Essence Of The Church
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
“The Lord lifts up all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.”Psalm 145:14
The Church exists to be a universal sacrament of salvation, a manifestation of God who continues to be incarnated in her, illuminating souls with the light of faith, to lead them to eternal salvation; without this, she lost her essential reason of being, for many and good human works that she does, since it is not a simple NGO. Jesus did not let himself be stopped by the sick to limit himself to curing the sick or helping the poor:
“I have to announce the good news of the Kingdom to other peoples, because for this I have come”
We earn people to leave the Church when we stop fulfilling our mission. You cannot have the fruits without working or planting. The world and the enemies always were the same; we cannot accuse them of so much desertion and ignorance of the faith. The problem is that we often stop spreading them faith, and we do not give God the place that corresponds to him, because we do not pay attention to what he asks of us.
God became incarnate in Christ, so that through the sensible and visible, he could take us to the love of the Invisible, and that is the reason for the existence of the Church, which is like the prolongation of the incarnate Christ in the world, to make God tangible, visible and sensitive, through the sacraments and sacramentals, as well as our life, with the example and the word, and with all the sensitive mediations that can help many to open the door to God, to the relationship with the invisible, and thus procure spiritual growth and love for the things of God that are intangible.
The Church -which is the presence of Christ in the world- and God himself, is not an unnecessary luxury, as something exclusive for those who like it. IT IS VITAL AND FOR EVERYONE. God cannot enter those who only have aspirations and goals of this world, in those do not know him or open a space for him in their time, nor in their mind.
God is the one who seeks us, and waits for one to open his(her) heart by faith, because he(she) will not have full happiness of his(her) heart without knowing the love of God. When Christ asked Zacchaeus to enter his house, he received him with joy, as we should do, because it is more than an enormous privilege, it is the light that heals blindness, truth that liberates and the life of our soul. Seek him like Zacchaeus, and overcome the obstacles that get in the way of being able to see him, as he did when he climbed the tree.
The priests, missionaries and nuns, feeling or knowing that they are called by God who needed them, with his Spirit of love moved them to give their lives, because he seduces and fulfills, so that they can leave everything and themselves for love of God and others. Although if they don’t like it, they denied themselves, they no longer belong to themselves, they accept everything out of love for God, with obedience, seeking to please him, serving others. We are all called to this Christian life, which is life in the love of God. It is what makes us Church, when we open our lives to Christ and we let him in like Zacchaeus.
Readings for the Week
Monday: Phil 2:1-4; Ps 131:1bcde-3; Lk 14:12-14
Tuesday: Rv 7:2-4, 9-14; Ps 24:1-6; 1 Jn 3:1-3; Mt 5:1-12a
Wednesday: Wis 3:1-9; Ps 23:1-6; Rom 5:5-11 or 6:3-9; Jn 6:37-40; any readings from Masses for the Dead
Thursday: Phil 3:3-8a; Ps 105:2-7; Lk 15:1-10
Friday: Phil 3:17 — 4:1; Ps 122:1-5; Lk 16:1-8
Saturday: Phil 4:10-19; Ps 112:1b-2, 5-6, 8a, 9; Lk 16:9-15
Sunday: 2 Mc 7:1-2, 9-14; Ps 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15; 2 Thes 2:16 — 3:5; Lk 20:27-38 [27, 34-38]