Our conversion is a grateful response to the grace of God given to us in Christ. It is Christ who reveals to us His Father’s mercy for us through His vicarious death for our salvation. Jesus the Son of God became man to assume our human nature and to share in our human weakness. He too faced the same temptations, and even more intensely than anyone of us.  He offered Himself as the sacrificial victim, a blameless holocaust, for the atonement of our sins to render the justice of God before man. This is why St Paul says, Jesus was made sin for us so that we can be reconciled with God. We have received His grace, the grace of baptism or the grace to desire baptism for our catechumens. Let us, as St Paul reminds us, not to receive the grace of God in vain.

Christianity is about transformation of life. It is not how long we have been Catholics, but the quality of our Christian life that matters. It is important for us to examine ourselves - our words, deeds and judgement; how have we been transformed to become more like Christ?

The treasury of the Church, whilst referring primarily to the infinite value of Christ’s saving death on the cross, also includes the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints who have united themselves with the Lord by living holy lives. So the treasury of the Church must be seen as our participation in Christ’s saving death.

The laws are meant to help us to strengthen the marriage; to persevere, especially when the going gets tough; not to give up so easily. But the law of indissolubility presupposes that we have faith in God. If we have faith in God and we revere God, then we will try; we will pray for wisdom and patience, helping each other to be purified in love. Without faith, without prayer and patience, it will be too challenging to manage marriage life today.

A truly rich person is someone who is contented, and makes use of his resources to bless others. It is in service, charity and sharing that we find great joy within, and that friendships are established and renewed.

Many of us are overly confident of ourselves to the extent that we become arrogant, smug and complacent. We can also be arrogant in our confidence in God. An over-confidence in God who supplies everything can lead to irresponsibility by refusing to do any work or planning of any sort. Knowing God’s will is not enough, but one must also carry out the will of God. There is also another form of arrogance, which is in attitude and behaviour, thinking that what we have is through our own merit and efforts. The arrogance displayed by James and John in the gospel showed that they forgot they were nobody when they were called. Humility is a characteristic of those who are truly wise, of those who recognize the grace of God in their lives.

If we want to truly be sons and daughters of the Most High, we need to share in the life of God and in His nature of loving. It is about loving even our enemies and those who have hurt us. After all, Christ died on the cross not for his friends, but for all, including his enemies.

When we use the tongue in a destructive manner, we can tear people down and discourage them from doing good. It is not just what we say but how we say it that can hurt people deeply. What we must do is to use our tongue in a constructive manner. We can use words to heal or to divide, to destroy or to build. How, then, can we tame our tongue?

An authentic faith is not merely living a life of charity and integrity, it means a decisive following of Christ. This is what the gospel is asking of us.  Anyone who believes in Christ must not just follow His teaching and example but seeing life and living it from His perspective. This is the litmus test of faith.  Earlier on, St Peter confessed his faith in Christ as the Son of the Living God. What was our Lord’s response?  He commanded them to keep the revelation from others. Today’s gospel therefore calls for a change of mindset, putting on the ways of God rather than seeing from the perspective of man. When Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me”, He was not simply saying that we are to carry our own cross, our suffering that comes from daily living patiently. Rather, He asked for self-renunciation. The context of Jesus’ command is the cross that He had to carry as the Son of Man. This cross that Jesus carried was more than living a simple lifestyle or bearing the inconvenience of daily life but rather, it was the cross that was carried on account of the proclamation of the Kingdom of God.

Today, the Lord is inviting us to put on a new mind. In His passion prophecy, He indicated that the way to life is through suffering and death. God wants to surprise us and help us to evaluate what truly can bring us happiness in life. It is when we live as brothers and sisters in the Lord, caring for each other in the community, each one bringing his or her talents and resources to the community that makes life worth living.