A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 7:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them. "

The Gospel of the Lord Praise be to God

REFLECTION: "You will know them by their fruits."

Everything is easy when there are no consequences. False prophets will make religion easy, do not remind us of the daily crosses we must carry, eliminate the hard sayings and teachings of Jesus and allow us to think sin has no consequences and, of course, that there is no hell. They encourage the easy life and the ravenous wolves of Satans army are waiting for the right time to devour all who drank the koolaid.

False prophets preach it is okay to have a happy mentality that all that we want can be ours, simply because we are children of God and carry a bible. Therefore we will get that car, that job, that house, vacation, those beautiful children , etc, if we just wait for those blessings.

Jesus , on the other hand, warns us that life can be bumpy, hard to maneuver and hard to follow his narrow path . If we want God we must give ourselves to His will, be obedient, and allow Him to trim us and mold us and most importantly grow in the gifts He has given us. We will bear the fruit of discipleship by what God cultivates in our love for him.

On the other hand, and opposite from false prophets, our priests are the living icon of Christ , the High Priest. They are alter Christus (another Christ) and ipse Christus (Christ Himself). They sacrifice themselves by giving up marriage and family for the sake of Christ. They are, by the imposition of the Bishops hands, the priesthood of Christ. Jesus acts through his priests and they are called to live in imitation of his way of life. The fruits of their work will be good and one will see them by faith, hope, love, sound judgment, justice, courage and self control.

But the most important summit of all--confession and the Holy Eucharist, are given to us through the priests by Jesus Christ. No false prophet can do that.

PRAYER: Dearest Lord, we beg of you to please keep us and our loved ones safe and away from false prophets. Take us away from the worldly temptations and if that not be your will, please help us at the time of our bad decisions, our lapses of judgment and our willful exploitation of sin, to be reminded that you are always with us and all we need to say is "Jesus, mercy". Amen

God Bless

Pray for our priests

papafoundation.net