysostom
PRAYER – Holy God, Almighty Father, You taught us to honour Your holy day and the day of rest. In Your divine Son, Whom You gave to us as our brother and glorified by His Resurrection, You showed us the way to our eternal life. As His glorified body shines anew, we rejoice in our future life with Him and embrace His day as our own, each Sunday renewing His Resurrection and each day of our lives. We run forward to sing Your glory together with our Holy Mother, the Blessed Virgin and most Sorrowful Mary, to eternity, through our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
AnaStpaul 