Powerful Words From the Lips of Jesus

This is my first ever guest post, from Father Clement Suhy, of Our Lady of Providence Parish in Plymouth, Michigan.  He offered the 6:30A mass this morning, and his short sermon seemed to capture succinctly many of the thoughts I have been posting of late, and so I asked if he would allow me to post his homily, for your and my benefit.  Here are his words:

St. Paul offers us very powerful words this morning (Acts 20:28-38)! They are very precious words from the lips of our Savior and these words of Jesus have the power to be a guiding principle of our lives as they point us to the true source of a stable joy. Here are the words that St. Paul gives us from the lips of Jesus: It is more blessed to give than to receive!

We are so blessed to know and love Jesus!  Jesus’ integrity is striking and so attractive.  Before Jesus teaches us something with words, He always first lives it out and gives us an example.  The Evangelists tell us that at times, Jesus spent so much time teaching, healing and being with the people that He didn’t even have time to eat.  Jesus, as He walked in our midst, gave and served always: It is more blessed to give than to receive!

But, then there is the treachery of the evil one!  Both in the reading from Acts and in today’s Gospel (John 17:11-19), St. Paul and our Lord warn us to be vigilant against the attacks of the evil one.  He is the father of lies and of half-truths. It is so ironic that the very power that he tempted us to desire, the knowledge of good and evil, he does everything to confuse and prevent us from exercising that knowledge.  He tempted Adam and Eve to desire that power; yet, he strives to stifle and prevent us from exercising that discernment.  My brothers and sisters, when we live our lives blindly following desires or passions or emotions and not asking or seeking the good, the truly good in the eyes of the Lord and for the salvation of our souls, we end up following the principle of the evil one: it is better to receive than to give!

Let us turn with love and devotion to our Blessed Mother.  Let us invite her and ask her to be the guardian, the mistress of our hearts so that she may crush the seeds that the evil one has sown in our hearts and minds.  We beg our Lady to remove the thorn bushes from our hearts and to whisper, and to invite the Holy Spirit to open us to communion with Jesus!

Fr. Clement in his note giving me these words to post ended with one sentence which was not part of his sermon, but I feel compelled to add it also:  “I love Jesus and am so grateful for the gift of my priesthood!”    Fr. Clement shows us how to give and serve.  We need more such priests.