Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Intention: For a greater respect for human life, particularly for the unborn and for those living with disabilities, so that we will open our hearts to the sacredness of all life in all of its expressions.
Today’s Gospel | Luke 11:42-46
The Lord said: “Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.”
Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.” And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”
From the Eighth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
It would have been of little use if the holy Apostles had instructed the first Christians in the essential truths of our religion and did not lead them to live the Christian way of life and conform to what they had lived with Jesus Christ. The Apostles were not satisfied with teaching doctrine; they had a marvelous care to bring the first Christians to practice their religion.
God blessed their care in such a way that it is said that those who first received the faith persevered in the teaching of the Apostles, in the communion of the breaking of bread, and in prayers. They continued to go to the Temple every day united in the same spirit. In other words, after they were baptized, they were living in harmony with the teaching of the Apostles.
Prayer
Eternal Father, Eternal Father, you call each of us to act justly, to love mercifully, and to walk humbly before you. Sometimes we do this well and sometimes we do not. Help us always to do the right thing and stay true to the kind of persons that you created us to be. Teach us to pray and to rest in your presence so that we can hear and know your will for us. May we never be found lacking in righteousness and always be known by our integrity and by our love and care for one another. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.