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Christians are influential when their lives become the gospel's language that people can learn to speak. When Jesus said, "The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life," (Cf. Jn 6:63), he indicated that the gospel must be lived and spoken at the same time, and there is no more powerful language for expressing the gospel in both dimensions of speaking and living it than a graceful Christian life.

We celebrate this weekend as the Sunday of the Word of God. In its wisdom, the church seeks to remind us of the special place of the Word of God for us to reflect and resolve to make time to know it and to make it the guiding principles for our lives, to love it, taste it, and savor it, live by it.

We celebrate this weekend as the Sunday of the Word of God. In its wisdom, the church seeks to remind us of the special place of the Word of God for us to reflect and resolve to make time to know it and to make it the guiding principles for our lives, to love it, taste it, and savor it, live by it.

There are times Christians misconstrue God's ways, set their own rules, and force them to fit God's heart and mind. However, today’s readings offer many useful lessons to consider. The first reading tells us "Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him since he lives forever to make intercession for them." That, Jesus continues his saving acts to save humanity by praying continually for us after dying for all is a good thing we can’t wish, think, and do anything different.

Friends, today's first reading is not one of the most familiar scriptures we hear regularly, but it is also one of the most significant passages needed for practical living. Fundamentally, it elevates peace over war and division; it sets it as synonymous with blessings and presents it as something that requires sacrifice to maintain.

Continually seeking ways to make life more comfortable for one another is our true vocation in life. As St. Augustine reminds us, “Love is when you care deeply about someone and will do anything for them.”

The significance and the main take away from the passage is the understanding that the Eucharist is not something we fast from. No doctor will ask you to go on a diet from extraordinary life-giving food. Instead, if there is such nourishing food, we seek for it, we crave it. The eucharist is Jesus. It is the body of Christ; it is his soul and divinity, and its life-giving bread. And you want to know something? No one must naturally and deliberately choose to deny himself or herself of it.

Friends, today's gospel repeats the call of Levi, whose other name is Matthew. Mark and Luke call him Levi. However, he writes in his gospel, "As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. "Follow Me," He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him" (Matt 9:9).

In all situations then, think and act according to Jesus' perspectives, command, and example. Remember, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord” (Is 55:8).

We should remember that people do what they hear and see. When we can see in people the beauty of God and the good, they can become and tell them how beautiful they are, they will smile and live accordingly. And why is this possible? It is because of Christ.

The devil and sin manifest in secrecy. They enjoy the hidden, pent up feelings of shame and guilt that mark our lives, and gain control over us when we never want to admit or let anyone know so they can help us. It makes them happy.

Today I want to make two propositions to you. The first is that those who trust Jesus with your faith and life will see him bring them safely to heaven. The second is that those who trust the church with their faith and life will get the support to get them to heaven.

Today I want to make two propositions to you. The first is that those who trust Jesus with your faith and life will see him bring them safely to heaven. The second is that those who trust the church with their faith and life will get the support to get them to heaven.

Jesus can help us in our anxious and depressing moments, freaking and trouble times with others or ourselves if we come to him and ask for his aid. And when we do, the issue is not whether he will listen to us and intervene, but whether we will accept his will whatever the outcome.

In today' gospel, Jesus declares himself in the synagogue as the Messiah, framing the purpose of his messiahship in terms different from what others have believed and thought. His words are exact: the good news of love for the poor, the blind, the captives, and the oppressed. Thus, Saint Paul, in 1 Cor 14:1, encourages us to make love our highest goal.

Saint John continues his teaching about love in today's first reading, urging us to love one another. He writes, "Beloved if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us."

Today's gospel taken from Mt 4:12-17, 23-25 reminds us how Jesus commenced his ministry traveling around Galilee to preach and present himself as the truth that men and women should seek. The gem of that ministry was his words and actions in the spirit of inclusiveness.

Today's gospel highlights John's testimony about Jesus as the focus of divine attraction. Understand that the peak of John's ministry had coincided with Jesus' baptism. We notice from other accounts how the heavens opened, the Holy Spirit descended, and the Father spoke clearly, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased" (Matt 3:17).

Saint John's gospel puts a different spin on incarnation from Matthew and Luke. Matthew and Luke accentuate the historical and human context of Jesus' birth, and John highlights the spiritual benefits of the Immanuel.

Anna’s devotion to prayer and fasting encourages us to pray and put our trust in God. Let’s stay positive, faithful, and hopeful.