Daily Gospel Reflection for August 25, 2018

Today's Gospel: MT 23:1-12 What Jesus is saying here is that actions speak louder than words. I tell this to my children all the time. They promise me to clean their room and yet it does not get done. Saying it does not make it so, you need to actually DO what you promise to do. At baptism, promises were made on our behalf, promises to love Jesus and reject sin. We renew those promises often and in doing so, we are saying that we will live according to what Christ wants us to do. But do we follow through on those promises? How often do we find ourselves tempted by the dark side, even if it is only to gossip or to indulge? Jesus is telling us that we can SAY we are His followers until we are blue in the face, but until we actually ACT as His followers, the words mean nothing. Today, we can act as Jesus wants us to act by helping those less fortunate than us, we can reach out to the needy and the lonely, and more importantly, we can pass on those actions to others. By teaching our children to be generous followers of Christ, we are spreading Christ’s most important lesson; but we do that by our actions. Jesus is also telling us that part of acting as a Christian is to lower ourselves. We do not need to be important, we need to be humble. God is what is important. When we put God first and when we ACT as followers of Christ, we are doing the work of God in the world.

Ponder:

What actions can you take today to spread the message and love of Christ?

Pray:

Lord, while I love proclaiming my faith in You, help me to show the world Your love by my actions. Guide me while I teach others to do Your work. Amen.