• Everything we are and have comes from God.
• Let not social status or earthly possessions ever lead you to think otherwise.
• Humility, not pride, is what God asks of us.
• Be generous to others who cannot repay you.
• Be generous to those in need and those who are less able.
• You will be held in high esteem by your God and you will be rewarded mightily.
• What position at the banquet table will you take?

• The passion for mission Jesus noted in last week’s gospel is revisited today.
• Jesus tells us that we must work hard to join Him in heaven.
• We must be strong, persistent and dedicated to our mission.
• It is not enough to passively seek proximity to Jesus.
• Instead, he wants us to actively and passionately engage.
• We must seek the Father’s will and then live it, as He did.
• What is it that gets in your way of taking those daring steps?

• Jesus speaks with passion and intensity about His mission.
• His mission was not to smooth over or tolerate compromise between God’s will and the preference of individuals.
• Nor was it to accept indifference or a lukewarm attitude in His followers.
• His mission was to challenge complacency and creature comforts.
• People must make a choice between what they want and what God wants.
• Jesus offered his life for his mission in the baptism of fire that was His crucifixion.
• Are you willing to make the sacrifices to ignite a passion for your mission?

• Jesus encourages us to follow Him in faith and our relationship with others.
• It is so easy to get caught up in things that keep us from our obligations to our God and to each other.
• His promises must always be kept before us, so as to never forget that our salvation is at hand.
• We must live as if He is coming at any moment.
• We prepare for His coming by always being good stewards of all He has given us, in wealth and talent.
• What are we responsible for? Are we paying attention?

• God wants us to focus our lives on Him first.
• We often focus on worldly wealth.
• But in God’s eyes, wealth comes with grace, prayer and charity toward neighbor.
• Focus on self distracts us from our mission to care for and bring Jesus to others.
• This charity will store up heavenly treasure.
• And what could possibly be more valuable for our immortal souls?

· Jesus tells us that His Father wants us to ask for His help.
· He wants us to recognize His greatness, His love for us and His endless mercy.
· When we ask the Father for His help, we recognize our place – as His child.
· When we boldly ask for the Father’s help, we profess our faith in His benevolence.
· When we persist in our request we demonstrate our trust.
· Will you ask the Father?
· He is waiting for your petition.

• The worries of life must be kept in perspective.
• We must first attend to our relationship with Jesus.
• The peace of doing God’s will in your life will overshadow the tensions of worry.
• Tasks must be completed but only after we have set our mental house in order.
• Nothing must take the better part of our existence away from us.
• What in your life must be put in order?

• Jesus teaches us the meaning of mercy and love of neighbor.
• The life we now live is a prelude to eternal life.
• How we live it now is how we will live it in the future.
• Our love of God is demonstrated in our love of neighbor.
• Your neighbor is everyone around you.
• Jesus will tend to your wounds to help you better love and serve Him and your neighbor.

• Jesus prepares his disciples for their mission: Spreading the Gospel to the world.
• He prepares them for possible rejection and hostility.
• This guidance is for us as well.
• Our mission is imperative.
• But Jesus provides the grace to sustain us.
• Where?
• Here, in the celebration of the Eucharist.
• Will you seek the power that Mass can offer you?

• Jesus was about to go to Jerusalem for the completion of His mission.
• He said come follow me to those who wanted to participate with Him.
• He says to us your mission is to live and proclaim the good news in your world.
• Let nothing get in your way or distract you.
• Life must be about a focus on mission and the primacy of God in all things.
• Are you ready?

• Jesus tells His disciples that they must first be aware of their own interior motives and attitudes.
• For no matter how much we know, if we do not live the life we preach to others, our message is meaningless, or worse destructive.
• We live what is in our hearts be that good or evil.
• Can you be honest with yourself and with God about your actions and your motives?
• Can you allow humility to replace humanity’s greatest failing – pride?

• Jesus’ intent is to change the way the world works.
• Jesus’ message is to completely revise how we deal with our neighbor and, indeed, even our enemies.
• If love is to conquer evil it must start at a most basic level with each of us.
• Do not treat others in a way that expects a reward or something in return for your actions.
• Rather, let mercy and love guide you in every action.
• This is a radically different way compared to what the world teaches.
• Jesus expects a radically different change in the world as his teachings are implemented.
• Will you be part of this change?

• Jesus was the first to bring us this most common and most popular rule of life.
• Similarly, we are not to condemn, judge, or be reluctant to forgive.
• Jesus expects us to learn from him and live our lives accordingly.
• His mission was to further the building of the kingdom and our part is to help human beings live in a peaceful and reasonable way.
• Our actions can either help in the building of the kingdom or do things to tear it down.
• How can we just make things a little bit better?
• Can we apply what Jesus said to a part of our life today?

