OUR LIVES ARE REFLECTIONS OF THE QUALITY OF OUR PRAYERS Homily for Thursday of the12week in ordinary time JUNE 2022
OUR LIVES ARE REFLECTIONS OF THE QUALITY OF OUR PRAYERS Matthew 7:21-29 Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, today's Gospel reading reminds us that prayer alone without good works is insufficient to guarantee entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said to his disciples “Not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). Jesus reminds us today that prayer is both vertical and horizontal. Vertical because we lift our souls, minds and hearts to God our Father who is in heaven, and horizontal because the quality of our prayer depends on the way we live our lives in relation to our neighbour. So we live the way we pray and pray the way we live. Yes, the nature of our lives is a reflection of the quality of our prayer. Both the vertical and the horizontal go hand in hand. This is similar to the declaration in the letter of St. James that 'Faith without good works is dead (James ...