St. Paul urges us, "offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1).  Christ, likewise, insists that we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Him.  United to the cross of Christ, we can live our lives for God and rejoice that He is transforming us and renewing or minds each day.

St. Paul writes to St. Timothy that "there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5).  In the Gospel this weekend Jesus reveals His great desire for HIs Body, the Church, to share in that mediation.  He intends to build a Temple here in this world, the Church, where the Holy Spirit will dwell to give us power and grace to share the great message of salvation; Christ promises that the gates of the netherworld will never prevail against HIs Church; and He gives St. Peter the power of the keys to absolve sins, teach with authority and implement discipline.  We, the Body of Christ on earth, are entrusted with the awesome message of the Gospel and serve as ministers and mediators of the great mystery of salvation.

God chooses Israel among all the nations on the face of the earth, and through Israel, opens up the gift of reconciliation and salvation for all the world.  Through prayer, the sacraments and proclaiming the Gospel, we come to encounter the living God and in Him have eternal life.

Living our best life of faith, we come to recognize that God always comes to us in the storms and difficulties of life; that God can and does bring life out of death and light in the darkness; and that He carves a path for us to know, love and worship Him here in preparation for our Best Life with Him in eternity.

God emptied Himself and was born in poverty in Bethlehem to enrich the world with His divine life.  He feeds us with His own body and blood, and sends us forth to transform and change the world.

Jesus, in renouncing everything and giving His life on the cross, teaches us how to renounce everything for the Kingdom of Heaven.  Uniting ourselves to Him in His body and blood, we obtain the Treasure in the Field and the Pearl of Great Price.

By listening to Christ, in prayer and in the practice of virtue, we are called to grow and bear fruit in God's Kingdom. 

Jesus is the seed that is sown, the Word made flesh.  He is the seed that falls to the ground and dies in order that our lives may be transformed.  God grants us grace to cooperate with Him in bearing the fruit of spiritual life, one hundred, sixty and thirty fold.  

God raises up the fallen world we live in by the abasement of Christ and His willingness to embrace the humiliation of the cross.  In St. Matthew's Gospel this weekend Jesus invites us to come to Him and be yoked to Him, so that we can learn that same humility and meekness as a path to renewal.

Jesus reveals to us the Father, who is always faithful and always cares fro us as we live the Christian life.  The God who was with Jeremiah, and the Twelve Apostles, will also remain at our side to care and protect us always.