A reading from the Acts of the Apostles 10:34-35

Then Peter proceeded to speak and said, " In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him."

REFLECTION:  

The source of our life is the love of  The Most Holy Trinity. We are made in the image and likeness of God. We are asked to be obedient to God's command of love.  Love requires  our reciprocity as God has already chosen us. 

One of the hardest things to do is to obey.  We have our own thoughts, our own ways and wants, our own customs and traditions from our upbringing and our own history.  We also have our own pride. 

Who are the faithful obedient? Those who live in God's will --raising  the family, working  diligently at their chosen vocation, leading  a spiritual life, working in the "day to day stuff", evangelizing in their daily dealings with people. They follow God's command of love--sharing God with one another through love.  Most of the time their work goes unnoticed.  These are the "groundskeepers" or the faithful recipients of God's love, sowing the seed and doing God's divine work.

In this weeks' readings, Jesus has been reminding the apostles of God's command to keep the commandment of love and to be obedient to God . These  are the the highlighted bullets of what will happen if this is chosen --they will be pruned at times without any end in sight, they will have hardships and they will be persecuted.  These messages, given by God to the apostles, are like the last minute reminders we give our children as they pack off to go to college.  We remind them of what they have been taught and what is expected of them if they want to excel.  It is the "Don't forget List". We, too, are reminded,  that  if we stay close to God we will be rewarded with the joy of the Lord. 

God shows no partiality in whom He chooses to call. The first Christians thought Jesus came only for them.  But he showed no partiality--Jews and Gentiles alike were called and baptized.  No exclusions. So we should ' Sing a new Song' (Psalm 98) and go forth and bring to all--faith in God, hope in prayer and love of the Eucharist  We are asked by God to take our new song to the marginalized, the homeless, those whom we don't like and those whom we exclude from our inner circle. 

We are most humbled that God has chosen us to be in His family.  He has chosen us to be His friends.  He has chosen not to call us servants but friends. 

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, let us love one another because love is God.  We pray for a deeper love so we can have a deeper joy. Let us not be overwhelmed with frustration. Give us, dear Lord, the means to know you very well. Amen

God Bless