• Jesus challenged the apostles in the boat to take a risk.
• The apostles had explanations for why they had not been successful fishing based on their way of doing things.
• The apostles then trusted in what Jesus directed them to do and were astonished at the result.
• Jesus calls us to make changes in our lives and in how we follow his direction.
• We too will be astonished at what happens to us and those we encounter if we follow Jesus’ lead.
• Are we sometimes reluctant to trust in what Jesus says?

• Jesus knew what was in the hearts of the people who listened to Him speak in the Synagogue
• He emphasized that His healing grace and saving power were for any and all who believed, as both Elijah and Elisha demonstrated with their miracles.
• He could feel their sense of entitlement that they, as His chosen people, should be tended to
• He could also sense their bitterness, jealousy, anger and unbelief in His divinity.
• The comparison of self to Elijah and Elisha was the final straw for Jesus’ audience that day, resulting in rage so great that they wished to kill Him.
• What gets in the way of your belief in the ultimate power and transcendence of Jesus?
• What prevents you from hearing and fully accepting His words and His grace?

• Jesus performed many miracles as he began his formal ministry.
• He came to His home town and impressed all as He preached in the synagogue.
• He read from the prophet Isaiah and proclaimed: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”.
• Jesus clearly communicated who He was.
• He was rejected by his home community. He was Joseph’s son.  How could he be the Messiah?  They could not accept who He said He was.
• So many people knew and know who Jesus was, and is, but they cannot accept Him into their lives.
• What kept them and can keep us from accepting Jesus for who He is?

• We must always remember who we are and who God is. Humility must be a guide for our lives.
• Our position in life and our time, talents and treasure are always subordinate to Gods’ will for us.
• If you have much, much may be expected of you. If you only have less, less may be a lot for you to offer.
• Position, power and wealth will not protect you from life when it comes at you in ways you do not expect. But trust in God will get you through anything.
• The simple offering of a few coins from the widow, in today’s gospel, is a good example of both humility and trust in God. She gave much of what she had.
• Is it not a good opportunity to assess our assets and the risks of not using them wisely?

• Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem where He will complete his mission
• Can we, like the disciples, still not see what Jesus is doing?
• Cry out to Him in faith to cure your blindness
• Take courage! Jesus wants to heal you
• He asks: “What do you want?”
• What is it that we need to see better through Him?

· Approach life in the Kingdom with the openness to majesty, wonder and goodness that children have.
· Look at God’s gifts to us, especially one another, with gratitude and joy.
· God made us for Him and for one another. He made us to be happy.
· Let not human strife spoil our joy with one another, be they friend, relative, neighbor or husband and wife.
· Let us trust, like children do, that our heavenly Father wants what is best for us, and will make his plan known to us.
· Let us seek His plan for us and live to fulfill it – whatever that may be.
· Think about it.

· God the Father made us to live and share in His happiness in spite of the sin and evil that came into the world.
· Jesus showed us throughout His ministry that He can overcome death and evil.
· If we trust and believe in Him, He will respond to our reaching out, as He did with the woman with the hemorrhages and Jarius’ daughter.
· Then you will “ARISE” renewed and healed.
· You will die to your old self, so you can be revitalized in faith and love and live in His Spirit.
· What in your life is causing you pain and difficulty in believing?
· Faith and trust can overcome all of these obstacles for renewal in Jesus Christ.

– The Holy Spirit is the power of life, all life.
– His power of life changes the bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood.
– The Holy Spirit comes in a special way at Mass as we remember Jesus’ sacrifice.
– Jesus comes to you and lives within you by the power of the Holy Spirit.
– The real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, His Body and Blood, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is the central belief of our Catholic Faith.
– The Holy Spirit makes us all one Body of Christ.
– The Holy Spirit, living within us, enlivens us to continue Jesus’ work of spreading the Kingdom of God.
– The power of the Spirit, also Jesus’ Spirit, stirs in our hearts, speaks in our minds, and draws us to God.
– Can you hear his voice in your mind and heart? Be quiet and listen.
– He has come to bring you the presence of Jesus and your salvation.

• The Holy Spirit burst in upon the Apostles on Pentecost.
• The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit live as one as a community of love in the Trinity.
• It is the will of God that we too are connected to this community by our baptism.
• It is the Holy Spirit who was present at creation, the coming of Jesus into humanity, and our baptism into the life of God in Jesus Christ.
• It is the Holy Spirit who urges us on to participate in the ongoing revelation of the Kingdom of God. He is the spirit of Jesus Christ who directs us to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
• Given our human situation, how can we even begin to participate in spreading the Kingdom?
• The first thing is to believe that we are not to do this alone. It is only by the love of God and guidance of the Spirit that we dare to go forward.
• If you are unsure of yourself, feeling isolated or inadequate, directly appeal to the Holy Spirit to help you.
• Remember what the Holy Spirit did for the other disciples!