TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Give What You Have Been Given

Today’s readings: Dt 4:1-2, 6-8; Ps 15:2-5; Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Has someone used a gift you have given them? By using the gift, they have shown their love and appreciation for you. Have you listened to advice from your parents? By following their direction, you have demonstrated your love and respect for them.

“All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (Jas 1:17). God, our good and faithful Father through baptism, lavishes us with gifts. These come in several forms: life, time, health, family, friends, work, wealth, virtues, education, and many more. He has also given us the gift of His Law, and likewise commands we follow it (Dt 4:6). In some instances, God commands us not to do certain things (Ps 15:3-5; Mk 7:21-23), and in some He tells us what we ought to do (Ps 15:2; Jas 1:27; CCC 2208). God implores us to use these gifts (Jas 1:22; Mt 25:14-30). We have the choice to be a doer who honors and fears the Lord, following His commandments out of love of Him, or a hearer who rejects His gifts by not using them out of an excessive focus on ourselves.

Jesus provides further insight into His gifts. Nothing given to us can defile us (Mk 7:15), and all good gifts come from God (Jas 1:17). Gifts such as the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance are taught to us (CCC 1804-1810). Like food, which is good for our bodies (Mk 7:18-20; CCC 582), the Word is good for our souls. As we can choose either food that is nourishing or detrimental to us, we can also choose to use the gifts God has given us for good or ill through our actions. On the contrary, vices are selfish and come from within. They take many forms (Mk 21-23; CCC 1866), but all have the same self-serving goal and self-destructive end. We must be instructed by God and cannot do good on our own. Out of love we have been given God’s gifts, so out of love we should give: our life and time in volunteering, our friendship in comforting and counseling, our work and wealth in donating, and our knowledge in teaching.

Use your good gifts. Share them through your actions in every moment.

“When you present yourself to God in prayer, you must implore the assistance of the Holy Spirit, since we cannot even conceive a good thought without Him.” – Bl. Clelia Merloni

--Brendan Ferracciolo

Send Us Forth are reflections written by St. Matthew parishioners and friends.