THE BOOK OF THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF DAVID, THE SON OF ABRAHAM. MT 1:1-17
Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.
Prayer Prompt before reading MT 1:1-17: Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray, interpret the Scriptures for me so that I may know the Truth about who God the Father and God the Son are so that I may know who I am.
At first glance, we see a bunch of names that are hard to pronounce. We have heard this Gospel many times, it opens the New Testament and has almost all Old Testament names. Those names are people that had stories just like all of us do. The interesting thing is Abraham was the father of faith. Mary and Joseph received very special graces from God, Mary immaculately conceived. The more interesting thing is that families are not perfect.
In the genealogy of Jesus there are some black sheep as well. Bishop Barron says, “Let me highlight just two figures from Jesus’ family. First, Ruth, who was not an Israelite but rather a Moabite, a foreigner. Some of you reading this feel like outsiders, not part of the “in” crowd, looked at askance by others. Well, the Messiah came forth from Ruth the foreigner and was pleased to be her relative.
Then there is Rahab, a prostitute living and working in Jericho. Are there people reading these words who feel like Rahab? Who think that their whole lives have been sunk in sin? Well, the Messiah came forth from Rahab the prostitute, and he was pleased to be her relative.“
God created us for relationships, to be part of a family. No family is perfect and it takes a lifetime to learn from our mistakes we make in our families. I tend to hurt the ones closest to me. The Devil wants to destroy families and in some places I see where he is being successful in today’s culture.
Today, look deep inside of yourself and find that brokenness that you are hiding. Jesus wants to uproot it but first we must face it. Then, look for ways we can improve as mother, father, husband, wife, son or daughter.
Who do we need to forgive? Do we need to forgive ourselves, are we carrying great burdens? Jesus’s family carried them too. It was a mixed bag, much like our family and how we came to be. Take comfort, God doesn’t want us to come to him perfect, but broken, so His life, His grace can do the work He wants to do in us, make us holy which makes us happy and at peace among the pain, burden, sin, past mistakes and failures of our lives.
Today’s challenge: Accept those who are not perfect in your family and have made some bad decisions.
Be a servant, be a saint today!
#Christian YODO (You Only Die Once; We will live again!)
Something that stuck out to me is when Jesus said he would leave the 99 for 1. Jesus will do anything for us. He loves us more than we could ever love anyone. And we continue to deny him every day. He is chasing after us constantly and we are too distracted to realize. We need to start taking time from all the distractions turning us away from him, and turning it into time to be with Him.