Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week of Ordinary Time

Lectio

   Luke 6:43–49

Meditatio

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?”

   This question is as piercing today as it was two thousand years ago. With all our advances in science, technology, and psychology, human nature is still the same. We can still hear the truth, know what is good for us—and not do it. Jesus is questioning those who call him “Lord,” acknowledging his authority and even his divinity, but still don’t practice his teachings. At best, they hear the words but don’t reflect on their meaning or apply it to their own life situations. At worst, they think they know better and refuse to obey. Jesus seems to be chiding them, saying, “You call on me for help when things go wrong, but you don’t do what I tell you. Yet I show you how to avoid these troubles, how to be truly happy. I offer you life and you choose death instead. Do you believe I am Lord or not?” Jesus warns them that they are like a person who built a house without a foundation, and the floods came and totally destroyed it.

   The person who listens to the Word of God and acts on it, instead, is like a person who digs a foundation and builds a house on rock. It can withstand the floodwaters. Many temptations and storms will arise in our lives. Jesus is asking us to listen to his words and take them to heart, to meditate and pray over them, to make them our own and live them out. He is the Eternal Word of the Father. He wants to live in us. Opening ourselves to his word can make this happen. God is love, and when we open ourselves to him he pours his love into our hearts. Then we in turn can share his love with others; we can love with his heart. Jesus tells us, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (Jn 14:23).

Oratio

   Dear Lord, I thank you for the great gift of your holy Scriptures. Give me the grace to keep your word in my heart, to meditate on it and to live it in my daily life. Live and act in me. Don’t let me place any obstacles in your way. Strengthen me against temptation, against my weakness and fear. I know that with you I have strength for everything. I place all my trust in you.

Contemplatio

   “I love you, Lord, my strength, Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer” (Ps. 18:2–3).

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ORDINARY GRACE Weeks 18–34: Daily Gospel Reflections (By the Daughters of St. Paul)