Called to follow Jesus
Renewed by the rich graces of the Easter Season and Pentecost, the liturgy of the Church returns to “Ordinary Time” as we return from Jerusalem to Galilee and listen to His invitation to discipleship.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls us to live the life He lived. Read along in Matthew, chapters 5 through 7, for a portrait of Christ, a portrait indeed that through grace, He would like to paint in each of us! Beginning with the Beatitudes, the DNA of the Christian life, the Sermon challenges us with teachings and standards, which only the saints would find practical, and achievable only through the daily graces of God.
Investiture celebrations and regional lieutenancy gatherings have offered me reassuring evidence of our Order’s rich devotion to God and to good works on behalf of Christians in the Holy Land.
Hopefully, our pace slackens a bit during these summer days, perhaps offering some moments of interior spiritual renewal. Might we add to our summer reading list a daily few minutes with the New Testament and a prayerful meditation on the Sermon on the Mount?
Edwin Cardinal O’Brien
(Summer 2019)