Tuesday February 27, 2024

“God will enhance our holiness whenever we admit we’ve sinned and rely on the power of his holy sacraments!”

Good News Reflection for:

Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Lent
February 27, 2024

Today’s Prayer:

My Lord, don’t let my deeds be different from the fruit of Your love for me. May humility be always present in my heart. Amen.

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Today’s Readings:

Isaiah 1:10,16-20
Ps 50:8-9,16-17,21,23
Matthew 23:1-12
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022724.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-february-27-2024

Saintliness is not just for canonized Saints

Are you holy? Don’t blush and choke and say, “Nooo, I’m no saint!” Well, don’t you believe (as we profess in the Creed) in the holy catholic church? Aren’t you part of this church? Didn’t you receive the holy Spirit in baptism?

We are holy. We were made holy during our baptisms. However, we’re not fully convinced that it’s good to be holy, and thus we do things that are not true to our baptismal nature. It takes a lifetime to learn how to apply our holy nature to all the daily situations that tempt us to be unholy. We have to work hard to motivate ourselves to act according to the holiness within us.

To resist sin, we must learn to control our thoughts, nourish our souls, and discipline our flesh-nature so that we become stronger against whatever makes us vulnerable to sin.

Our minds stray into evil less often when we spend more time praying and meditating on God’s Word, God’s love, God’s will, and everything else that is Godly. The spiritual passions of our souls become less selfish when we care about others. We learn to overcome our irregular appetites (the sinful cravings of the flesh) when we discipline our bodies through fasting, abstinence, and penance.

In today’s first reading, God pleads with us: “Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good.” We want to live this way, but it surely is not easy. We need supernatural help. We need special graces. Praise the Lord, this is exactly what is offered in the Sacrament of Reconciliation! Because it is a sacrament, it is an encounter with the supernatural.

God wants to make it easier for us to put away evil deeds and use the gift of holiness that he’s given us. And he never asks for the impossible. He’s the one who makes saintly living possible. It’s up to us to avail ourselves of this help.

“Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow….”

And Jesus tells us in the Gospel reading, “Whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” The word “exalt” means “to enhance the activity of” or “to intensify.” God will enhance and intensify our holiness whenever we admit we’ve sinned and rely on the power of his holy sacraments!

To help you reflect on the topic of this subject, meditate with our WordByte called: “Knowing the Truth” @ https://wordbytes.org/passion-spirituality/truth/.

© 2024 by Terry A. Modica

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