SPEAKER_00: There's a sentence in today's first reading that's almost shocking.
SPEAKER_00: God says, I have had enough of your sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine hearing that.
SPEAKER_00: The very sacrifices that God Himself commanded His people to offer, He now says He can't stand.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Had God changed His mind?
SPEAKER_00: Well no.
SPEAKER_00: The problem was never their worship.
SPEAKER_00: The problem was that their worship had become disconnected from their lives.
SPEAKER_00: They were offering sacrifices in the temple while living unjustly outside the temple.
SPEAKER_00: They were praying with their lips while ignoring God with their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: They were religious on the outside but unchanged on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: And God says something remarkable.
SPEAKER_00: Bring no more worthless offerings.
SPEAKER_00: Your hands are full of blood.
SPEAKER_00: Wash yourself clean.
SPEAKER_00: Cease doing evil, learn to do good.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what God does not ask for.
SPEAKER_00: He does not ask for more sacrifices, he asks for conversion.
SPEAKER_00: This is an important lesson for us as Catholics.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking that practicing our faith is simply about checking religious boxes.
SPEAKER_00: I went to mass, I said my prayers, I put something in the collection basket.
SPEAKER_00: Those are all good things.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, they're essential, but they're not the goal.
SPEAKER_00: The goal is that every mass makes me more loving, every confession makes me more humble.
SPEAKER_00: Every holy communion I receive makes me more like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If my relationship with Jesus is real, then it must eventually change the way I treat my spouse, the way I engage my children, my co-workers, even the stranger I meet today.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, Isaiah asks us a different question.
SPEAKER_00: Has my religion become merely external?
SPEAKER_00: One of the greatest dangers in the spiritual life is what I would call comfort Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: We become familiar with holy things.
SPEAKER_00: The prayers become routine, the mass becomes predictable, the gospel becomes something we hear without allowing it to challenge us.
SPEAKER_00: We know the faith, but it is no longer transforming us.
SPEAKER_00: God is not interested in simply making us religious.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to make us holy.
SPEAKER_00: Then we come to what may be one of the most misunderstood passages in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I have come not to bring peace but the sword.
SPEAKER_00: At first glance that sounds strange.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't Jesus the Prince of Peace?
SPEAKER_00: Well, of course he is.
SPEAKER_00: So what does he mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the sword Jesus speaks about is not violence, it's a decision.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel always forces us to make a choice.
SPEAKER_00: No one remains neutral before Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Think about his own life.
SPEAKER_00: Some followed him, others walked away, some worshiped him, others crucified him.
SPEAKER_00: The truth has a way of dividing those who accept it from those who reject it.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus says that sometimes even families will be divided.
SPEAKER_00: Not because Christians are looking for conflict, but because faithfulness to Christ sometimes costs us something.
SPEAKER_00: Every disciple eventually reaches a moment when he must decide who comes first.
SPEAKER_00: My career, my reputation, my comfort, my things, my possessions, even my family, or is it Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not asking us to love our families less.
SPEAKER_00: He's asking us to love him first and above all things.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the paradox.
SPEAKER_00: When Christ is first, we actually become better husbands, better wives, better parents, better children, better friends.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because only Christ teaches us how to love as we were created to love.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus ends with something beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: He says that even giving a cup of cold water because someone belongs to him will not go unnoticed.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is built not only through heroic acts, it is built through ordinary acts of love done with extraordinary faith.
SPEAKER_00: Word of encouragement, a smile here and there, a phone call to someone who's lonely, patience with a difficult coworker, forgiving someone who doesn't deserve it, helping a neighbor in need, listening to someone who needs to be heard.
SPEAKER_00: These are all small acts that can become great in the eyes of God because they're done for him with love.
SPEAKER_00: So today the Lord asks each of us two questions.
SPEAKER_00: First, is my faith changing the way I live, or is it simply something I just practice?
SPEAKER_00: And second, if someone looked only at the way I treat other people, would they know that I have been with Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Because in the end, Christianity is not measured by how many prayers we know, it is measured by how deeply those prayers have transformed our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: May every Mass we attend, every confession we make, and every holy communion we receive make us just a little bit more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.