YIELD YOUR MEMBERS TO RIGHTEOUSNESS…

Romans 6:19-23

19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.
20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21 But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death.
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Luke 12:49-53

49 “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!
50 I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; 52 for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three;
53 they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

 MEDITATION

St PAUL is fully aware of the limitations of the bishopric who had turned a blind eye to members of the flock such that they allowed them to remain in bondage of sin.Paul allude to the sacrament of baptism (v22) to remind the leadership and the flock that instead of being slaves to sin, they order their lives to God. More accurately, because they have been infused with God’s grace in baptism they are called to live righteous lives to become slaves of God rather than slaves to sin! 

THE GOSPEL READING: Christ Jesus do not hide the fact that His calling and radical message may be unpalatable to the extent that it may not be accepted by many! Christ makes no bones about the possibility that those who have been transformed by His message of salvation and healing miracles will endure trails and rejection by parents, spouses and family members!

It is not uncommon to find family friends who are unmoved when their protestant friends or relatives restlessly go church hopping from one denomination to another in their search to find objective truth. However more often than not, when a protestant mention their interest in the Catholic Church, they receive a visceral negative response to the extent that they are rejected and denounced by those most dear to them. Whilst Catholics are not very vocal about our faith and beliefs we must order and live a life devoid from wickedness in right standing with God giving witness to His grace, mercy, joy and charity, as we pray for the conversion of hearts and minds of those who desire to make a radical change in their lives, as they restlessly seek the Gospel truth. 

LET US PRAY:Psalms 1:1-4,6

1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away.
6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Author. Henry R SYLVESTER Note: The daily scripture readings are taken from the Roman Missal which the Catholic Church use in the daily Celebration of the Holy Eucharist throughout the world.Some weekly readings may differ because of the celebration of local feast days.