Tuesday July 18, 2023

“Repenting and reforming are never easy, but this is what keeps our faith alive and growing.”

Good News Reflection for:

Tuesday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of Saint Camillus de Lellis, priest
July 18, 2023

Today’s Prayer:

Lord: Don’t let my heart harden and lose the ability to see Your miraculous path every day. Give me a humble heart to seek You and praise You for what You have done, for what You are doing, and for what You will do. Amen.

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Today’s Readings:

Exodus 2:1-15a
Ps 69:3, 14, 30-31, 33-34
Matthew 11:20-24
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071823.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-july-18-2023

Miracles that lead to ruin

In the Gospel reading today, Jesus prophesies against those who experience miracles but refuse to reform their ways. Miracles abound in our Church, including at every Mass in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Do we go home unchanged?

Where else have you witnessed or experienced God’s supernatural actions? If we don’t use these opportunities to grow spiritually, our church activities will ultimately ruin us! We will be judged by the events that should have purified us and increased our holiness.

Are we miracle chasers instead of truth seekers? Do we wear Marian scapulars only because of the promises they carry (what Mary can do for us) instead of promising God that we will grow in holiness using the example of Mary? Do we bury St. Joseph as a statue (upside-down no less) to sell our house instead of asking St. Joseph to help us become a holier family, whether the house sells or not? Do we ask God to rescue us from difficulties to make our lives easier instead of thanking him for the hard times because they’re helping us become holier?

Are we changed each time we witness the miracle of bread and wine becoming the body and blood of Christ at Mass?

I’ve been to Capernaum. Since this was the town that Jesus called home after he left Nazareth, you’d think it would be exalted forever. This is where Peter lived and where his mother-in-law was miraculously healed. Across the street is where Jesus preached in the synagogue. As a significant trade center at the Sea of Galilee, many people passed through it and heard Jesus preach and witnessed his miracles. It was a busy, prosperous town that saw a lot of Jesus. It could have become a center for Christianity. It could have become the Vatican — the Seat of Peter!

But now it’s a dead town. Capernaum is nothing but ruins.

Our lives can become ruins, too. Is there anything deteriorating in your spiritual life? When we’re not growing, we’re falling apart. If we don’t allow God to change us within our daily situations, we’re stagnating like rotting muck in a lifeless pond.

God works miraculously for us every day. The evidence is there, but we can’t see it when our expectations are different from his or when we’re not paying attention. Spend more time recalling his mighty deeds. Why is he involved in your troubles? Is it to make your life easy and pain-free? No. It’s to help you overcome obstacles on the road of ever-increasing holiness.

Repenting and reforming are never easy, but this is what keeps our faith alive and growing.

For more on this, use our WordByte, “Why is Mass the Best Way to Progress in the Spiritual Life? @ https://wordbytes.org/faqs/mass-best-way-to-progress/

© 2023 by Terry A. Modica

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