This coming Sunday is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. These ten verses of Luke 17 challenge Christians (a) not to be a hindrance to the discipleship of others, (b) to rebuke those who sin and forgive all who ask for forgiveness, and (c) and when you have done all this not to assume that you have done more than your duty.  These ten verses are a reminder that faithfulness, forgiveness and humility are required of those who would be obedient to the Word of Jesus.  Perhaps the first two are the most difficult to live, but the lack of humility is perhaps the more dangerous. It prevents us from experiencing the depth of God’s love and likely leads to a superior attitude and false spirituality that becomes an obstacle to the little ones and a barrier to being charitable in our forgiveness. Such a pitfall makes clear why St. Bonaventure wrote that humility is the guardian and gateway to all the other virtues.

Image credit: G Corrigan, CC-BY-NC 2.0

This coming Sunday is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In yesterday’s post we considered the nature of faith and what Jesus was asking of his disciples: understanding that faith allows God to work in a person’s life in ways that defy ordinary human experience. In today’s post we consider what that right understanding of faith will allow the disciples to do. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In yesterday’s post we considered the necessity of forgiveness in the life of a disciple. Today we move into the Sunday gospel reading proper and consider why the apostles make the request: “Increase our faith”? Continue reading →