In the Rite of Ordination, the Bishop gives the Book of the Gospels to the newly ordained deacon and says, “Believe what you read. Live what you believe. Practice what you teach.” This exhortation can be given to each and every one of us! We call ourselves Christians. We claim our Catholic faith. Do we live it? Do we practice it well?
All the saints continued ask themselves those questions and their answers would be like ours: Yes, but I can always improve. Being Christians with integrity means that we do our best to practice what we profess, that our faith is not just words spoken on Sunday but that those words are put into practice every day of the week. The only human beings every to perfectly do that without sin are Jesus and Mary. The rest of us seek to imitate them and be obedient to the Father’s will for us in everything we do.
Each and every day, we seek to conform ourselves to Jesus. He does amazing work in us when we allow Him to do it! He transforms us so that our actions correspond to our the words of our profession and belief! Let’s pray for each other. May our lives proclaim the truth and joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
May the Lord bless you and your families this week!
~ Fr. Daniel Firmin