Tuesday July 30, 2024

Are you going to reach Heaven?

Good News Reflections:
Making scripture meaningful to your daily life
by Terry Modica


We can lean on Jesus when we fall short of righteousness.


Good News Reflection for:

Tuesday of the 17th Week of Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop and doctor of the Church
July 30, 2024

Today’s Prayer:

My Lord, help me to recognize my bad tendencies and give me Your grace every day to fight and defeat them. Amen.

Daily PrayersIMPROVE YOUR DAY!
Powerful Catholic prayers are available on our YouTube channel.

Today’s Readings:

Jeremiah 14:17-22
Ps 79:8,9,11,13
Matthew 13:36-43
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/073024.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-july-30-2024

How can we shine like the sun?

[ Listen to the podcast of this reflection ]

Do you know if you’re going to reach heaven? Many Catholics tell me that while they hope so, they’re not sure. They’re afraid they might ruin their salvation between now and the day they die.

Jesus says in today’s Gospel passage, “The righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom.” So let’s change the question to: Are you righteous?

God isn’t yet removing from the earth all the weeds that strangle our righteousness, but he certainly can remove their influence on us. This is why he has given us his own Holy Spirit. We can lean on Jesus when we fall short of righteousness.

Plus, we can ask Jesus to give us holy angels who will help us sort right from wrong, truth from deception, good seed from bad seed. We don’t have to be aware of their presence to be guided by them. They are quite capable of protecting us from the infections of evildoers as long as we remain humbly correctable.

Here’s a wonderful prayer that can help with this:

The Litany of Humility
(written by Cardinal Merry del Val)

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being maliciously or falsely accused,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected,
Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I,
Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That in the opinion of the world, others may increase, and I may decrease,
Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed,
Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything,
Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should,
Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
Amen!

For more on this see our Faith Booster: “The Genuine You” @ https://wordbytes.org/faith-booster-minis/the-genuine-you/

© by Terry A. Modica, Good News Ministries

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