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Is your heart healthy? No, I’m not talking about the organ, though that’s important too. I’m talking about the part of you that shows mercy, justice, faithfulness – all those important qualities that Jesus mentions in today’s Gospel. Do we make an effort to work on our interior life? Or do we just cleanse the outside of the cup and allow filth and garbage to fill the inside?
Money isn’t everything. Yes, finances are of importance in our fallen world, and our Church needs our financial support. But more importantly, is your heart being changed by living for Jesus? Pharisees are very critical of other people and forget to look inside their hearts for major issues. While it is necessary to give fraternal correction, are you much more concerned with your own heart? What are you doing to root out the sin that settles into your soul?
The matters of the heart are much more important than money and outward appearances. The most important things aren’t financial, or physical, or worldly. One person who understood this well was St. Monica, who spent years praying for her son, St. Augustine, to be converted. St. Augustine lived a life more concerned with worldly affairs than with the things of the heart. St. Monica’s years of prayer for her son benefited his heart and had a dramatic effect on the Western world, since St. Augustine’s works and influence on the Church cannot be overstated. Both saints proclaim the dominance and importance of the interior life over exterior attractions.
Today, let us recommit to the importance of prayer and virtue over worldly distractions. Let us place prayer at the center of our lives with God, and let us pray that we may always be more concerned with our interior lives and forming virtue than our external, material lives.
Daily Reading
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Dt 4:1-2, 6-8 Moses said to the people:“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decreeswhich I am teaching you to observe,that you may live, and may enter in and…
Saint of the Day
Saint Anna the Prophetess
Saint Anna the Prophetess recognized Jesus’s significance when many overlooked Him. She stood by Mary, embodying grace, guiding her during formative years.
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