Breaking the Word

11^th Week in Ord. Time, Friday – 20^th June 2025 – 2 Cor 11,18.21-30; Mt 6,19-23

Sincere Motivations

Jesus has been teaching that what God cares about most, and what ultimately determines righteousness, are the motivations of a sincere heart. In focusing on money and possessions, Jesus tells his followers not to stockpile riches and possessions on earth. Those are temporary and easily lost. Instead, He says, stockpile rewards in eternity by your true, inner devotion to God. His point is not that Christians cannot have wealth, or they should not own anything or they cannot have a bank account. Rather, He means that we must only have God as our ultimate priority. Paul will teach clearly that believers must provide for their families (1 Tim 5,8) and wisdom demands some planning for even our temporary future on earth (Prov 6,6-8). Wealth is like any other blessing from God (1 Tim 4,4) and should be used according to God’s purposes. If we focus time, energy, and effort on building wealth for ourselves on earth, that wealth is what our hearts will focus on. If we focus on building rewards from God in heaven, our hearts will focus on the experience of enjoying that “treasure” forever. In short, our hearts and our sincerity towards God matter more than any material possessions on earth.

11^th Week in Ord. Time, Thursday – 19^th June 2025 – 2 Cor 11,1-11; Mt 6,7-15

Perfect Prayer

The Lord’s prayer has been called by an early Christian writer, “the summary of the whole Gospel.” The proclamation of the Good News is summarized by Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount and the “our Father” is at the center of this proclamation. St.Augustine affirms that this prayer is so perfect that it sums up in a few words not only for everything man needs to ask God for, but for the things we can rightly desire and in sequence that they should be desired. It is usually seen as being made up of an invocation and seven petitions – three to do with praise of God and four with the needs of men. The first two petitions, that God’s name be sanctified among all people, and that his kingdom may come, should be our primary concern. We are called to be apostles of that kingdom, to spread love for Christ among our fellow men. Our apostolic zeal should be enkindled each time we pronounce those words of the Lord’s prayer. Asking for God’s will to be done means that we seek to confirm ourselves with his will in all of our thoughts and actions.