26th Sunday Ordinary Time September 29, 2024

Readings: Numbers 11:25-27  James 5:1-6, Mark 9:38-43, 45,47-48

If you have ever worked with someone recovering from addiction you discover they often only begin to get traction in their recovery when they move beyond not wanting to get into trouble and discover there is someone they don’t want to disappoint. When I was younger, I didn’t break the rules because I didn’t want to get in trouble, but as we get older, we realize it’s not so much about not wanting to get in trouble as it is letting certain people down. Maybe you have those people in your life that if you let them down, they don’t even have to say a word, all they have to do is give you that look and you immediately feel bad about it.

My friends, Jesus reminds us that there is nothing more important in this life than heaven. Nothing should get in the way of us achieving that place He has prepared for us and that means we need to make changes in our life. So, as we stop and hear Jesus in this exaggerated phrase, of plucking out your eye and cutting off your hands and feet, we are invited to step back and ask, what are my eyes, what are my hands, what are my feet, what are those things that lead me into sin and how do I root them out of my life. After all God has given us everything, He has given us the gift of His love. He wants what is best for us, the challenge for us then is to root out sin; to root out those things that are not good for us, those things that hold us back from the relationship He wants for us. What are those things in your life that lead you into sin?

 Fr. Terry.