Our faith is a true gift…
Reflections on the readings for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 11, 2021): AM 7:12-15; PS 85:9-10;11-12;13-14; EPH 1:3-14; MK 6:7-13
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
The Holy Spirit reveals the eternal promise made to us through the blood of Christ our hope. By accepting the gift of Baptism, we open ourselves to the reality of God...
The readings today remind us that God has plans for us. They may or may not be what we think we prefer or would choose for ourselves. Yet He calls on us to work with Him, to entrust our lives into His hands. In the Old Testament account of the prophet Amos, we encounter a man willing to do what God wants just because it is what He wants. He speaks out despite the fact that no one wants to hear the hard truth. In the Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul talks about Christ and His Church, including this beautiful prayer or hymn: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.… In love He destined us for adoption to Himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of His will, for the praise of the glory of His grace the He granted us in the beloved. In Him we have redemption by His blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of His grace that He lavished upon us” (Ephesians 1:4-8).
Our faith is a true gift. We can accept it from God or not. That is our decision. But we are not entitled to it because we have earned it and we certainly cannot take it for our own except from the hand of our eternal Father. The Holy Spirit reveals the eternal promise made to us through the blood of Christ our hope. By accepting the gift of Baptism, we open ourselves to the reality of God in our lives in a way special to all Christians. Our days on earth are meant to ready us for heaven by gradually transforming us into the image of Christ. Just as He gave Himself up completely in obedience to the will of the Father, we must be prepared to do the same. We cannot know what will happen to us tomorrow, but by living out our faith as the sons and daughters of God, we need never be overwhelmed by fear. We are in His presence. And so we live, die when He chooses, and rise up to life everlasting through Christ our Savior.
