Reconciled by God in Christ's Body

In today's first reading, Colossians 1: 21-23, St. Paul reminds us that we "once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds." 

Notice that our being alienated from others or from our deepest self, where truth and peace reside, where the Trinity dwells, results from the evil we do or think, and not from God or others.  When we are feeling hostile towards ourselves or others, it is because of the choices we make to engage in  evil acts!  Hostility in ourselves feeds hostility in others. If we react with hostility then we are likely to receive such from the other person. On the other hand, if we return good for evil and peace for hostility, the reaction is different, because we, then, are cooperating with God's grace of reconciliation.

The grace to reconcile with others or with our true self is always offered to us by God, as St. Paul reminds us:  "God has now  reconciled you in the fleshly Body of Christ through is death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him [and before others], provided that [we] persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the Gospel..." which we hear at every Mass or Liturgy.  If we live the gospel, we will then be persevering in the faith and firmly grounded in our belief that God is calling us to be agents of reconciliation.

Lord, help us live our faith today, knowing that in every situation that we will face you will have prepared the way for us to be agents of reconciliation, ambassadors of peace, and instruments of Your love!