8th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Prayer
Loving Father,
Help us place our trust in you. May we embrace our faith in you, place all our hope in you, and find the fullness of love in you. Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Commentary
1st Reading: Sirach 27:4-7
Our readings today are filled with proverbs and wise sayings. These words are meant to help us focus on what is right and good.
Sirach, for example, was written as a lesson plan for young followers of faith. It offered lessons learned from the wise and the aged. The wise young student would study these words and attempt to apply them to his life.
We have, in our First Reading, a sampling of a large number of proverbs offered in Sirach.
In this sampling, Sirach is advising the reader to trust a person by the fruit that they bear. The advice encourages the student to listen to a person speak before following their ways.
We can learn an awful lot about a person when we take time to hear them speak. After a while, we begin to trust or distrust their ways.
As we place our trust in Jesus, we know that his words are true. Indeed! He is the word of Truth! In him, we place our trust.
Question:
Who is a trustworthy person in your life? Why?
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:54-58
Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is a continuation of last week’s reading on the belief in the resurrection and the bright promise that awaits all of us.
In this passage, Paul gives a slight description of what will happen when we close our eyes to this life and Christ returns to take us to himself. The corruptible will clothe itself with incorruptibility and the mortal will clothe itself with immortality.
This saying was very hard for many to accept. But, to those who had accepted it, St. Paul encouraged them to stay steadfast in their trust in the Lord.
He reminded the Corinthians that they had accepted the Good News in faith and that their faith should not waiver. He challenged them to place their trust in the Lord and assured them that their trust was not in vain.
Question:
Do you trust in the article of our Creed that we believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting?
Gospel: Luke 6:39-45
The Church ties beautifully the words of Sirach with the Gospel today. Jesus says:
A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good … for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.
There are many who are quick to speak, but God knows the content of their hearts. Before we place our trust in another, we should let them speak. Let them continue to talk. After a while, you will see patterns in their words. After a while, you will be able to discern their hearts.
Of course, pouring over the New Testament, we hear the Lord speak and never do we hear him contradict himself.
For example, Jesus tells us not to judge. “Pull the plank out of your own eye before pulling the splinter out of their eyes.” Jesus would not say these words, unless He himself did not forgive. But He did. He said on the cross, “Forgive them father …” We place our trust in Jesus, above all, because His words are true and always consistent.
Question:
Why have you placed your trust in Jesus?
This Week’s Task
Shortly, we begin the Season of Lent. Make an attempt to find a friend and bring him/her to Ash Wednesday, to a Lenten Reconciliation service, to Mass, or to a Christ in Our Neighborhood (CION) gathering.
If you already have a CION group, invite others to your gathering and then split the larger group into two.
Group Prayer
Offer this little prayer of TRUST by St. Faustina Kowalska:
Jesus, I trust in you.
Jesus, I trust in you.
Jesus, I trust in you.
(The group may also decide to pray the whole Divine Mercy Chaplet)
The prayer continues with Psalm 92.
Psalm
R: Response: Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
to sing praise to your name, Most High,
To proclaim your kindness at dawn
and your faithfulness throughout the night.
R: Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
The just one shall flourish like the palm tree,
like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow.
They that are planted in the house of the LORD
shall flourish in the courts of our God.
R: Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
They shall bear fruit even in old age;
vigorous and sturdy shall they be,
Declaring how just is the LORD,
my rock, in whom there is no wrong.