Fifth Sunday after Easter, Commonly Called Rogation Sunday,
May 5th, 2024
St. James tells us: ".BE ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." (St. James 1:22) For a Christian, this sounds like pretty good advice: " . . . . be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only . . . ." But this Epistle of St. James has caused some controversy over the years for some Christian thinkers such as Martin Luther, for example, because they contended that St. James was proposing that we can earn our way into Heaven by what we do. Now, without a doubt, there have been various individuals over the centuries who have tried to "buy their way" into Heaven. But I contend what we hear from this verse ". . . . be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only . . ." is just good old fashioned common sense, if you ask me. I say this because, sadly, each one of us can think of a person who is "nothing but mouth." In other words, we probably each know someone who talks about being a Christian but they do not particularly live as a Christian. There are a lot of people who could explain the Christian faith and they could go on and on and on about it, but the really important question is: Can they live the Christian faith and not just talk about it? "Be ye doers of the word . . . ." I think his is probably one of the biggest reasons why Our Blessed Lord came to earth as a human being, so that we could see Him in action. Sure, God could have just simply spoken to us about being a Christian and left it at that. But Our Lord chose to become a human being so that He could show us how it is to actually live as a Christian. While Our Lord was with us here on earth He worked; He ate; He traveled; He conversed and spoke and preached; . . . etc. Our Blessed Saviour not only taught about God by His words but He lived His life for His Heavenly Father. Our Lord was a wonderful teacher and taught the faith wonderfully . . . . but He backed up His teaching by the way in which He lived His life. This is what we are called to do: Live our life for God. Do what God wants us to do. None of us are perfect and we will make mistakes. God already realizes this. This is why He sent His Son into the world. We are called to live our life for God and the evidence is shown in the way in which we life our life; in the ways in which we treat others; in what we do for one another: " . . . . be ye doers of the word . . . . ."
Please make a point to join us for Mass on Sunday. St. Margaret Church gathers together each and every Sunday at 10:30 am. We worship at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. Join us as we listen to the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible. We use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. And receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Saviour at Communion time. We are all busy. We all lead busy lives. Take an hour out of your busy week and dedicate it to God. Give that hour to God and spend it with Him.
