Daily reflection _ sunday of the 6th week of


HELP SOMEONE LOVE
The purpose of life is to know, love and serve God, but that is not enough. We must help others to know, love and serve as well." (John XXIII)
Deacon John Ruscheinsky
One of the many charming stories about lovable Pope John XXIII tells of the time he was discussing some of the basic truths of our Faith with some leaders in the Church. Among other things, Pope John asked: "What do you think is the purpose of life?" Several gave answers in line with the usual and correct one, namely: The purpose of life is to know, love and serve God in this world so that we can be happy with Him in heaven. The Good Pope John smiled but shook his head. Finally he gave the answer he was looking for: "You are right as far as you said -- the purpose of life is to know, love and serve God, but that is not enough. We must help others to know, love and serve as well."
As with so many other teachings and practices of our Catholic faith, Pope John had given a basic truth of our religion another dimension, another important angle. This is an angle that we can apply to what Jesus tells us in today's Gospel, namely, that the proof of our love for God is keeping God's Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us, following the Commandments and acting on them through the Beatitudes.
An important point of the Scriptures for this Sunday has to do with how we hear and see God's Word and His love. It's one thing to think of love as intimate relationship, and another to remember that we have love because God first loved us especially through Jesus Christ. We need to fill our minds and hearts with God's goodness, so we can witness the fullness of sharing His love. This will happen when we stop putting limits on the power of our heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit touched everyone within earshot. All of us who gather for worship, or during our own prayer time, have are own struggles. That same human tendency to want to limit what God can do only serves to block God's message from infusing the world.
Here are some questions to ponder on today:
What limits do we put on God?
Whom do we feel doesn't deserve God's grace? A class of people? Maybe ourselves?
Do we put heavy burdens on others?
Scripture passages direct us to this same conclusion: That we don't need a scorecard to tell who's in the realm of the saved. Love demonstrates who's who, as do the works and fruits of the Holy Spirit. The markings of salvation are visible in those of us who act out what we believe.
Our prayer is in the responsorial psalm for today: "O God, let all the nations praise You" (Ps 67). God rules; God guides the nations of the earth!