The offertory verse today is: “By the streams of Babylon, we sat and wept when we remembered you, O Sion.” We are those people, longing for Heaven, but separated from it by sin.
Sin and its consequence, death, inflict untold suffering on us. We, like the official’s son in the Gospel, are in need of healing so that we might return to our homeland.
So let us live wise and faithful lives, as St. Paul teaches in the Epistle.
- We must not waste time. We must always ask, “What does God want me to do now?”
- We must not foolishly be slaves to our passions. Instead of filling ourselves with drunkenness and debauchery, we must fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit.
- We must guard our tongue. We are made to give glory to God. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs should grace our lips, not rumors, conspiracy, gossip, and foulness.
- We must give thanks to the Father through our Savior, Jesus Christ, for all good things come from him.
- We must be subject to one another, for this is what our Lord and Savior has done, and asked us to do when he commanded us to love our neighbor. We hear in St. Matthew’s Gospel, “Whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20:27-28)
As we receive God in the Eucharist, may we think of our heavenly homeland, and may its comforting medicine for our soul give us the courage to live wise and faithful lives, bound for Heaven.