Jesus said to his disciples:“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,Do not take a false oath,but make good to the Lord all that you vow.But I say to you, do not swear at all;not by heaven, for it is God’s throne;nor by the earth, for it is his footstool;nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.Do not swear by your head,for you cannot make a single hair white or black.Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’Anything more is from the Evil One.”
REFLECTION
"Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’Anything more is from the Evil One."
This Gospel Reading is so powerful. It is filled with good advice from Jesus. All of the Gospels are filled with good advise, but this one is very straight forward and to the point.
Every morning when I get up, I want to do good for the Lord. Then the day goes on, and there are some things I just want to "take back and do over ". My intention is good, but do I do enough to make things happen that need to happen.
This past week end, I learned something so valuable. The teaching I heard was one I had not heard before. It was taught with such clarity.
I belong to God. God loves me and you, so much and watches over us with such care. Throughout our day He allows things to happen to us based on our decisions. Here in this Gospel Jesus is letting us know how very small we are, but how very powerful because of the Lord. He is always with us. Everything we decide to do, is a decision to do for the Lord. Each decision we make we decide with the Lord in mind. We are not our own.
To me, the line "Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the Evil One” means there is no grey area. The evil one is always looking for a way to steal from the Lord. What do you think the evil one wants to steal? Do you think he wants to steal our money, or our happiness, or even our character? The only reason I can see that he would want any of this is to drive us toward death and destruction. We put so much value on these 'things' that we lose sight of who we really are, and what we are worth in God's eyes.
Read the Gospel Words again, slowly. Everything belongs to God. Put all our value and worth in the Lord alone as we go throughout our day. And answer to the Lord alone.
Today there are a few men that will make their vow to the Lord to be a priest in the Holy Catholic Church.
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