One Minute Reflection – 26 October – Readings: Ps 129:3-4, Ps 129:1-2, Phil 1:6-11, Matt 22:15-21
Then He said to them, Render, therefore, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
Matt 22:15-21
REFLECTION – The good order of things in this world depends upon the fidelity with which each person performs the duties of their state of life. All disorder originates in negligence upon this point. What a grand thing it would be if all acquitted themselves of their duties! It is perhaps the thing that is most neglected even among pious people, indeed probably more often among those than among others. Yet people do not accuse themselves of it.
People who neglect the duties of their state are discordant voices in the harmony of the world, no matter what else they do. In choosing a state of life, the human advantages are considered but not the duties. It is impossible to neglect these duties without harming others. And as God has their interests at heart even more than his own, such neglect is very dangerous.
Sins of omission on this point are easily committed. They are hardly noticed, and consequently reparation is rarely made for them. These are sins that are committed by doing nothing; sins that do not consist in bad actions but which are often the consequence of some good work. By neglecting your duties, you condemn both yourself and others to punishment: others because you do not teach their duty and make them fulfil it; and yourself because you do not fulfil your own.
Bl Claude la Colombière
PRAYER – True light of the world, Lord Jesus Christ, as You enlighten all men for their salvation, give us grace, we pray, to herald Your coming by preparing the ways of justice and of peace. Help us Lord, that we may sprout and bear fruit, fitting to grow and be a home of comfort to our neighbour. By the prayers of St Alfred the Great, may we too be beacons of Your Light and of the glory of Your Kingdom. Through Jesus our Lord, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
