Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year C
The proud pay no attention to the warnings of friends because they don’t think friends have any worthwhile knowledge to communicate. They pay no attention to divine threats because they are firmly convinced that they are the only divinity of any importance. They become trapped in their self-created heaven. Jesus made it plain that God will have no sympathy for such bloated spirits. He said to the listening crowds words like these: When the proud come to the gate of heaven so ‘filled with themselves,’ God will simply say, ‘Go away! I do not know you!’
Saints Peter and Paul • Year C
The secret of the success of both apostles was in their capacity to love. Peter was chosen to be head of the Church not because of his degrees but because he “loved much.” Paul became a powerful advocate for Christ not because of his scholarship but because through his love for Christ his listeners were able to believe that they too were included in Christ’s love.
Third Sunday of Lent • Year C
The rules that control our destiny are simple: “We must love God above all and our neighbor as ourselves.” If we just try to do that at every “now” that is given to us, we need not worry about what will happen to us at the end of our time. Christ has promised that, when we plunge over the great Falls of Death, he will catch us on the other side. Just as our virtuous loving in this life has drawn us towards God, so in eternity that same love will “glue” us to God forever.