General. Attending Mass on Sundays has become a banner signal of belief in God, truth and life everlasting, or rather, it might be said, of heavenly values which are quite distinct from the earthly values of work, money and business which keeps going on the same day. Yet during the Mass we share the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Body of Christ. May the Word we hear stay and find its abode within us through the grace we receive by the Eucharist, making us apostles of the truth which only comes from God.

Jeremiah. The reading contrasts two kinds of persons, the heavenly being and the earthly one. In putting his hope in fellow man and in his personal strength, the first being exalts himself and abandons God. Human strengths, of whatever kind, fail and foolish is him who in moments of weakness, often sent by God, does not turn to Him. Yet blessed (Gospel link) is the man who puts his hope and trust in God for he shall partake in everlasting life from this very time on earth, even before enjoying the beatific vision in heaven.

First Epistle to the Corinthians. St Paul insists that life everlasting exists, and the hope that goes with it too. Our faith is based on our belief in Christ’s Resurrection from the dead inasmuch as anyone who does not believe this will remain immersed in sin. Since our Baptism is founded on the Resurrection, lack of faith in this event will make our life fertile ground where vice may be sown and sin rooted, farthering us from life everlasting.

St Luke. In preaching heavenly truth, Jesus does not bother inverting the social order. Fact is that few of us bother to turn our eyes to God while we are healthy or wealthy, kings and queens of the world resting on our own laurels and strength. Yet the blessed are those who are now poor and humble and who seek their solace from God – theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, or if this may seem an obsolete concept, life in and with God from this very time and thereafter, for ever, or indeed life everlasting.

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