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One Bread One Body

One Bread, One Body

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All Issues > Volume 29, Issue 6

<< Sunday, November 3, 2013 >>

31st Sunday Ordinary Time

Wisdom 11:22—12:2
2 Thessalonians 1:11—2:2
View Readings

Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14
Luke 19:1-10
Similar Reflections

CROWD CONTROL

"He was trying to see what Jesus was like, but being small of stature, was unable to do so because of the crowd." —Luke 19:3

So many people are trying to see what Jesus is like. Yet they're small and the crowd is large. Sometimes the crowd isn't people around us but things inside us. How many have a crowd of fears, doubts, and selfish desires inside? To see Jesus, we must fight our way through the crowd (see Lk 8:45) or climb above it.

If I told you to go to Confession right now, a crowd would form for some of you. You may feel afraid, and before long you'd have a hundred reasons why you're not going. You have to fight through the crowd to touch Jesus and be washed in His blood.

What if I told you to go to Mass daily, lead someone to Christ, or tithe? For many of us, another crowd of sin, selfishness, doubt, fear, and anxiety would form. We must climb the tree of faith above the crowd and fight by faith through the crowd. Don't be crowded out of eternal life; enter in by faith.

Prayer: "We pray for you always that our God may make you worthy of His call, and fulfill by His power every honest intention and work of faith. In this way the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him" (2 Thes 1:11-12).

Promise: "You have mercy on all, because You can do all things; and You overlook the sins of men that they may repent." —Wis 11:23

Praise: All praise be to You, glorious, risen Lord Jesus Christ! You reign supreme over the crowd of creation. I worship You, magnificent in glory.

Prayer to End Abortions

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life, and for the lives of all my brothers and sisters. I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, yet I rejoice that You have conquered death by the Resurrection of Your Son. I am ready to do my part in ending abortion. Today I commit myself NEVER to be silent, NEVER to be passive, NEVER to be forgetful of the unborn. I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, and never to stop defending life until all my brothers and sisters are protected, and our nation once again becomes a nation with liberty and justice not just for some, but for all, through Christ our Lord. Amen!