As adults, unless we are dealing with children, “obedience” is not a word we typically like to hear. It often brings connotations of military protocols, deference to superiors at work, or conforming to laws and practices. In a culture that has learned to challenge authority, being obedient is understood more as something I “have” to do, not “want” to do. Do you ever see merit in wanting to be obedient? Encouraged to develop independent, self-sufficient egos and personas, we learn to focus on our own wills and merits as we strive for success and achieve a sense of well -being. Giving ourselves over to the will of another, especially when done blindly, can sometimes carry more risk than we are willing to take. Also, blindly following orders without any deference to ethics or morality can lead to atrocious crimes and violence against humanity.

“You cannot serve both God and mammon.” Merriam-Webster defines mammon as material wealth or possessions, especially having a debasing influence. While God does not take issue with our need to use money for the business of our lives, there can be a problem with the attitudes we bring to it. We can easily become so preoccupied and obsessed with money that it becomes the real “god” we worship. Do we serve mammon instead of God? In their book, Wealth, Riches and Money, Craig Hill and Earl Pitts outline symptoms of mammon’s influence in our lives. Some of these are worry and anxiety over money, money mismanagement, fear over “never having enough,” an “I can’t afford it” mentality, impulse buying, stinginess, greed, debt, and discontent.

Since God created human beings, we have struggled to keep our focus on God. We wrestle with the question of “who is God” and foolishly believe some of God’s job description can be better completed by us. We wander in different directions, lose our way, think that happiness can be found elsewhere and even construct golden calves to worship. Are we simply too independent or just blatantly stubborn? It’s a good question to ask. Even with all of our silliness and distractions, God compassionately and patiently waits. He lets us assert our wills and knows that perhaps one day we will actually wake up and realize how lost we are.

Since God created human beings, we have struggled to keep our focus on God. We wrestle with the question of “who is God” and foolishly believe some of God’s job description can be better completed by us. We wander in different directions, lose our way, think that happiness can be found elsewhere and even construct golden calves to worship. Are we simply too independent or just blatantly stubborn? It’s a good question to ask. Even with all of our silliness and distractions, God compassionately and patiently waits. He lets us assert our wills and knows that perhaps one day we will actually wake up and realize how lost we are.

What virtue is the cornerstone of discipleship? Love. Jesus preached about it, lived it, and summarized his greatest commandment featuring it. Love is in our DNA. To follow Jesus, then, is to follow the path of love. While this may appear to be an attractive and easy option, it most assuredly is not. Authentic love always comes with sacrifice. It is the complete giving of oneself to another. The sacrificial character of love always requires that we leave something aside and pursue something else. This is at the heart of self-denial. Love asks us to make choices that are often difficult.

Thomas Edison, the famous inventor of the early 20th century, is truly a humble man at heart. This inventor of the phonograph and incandescent lamp once said to his assistant: People call me a great inventor. I’m no inventor worth talking about When I think that I can’t even build the simplest being that could think and speak or at least do something on his own, I know that there is only one true inventor. At that, he pointed his finger heavenward.

Jesus is making His way toward Jerusalem, the dream of every male Jews to visit one day because it is the center of their religion; and where the Temple is. The Psalms often sing the words of Yahweh: I will set my king on Zion, my holy mountain, fairest of all the heights is the joy of all the earth. The only Temple of the Jewish religion stands on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, and people from all over the world long to go there to worship and offer sacrifices to the one and true God. And Jesus heads to Jerusalem one day, He would sacrifice His life there.

I come to set the earth on fire. Fire symbolizes many things: First, there are destructive fires that bring a lot of damage to property, homes, buildings, and other structures. There are forest fires that can burn hundreds of thousands of acres and cause damage to livestock; and wildlife. We remember the 19 Arizona Granite Hot Shot who lost their lives in the Yarnell fire of 2013. Second, the benefits of fire for cooking food for the hungry, providing heat for those in the cold, purifying waters, and giving light to homes where there is no electricity. Lastly, fire ignites combustion engines that help transport people and material goods. All these are examples of the literal sense where the fire is applicable, but the Lord speaks of fire symbolically.

On many occasions in the Gospel, the Lord teaches His disciples about vigilance. For the coming of God or against thieves or those who want to harm God’s people. But this watchfulness should be translated into one’s spirit of prayer and the constancy of one’s faith.

Lk 12:1321

After an interruption from someone in the crowd, Jesus shifts the focus of His teaching from not being afraid of persecution to not worrying about provisions for the future.

Jesus makes this point in the Parable of the Rich Fool proper to the Gospel of Luke. He warns them of the predicament of the rich man and about the danger of greed. When one focuses only on material wealth, it leads to selfabsorption. We need to trust God He will provide.Trust our past to God’s mercy. Trust our present to God’s love and trust our future to God’s providence.The idea of “growing rich” for ourselves is deceptive, as Scripture exposes. So, try or strive to grow rich in the sight of God, which leads to a joyful and peaceful way of life.

 Lk 11:1-13

When we go to a place of pilgrimage, a shrine, a church, or an Adoration chapel, most of the time, we can pray with unusual intensity. It is not the place that gives the grace of the SPIRIT to pray more intently. The prayer intensity is also because we identify those places with the presence of God. Thus, we feel a certain closeness to the divine.

Lk 10:3842

The Gospel presents two sisters, Martha and Mary, depicting two individuals who are different in their disposition, which affects their belief and relationship with God. The contrasting images of the two sisters make us also reflect on our disposition and attitude toward people and to the Lord.

Lk 10:2537

The Gospel this Sunday is famously known as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan is the one who looked with compassion upon a stranger and treated him with mercy. The action of the Samaritan should be a way of life; that sees everyone, especially those in need, with compassion. For compassion to work in us, we need to remove the focus on ourselves, our concerns and desires, and be sensitive to our surroundings and the people around us. Once we overcome our indifference to our neighbor, we come up against another challenge, doing something to help those in need.