“Tend Your Garden.”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
August 11 – 12, 2018
Scripture: John 6: 41-51
41 The Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” 42 And they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring* among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God.’Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Keeping our homes neat and clean takes constant effort….so does maintaining our lawns and gardens. But, when our children and/or grandchildren arrive, it takes no time at all for our homes to be ransacked. Also, when it rains, the weeds come back with a vengeance. Everything is changing, so we can never rest.
Our spiritual lives are like that too. We must be diligent to remain close to God. We can draw closer to Him by receiving the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion.
We do not go to Mass…We do not participate in Mass…We are a part of Mass. We live and die with Christ at the alter and become part of his sacrifice. You can’t get any closer than that!
Prayer is heart speaking to heart. It is our conversations with God. How do we know if our prayers are working? They are drawing us closer to Him.
Propaganda Ministry. If you ask people how things are going at their church, they might say “great!” They may go on to say that their church is supporting various types of missions or maybe they’re working on important projects. However, the important measure of how a church is doing is in how many are a part of Mass, how many are going to confession, and how many are entering into vocations. Everything else is just busy work.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you tend to your spiritual garden diligently, growing ever closer to Christ?