LIVE THE GOSPEL.

Jesus invites us to choose between two opposing ways of life: the way of the world and the way of the Gospel. The worldly spirit is not the spirit of Jesus. This is a matter of departing from the worldly spirit and its values, which the devil favors, in order to live according to the Gospel. How is worldliness manifested? Worldliness is manifested by attitudes of corruption, deception, and subjugation; and it constitutes the most ill-chosen road, the road of sin, because one leads you to the other! It is generally the easiest road to travel. Instead, the spirit of the Gospel requires a serious lifestyle: serious but joyful, serious and challenging. It is marked by honesty, fairness, respect for others and their dignity, and a sense of duty. The journey of life necessarily involves a choice between two roads: between honesty and dishonesty, between fidelity and infidelity, between selfishness and altruism, between good and evil. You cannot waver between one and the other because they move on different and conflicting forms of logic. It is important to decide which direction to take; and then, once you have chosen the right one, to walk it with enthusiasm and determination, trusting in God’s grace and the support of the Holy Spirit.

SHARE GOD’S LOVE.

We cannot escape the Lord’s words to us and they will serve as the criteria upon which we will be judged. Did we feed the hungry? Did we give drink to the thirsty? Did we welcome the stranger? Did we clothe the naked? Did we visit the sick or the imprisoned? Moreover, we will be judged by our answers to further questions. Did we help others to escape the doubt that causes them to fall into despair and which is often a source of loneliness? Did we help to overcome the ignorance in which so many people live, especially children deprived of the necessary means to free them from the bonds of poverty? Were we close to the lonely and the afflicted? Did we forgive those who have offended us? Did we reject all forms of anger and hate that lead to violence? Did we have the kind of patience that God has with us? In each of these little ones, Christ is present. His flesh becomes visible in the flesh of the tortured, the crushed, the scourged, the malnourished, and the exiled in order to be acknowledged, touched, and cared for by all of us.

REBUILD THE CHURCH.

A heart troubled by the desire for possessions is a heart full of desire but empty of God. That is why Jesus frequently warned the rich, because they risk placing their security in worldly goods. But security, the final security, is in God. In a heart possessed by wealth, there is not much room for faith. However, if one gives God his rightful place, the first place, then his love leads one to share even one’s wealth and to set it at the service of projects of solidarity and development. God’s providence comes through our service to others and our sharing with others. If each of us accumulates not for ourselves alone but for the service of others, in acts of solidarity, then God’s providence is made visible. But if one accumulates only for oneself, then what will happen when one is called home by God? No one can take his riches with him because a shroud has no pockets! It is better to share because we can take to heaven only what we have shared with others.

ABOUT THIS WEEK’S ART

Marc Chagall’s “White Crucifixion” is Pope Francis’s favorite painting. In order to call attention to the persecution and suffering of European Jews, it was the first in a series of Chagall’s paintings that depicted Jesus as a Jewish martyr. By linking the Passion of Christ with the events of his time, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) reminds us to pray for those who suffer; to reach out to them with compassion, love, and support; and to be ever vigilant in our opposition to all forms of big- otry, hatred, and violence in the world.

CCGR Weekly Newsletter (3-4-18)
Bringing Home the Word (3-4-18)

__________

The Light Is On For You!
Confessions & Eucharistic Adoration
Wednesday, March 7th