The Power of the Gospel That Is Ours Each Day

In today's first reading, 1 Thes 1: 1-5, 8b-10, St. Paul, praises the Thessalonians for their "work of faith and labor of love, and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,...knowing...how [they] are loved by God, how [they] were chosen."  The Gospel, Paul says to them, has come to them "in power and in the Holy Spirit."  He thanks God that they have "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven,...Jesus, who deliver[ed them] from the coming wrath" of Satan and Satan's followers.

May you and l also praise and thank God for the "work of faith and labor of love, and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ"  that has been given to us through our parents and so many other faith-filled men and women, who to this very day, lead us to Jesus.  Like the Thessalonians, we, too, have been given the "Gospel...in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction." That conviction grows as we stand in awe of God each day,  pondering the readings of each liturgy or seeking God in the events of our lives as they unfold each day.  Through grace, as with the Thessalonians,  we are given the choices each day to turn "to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven,...Jesus, who delivers [us] from the coming wrath" of Satan and his followers!  Every day, God is at work in  our lives, delivering us from Satan's lies. How aware are we of this gift of God's love, this concern on God's part, to redirect us to the right path--the path that Jesus modeled for us while here on earth and to this very day.

THANK YOU, JESUS!

Listening to Right Voices

Today’s first reading, Gen. 2: 4b-9, 15-17,  continues the story of God’s creation of the world.  Having created the earth and all living things on the face of the earth, all of the plants and animals and creepy things,  the fishes of the sea,  the birds of the air, God  needed someone to care for his creation. Humans were created. God first made Adam and then, realizing that it is not good for man to be alone, created Eve to be his helpmate and companion. God commanded Adam to till the earth.  Of all of the trees in Paradise, he and his companion, Eve, were commanded not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” lest you die”.  Lured by its beauty and lied to by Satan, Eve succumbed to the temptation and then offered the fruit of this tree to Adam, who also ate of it. Both disobeyed God by listening to the arguments of Satan and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Both followed their will instead of God’s. Both lusted for that which God forbade them to partake.

In today’s Gospel taken from the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, Mary brings it to her Son’s attention that the wedding party has run out of wine. He says to her: what is that to me, woman. “My hour has not yet come.”  Jesus does not perform miracles until it is the Father’s will that he does so. He is totally obedient to the Father. Mary directs the servants to be obedient to her Son. She tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. The disobedience of Adam and Eve is transformed by the obedience of Mary, the new Eve, and Jesus, the new Adam: Mary following the Spirit’s direction and Jesus following His Father’s directives.

Whose voice am I obeying?   To whose directives do I listen?