First Reading: Ephesians 4:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24
Gospel: Luke 12:54-59
Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? If you are to go with your opponenet before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny. (Lk 12:57-59)
Debt. This is a word that haunts most of us everyday. It seems as though we are always owing something to someone. Some to our mortgage, some to our credit card, some to our bills ... it seems as though we are always owing something. And we should not dare be late in paying our debts due to the fact that those that we owe will certainly come after us for our lateness and inability or refusal to pay. The consequences of not paying our debts can be very grave, this can have a negative impact in our lives. Not only are our reputations tarnished, but our credit score drops, our interest rates may change, we can even lose the things that we are paying on.
There is a great debt that we must constantly be striving to pay for, that is the debt for our lives. Jesus payed the ultimate price for our lives ... He paid for our lives with His. We need to remember this always and be eternally grateful and forever in His debt. We need to remember to constantly be striving to serve Him and surrender to Him for the great price that He paid for us. In the gospel today, Jesus speaks about before being taken to the judge, and how we should settle our debt peacefully with our opponent along the way; so that way we are not to pay the negative penalties for our refusal to pay. If we settle the matter along the way then we can avoid these negative consequences. This gospel today reminds us to settle our debts while we are on our journey in this life. Saint Paul tells us today to "live in a manner worthy of the call that your have received." God calls us to live according to a higher purpose, not for our own selfish purposes, but for His glory and for His right and good purposes.
Lord, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
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