From the Deacon's Desk

Each day, I reflect upon a word or a phrase inspired by the readings of the day. I encourage you to do the same and perhaps incorporate that word or phrase into your daily prayer.

…there are, to be sure, many “gods” and many “lords”, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist… (1 Corinthians 8:1-13)

GODS: In this letter to the Corinthians, Paul acknowledged that we have a tendency to elevate earthly desires and material things to ‘godly’ levels.

We cannot find time for prayer, yet we can binge watch a series on Netflix. We need to miss Mass because we want to get an early start to the fun day we have planned. We would like to volunteer some time to help others, but how will we ever get that promotion if we don’t log the overtime hours at the office?

We spend time and energy to acquire things – larger home, nicer car, clothes for every occasion…stuff.

The message of Jesus, shared by Paul, was not to deprive ourselves of earthly things or to stifle our desires. He was cautioning us not to give them an undue level of importance in our lives; they can enhance our lives, but should not be the focus of our lives.

We are called to re-direct our time and energy — directing less toward gods and more toward God.