Sixth Sunday after Trinity, July 19th, 2020

Sixth Sunday after Trinity, July 19th, 2020

Our Blessed Lord had very sound advice for the disciples.  Well, all of His advice was sound, wasn't it?  All of His advice was absolutely correct.  Yet some of His advice  . . .  for us human beings, in our humanity, that is . . . . is very difficult.  I say this because we always want to have the upper hand, so to speak.  We want to be on top of things.  We like to think that we are the captains of our own destiny.  That we control everything.  And sometimes we look down on other folks, don't we?  Sometimes we think we are better than other people.  This is because we are so sure of ourselves.  We are convinced that we are correct in our way of thinking, in our beliefs, etc. that those who disagree with us don't really matter much.  You see this way of thinking much of the time on the internet via social media, chat boards, message boards, etc.  And now this behavior has spilled out beyond cyber space where we are seeing destruction of businesses, taking down of statues, physical altercations, etc. because people think they have a right to do whatever they want.

But Our Blessed Saviour wants more for us than simply "being right."  Our Lord asks each one of us, you along with me, to do His work here on earth.  He asks us to follow Him and be His disciples.  But please be aware.  Jesus never asks us to do anything that He does not do Himself.  In other words, Our Lord leads not only by what He tells us.  He leads by example through what He does.  One more thing to remember:  Jesus doesn't merely do the bare minimum.  He goes the extra step.  He goes above and beyond.  This brings us to the conversation in the Fifth Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel  Jesus said to His disciples:  "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven"  (St. Matthew 5:20)  You see, the Pharisees and the scribes knew the Law.  They understood the Law.  They followed the Law.  Yet, they knew the Law so well they knew their ways around the Law as well.  In other words, they knew the Law, yes, but they did not live faithful lives to God.  Our Lord wanted the disciples to be better than the Pharisees and the scribes and so He encouraged them to do better.  He asked them to do more.  He asked them to take it a step further.  And He gave the example of following the commandment "Thou shalt not kill."   In less you are a homicidal maniac, I would imagine this is really actually easy advice to follow.  So that is not the hard part.  Our Lord took it a step further and told the disciples not to be angry with those around them.  Now, this is not nearly as easy, is it?  How many times a day do we get angry with someone?  Do we get angry over and over again?  Do we get angry with those we disagree with?  Our Lord said:  " . . . . but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire. "  (St. Matthew 5:22)  

Our Lord wants us to be at peace with those around us as much as possible because we are His disciples.  We need to focus our energies on serving God and being with Him.  Our Lord also said in this fifth chapter:  "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."  (St. Matthew 5:44)  God does not give us life so that we can focus on fighting with one another.   God gives us life so that we can serve Him in this life and spend eternity with Him in the next life.  Let us focus on God and allowing the love of God to show forth to those around us.  Let us be the instrument of showing God's love and grace to those in our lives.  

PLEASE NOTE:  St. Margaret Church will NOT meet on Sunday, July 19th, 2020.

St. Margaret Church is still being affected, as is the whole world, by the Coronavirus outbreak.  Specifically, our church is not allowed to meet as we would like due to CDC and State recommendations.  But despite these recommendations, our members still continue to pray to Our Heavenly Father.  Our members still continue to reach out to their neighbors and loved ones.  Our members still continue to be the face and hands and instruments of the Lord throughout these troubling times.  Additionally, Fr. Todd also continues to post his sermons and reflections online.  So, please continue to pray for St. Margaret Church and all the Christian Churches throughout the world that we may continue to stay close to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.    

And please remember that you can still show support to St. Margaret Church by sharing these posts on social media . . . sharing the sermons and reflections of Fr. Todd on social media as well.  In this way, despite any sort of "lock-down," you will help St. Margaret Church continue to spread the Gospel and continue to tell the world about our love for Our Blessed Saviour!

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