The Perfection Of God

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

October 01, 2024

in Spritual Growth

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Sept. 29, 2024
Readings: Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
James 4:7-12
Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024

God has given us much to accomplish a purpose, and not for us to brag about. In the prayer before the Gospel, it says, “open the eyes of our mind that we may understand the message.” There is a reason why the Liturgy has a purpose, why certain things are written. It is because God wants us to pursue a spiritual way of life in order to please Him. Psalm 19 “The Law of the Lord is perfect.”

We may never know Him fully. He is far above anything and anyone. No one can be perfect except God. His laws and His ways are perfect. If God says something, then it is done. His precepts are right, His commandments are pure. The fear of the Lord is clean and forever.

We need to put His words in our life. The trust and confidence should be there. We have a God who loves us and will not fail us. Over the years, God reveals things to us not because He has changed but because we have come to understand Him more. In the Gospel today, John saw someone casting out demons using the name of Jesus. He was not part of the disciples so John goes to Jesus and tells him about this man. Jesus replied, “Do not hinder him. For he who is not against us is for us.” At that time, people believed that all evil things came from the enemy- demon possessions, illnesses, sicknesses. The enemy deceives man into believing that something bad is good.

God in the beginning had always intended for us to live in fullness. He blessed us to be fruitful, multiply, subdue and rule. We are supposed to be in control over the forces of evil. Man may have failed due to sin, but Christ redeemed and restored us to His family. He’s also paid the price for our healing. Scriptures tell us that we have been given all things. The challenge is for us to live it out. We are to have unconditional love. When we ask God for something, we should not be begging but be thankful that we have already received it. We should not set our minds in failure and defeat but victory in Christ Jesus. Christ teaches us tolerance. Today, there are many religions set by man, each claiming to be the right one. But we are not to judge. Someday, God will bring us all together. The Gospel message is more powerful than any other messages of the world. Matthew 3:2-3 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” Our faith should be in Christ. Our source is God. We are to bring forth fruit. Our lives should demonstrate the love and greatness of God. We are to prove Christ. James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Are we proving to God that we are the “salt of the earth?” Are we living out the Lord’s Prayer? Showing that His Kingdom has come and that the things that should be done on earth should be like what they are heaven? When we pray, we should not be talking and talking because God wants us to take action. His love and compassion brings hope to the world. We need to believe that what was given and what we have received, already belongs to us.