We can do “everything right” and still get everything wrong!….”If I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St Luke…Jesus once again addresses the teachers of the law who lack love in their hearts……These men are very critical of Jesus because he was unorthodox in his approach to the law……St Paul reminds us how we are to live out our Baptism calling….”If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing”…….The smallest thing done with love is infinitely better in the eyes of God then the greatest thing accomplished without love….The teachers of the law in Jesus time got “caught up” in focusing on “doing everything right” and forgot why they were doing what they committed to do in the first place…To love God above all things and love their neighbor as their self!…..God is not impressed with “what we do”…He wants only one thing from us…He wants our sins, which he takes upon himself……This is why in everything we do…Whether it is big or small…There must be love at the core of our actions……Small things done with great amounts of love win the day every time!

In America we are raised to be achievers!…There is nothing wrong with that on its surface but when we dig deeper into what we are geared to achieve at almost all costs, we may pause for a moment to reflect……The goal of every life should be heaven and to the surprise of many who read this reflection…As a good priest once told me…”Joe - We do not just float into heaven!”…Is the goal of your life heaven?…If it is, what are you doing about it?……Today in the gospel the teachers of the law get it wrong!…..They focus so much on fulfilling every aspect of the law that they turned the law itself into their God…Have we turned anything in our life into a "God"?….The devil is tricky and he knows us better then we know our self…….The moment you think you can “out-smart” the devil is the minute he “gets you”…..This is why we must cling to the Lord and the Sacraments

Who confers distinction upon you? What do you possess that you have not received?

At the core of everything that Jesus did was his love for his Father in heaven….Distinctions did not mater…..Awards did not matter…Titles did not matter….Jesus’s focus was clear…And so must our focus be clear…..Love must be the foundation of everything we do…Or what we do turns to dust!…….Its so very easy to “lose sight of the trees while walking in the forest”…..This is why we must pray daily, fast weekly and live a Sacramental life.

Why do you do what you do for the Lord?…Ask yourself that often….The world is interested as St Paul puts it in…”Resounding gongs or a clashing cymbal”…But God could care less about such things!

”There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the LORD was not in the fire”…The Lord is found in a “whisper”….God is found in doing the small things and doing them with love and if we do anything no matter “how great” in the eyes of the world…If the outcome lacks love…We have accomplished nothing!

We can do “everything right” and still get everything wrong!….”If I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing”