The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Today’s readings are filled with rich themes. There was so much to reflect on that I invited my husband to join me in praying with the readings before I sat down to write this reflection. We asked the Holy Spirit to be with us, then took turns reading aloud. As was likely to happen, different verses stood out to each of us.
In the second reading, Paul beseeches the Colossians to “Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its Creator.” My husband applied the contents of this letter to the present day. If Christ is all and in all, then we should stop trying to wear all the masks of identity that make us feel like we fit in. The one thing we truly have in common is that we are all children of God, whose only goal should be striving to be like Him. We don’t earn any more favor with Him by identifying with one thing over another.
Jesus’ message to the crowd in Luke’s gospel captured my attention: “One’s life does not consist of possessions.” In my young adult years, my mother often reminded me that we don’t get to take anything we have on Earth with us to Heaven. We only get to take what we have given away—our love, our charity, and our witness to our faith.
As we shared our perspectives, my husband and I found ourselves using the readings as a foundation for other important discussions in our lives—we want to grow our family, we want to pay down some of our debt, and we want to take a few bucket list trips. What a beautiful base for prayerful discernment of our finances. We are encouraged to remember that no matter what riches we amass on Earth, all we take with us to the Lord is the love He branded us with the day He made us.
These readings are existential in a way that I hope reinvigorates your faith and motivates you to live with eyes fixed on eternal life. Find someone in your life with whom you can comfortably pray with these readings. Engage deeply in the conversations they generate, and let His Spirit guide you.
Perpetua Cannistraro works as a book publicist in Boston, Massachusetts. She loves the Lord, TV, Disney princesses, books, 90s-00s teen pop, and the color pink. Say hi on Instagram!
