[Salvation]

One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

 

<< Wednesday, June 27, 2012 >>

St. Cyril of Alexandria Saint of the Day

2 Kings 22:8-13; 23:1-3
View Readings

Psalm 119:33-37, 40

Matthew 7:15-20

FRUIT INSPECTION

"Any sound tree bears good fruit, while a decayed tree bears bad fruit." —Matthew 7:17

 

This week we conclude three weeks of reading and praying the Sermon on the Mount. The world, even much of the Christian world, explicitly denies Jesus' commands in the Sermon on the Mount. For example, our society believes in a pleasure-seeking lifestyle, not in voluntary poverty (Mt 5:3). We aren't nearly as concerned as Jesus about looking lustfully at someone (Mt 5:28). How could we stockpile nuclear weapons if we were concerned with loving our enemies? (Mt 5:44) Most people don't believe in the Sermon on the Mount. Who's right — Jesus or our society?

Jesus said: "You will know them by their deeds" (Mt 7:16). "You can tell a tree by its fruit" (Mt 7:20). The fruit of not living God's way is broken lives, broken marriages, and broken hearts, a world overshadowed by the mushroom cloud of nuclear war, a lifestyle that enslaves, and sexual bondage rather than true love. By its fruits, we know our society is wrong, and Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount were right all along.

 

Prayer: Father, may I take the Sermon on the Mount as literally as Jesus did.

Promise: "The King made a covenant before the Lord that they would follow Him and observe His ordinances, statutes and decrees with their whole hearts and souls, thus reviving the terms of the covenant which were written in this book." —2 Kgs 23:3

Praise: St. Cyril was a difficult man to work with. God used this difficult man to achieve the difficult task of defeating heresy.

[Salvation]

A Pro-Life Prayer For Our President And Public Officials

Lord God, Author of Life and Source of Eternal Life,

Move the hearts of all our public officials and especially our President, to fulfill their responsibilities worthily and well to all those entrusted to their care.

Help them in their special leadership roles, to extend the mantle of protection to the most vulnerable, especially the defenseless unborn, whose lives are threatened with extermination by an indifferent society.

Guide all public officials by your wisdom and grace to cease supporting any law that fails to protect the fundamental good that is human life itself, which is a gift from God and parents.

You are the Protector and Defender of the lives of the innocent unborn. Change the hearts of those who compromise the call to protect and defend life. Bring our nation to the values that have made us a great nation, a society that upholds the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.

Mary, the Mother of the living, help us to bear witness to the Gospel of Life with our lives and our laws, through Christ, Our Lord.

Amen.

 

• Imprimatur:
• January 22, 2009
• Most Reverend Robert J. Baker
• Bishop of Birmingham in Alabama