Parish of the Holy Savior

The past couple of Sundays the Gospel we’ve been hearing has been from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. This great sermon, beginning in Matthew Chapter 5 with the Beatitudes, constitutes Jesus’ great teaching on discipleship. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? How are we to think and act? What are we to do? Although the sermon last for several chapters its remarkable how simple the teaching is. Jesus had an amazing ability to make complex ideas simple. As we mentioned last week, Jesus was a radical; he was interested in getting to the “root of things.” Jesus saw the world differently. The Sermon on the Mount is like Jesus describing to us his vision of what he sees as an invitation for us to take up this same vision. St. Francis is often associated with the saying, “Preach the Gospel at all times; when necessary use words.” Jesus was the greatest teacher ever. Everything he said and did, every word he uttered, every encounter Jesus had with another person, is a teaching that in some way sheds light on what God cares about and what He doesn’t. The life and teachings of Jesus help us to understand God’s priorities so that we can get our own priorities right. In order to get at it we need to do more than just read the Bible. We need to do more than just hear the Gospel at Mass. We need to ponder it. We need to meditate on it. We need to engage it and ask questions of it and enter into a dialogue with Jesus. What are you doing? Why are you doing it? What are you saying to me? In this regard the Blessed Virgin Mary was the first and most excellent disciple, or student, of Jesus. Through her intercession let us ask God’s grace this week to be better students following Jesus in the foothills.