Last Sunday’s readings remind us that sin is like a weight that pulls us down, but charity, even small acts of charity done for the love for Jesus, lift us up and help free us from sinful attachments that threaten to drown us.

Just as the Lord poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly on the Elders in last Sunday’s first reading, so He wants to pour out the Holy Spirit more abundantly on all believers who are correctly disposed. Due to the burden of leading the Chosen People in the desert, Moses requested that some of his Spirit be given to the seventy chosen Elders. But two of the seventy who remained in the camp, rather than going to the Tent of Meeting, also received an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and started prophesying in the camp. When Joshua asked Moses to forbid them, Moses replied that he wished all were prophets because any good done in the name of God, will lead others to Him. In Old Testament times, the giving of the Holy Spirit was  restricted mainly to Prophets, Priests and Kings.

In the second reading St James warns that any gain made at the expense of others is a gain made at the expense of charity and is really the deepest loss. It also warns that accumulated and hoarded wealth at the expense of others is sinful. The Church warns that Purgatory and a period of purification is necessary for those who have earthly attachments. Whereas if they had used their wealth for the good of others, their acts of charity would have covered a multitude of sins and helped them gain Heaven. 

In last Sunday’s Gospel there is a similar event to the two men prophesying in the First Reading whom Joshua complained to Moses about.  The Apostle John reports to the Lord that he and the other Apostles had seen a man casting out demons in Jesus’ name and because he did not belong to the Master’s circle, they had tried to stop him.  But Jesus corrects the exclusive mentality of the Apostles. He said: 

You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.

As Christians we should not a have a one-party mentality. What matters is unity in the essentials of the Faith and fidelity to the Authentic Magisterium of the Church as contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In the Gospel last Sunday, Jesus goes on to warns us strongly against occasions of sin. He uses hyperbole, which is an exaggerated way of speaking, common at the time. For example: 

If your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out.  

This also reminds us of the reality of Hell.  What Jesus is saying is to avoid whatever it is that leads us to commit sin. For some it is alcohol or drugs, or it could be watching certain programmes on the television. It could also be the internet or accessing impure content on the internet or on one’s mobile phone. If a person is falling into the same sins repeatedly, it is very necessary to remove the temptation. For example, if it is impure content such as pornography, one can download safe search or parental controls or various other methods of restricting access on the net.

St Teresa of Calcutta said about television: 

We have a Tabernacle to Jesus in the Church and a tabernacle to Satan in the home. 

If she was around these days, I’m sure she would say the same about the internet.

We are all caught up in a huge spiritual battle in the world between good and evil. Our Lady reminds us that the chain that ties us to her Immaculate Heart is that of the Holy Rosary and that prayer is more powerful than the atomic bomb. She came from Heaven to ask us to pray her prayer, the Holy Rosary. Every time we recite the Rosary united to her, evil is restricted, and the devil can’t advance to do more harm. He is as if tied up and restricted by the chain of the Rosary. I encourage everyone to pray the Rosary fervently every day without fail. 

God also invented the Sacrament of Confession and instituted it on the evening of the Resurrection. This is because the Lord wishes to free us of unrepented sin and its consequences and bestow His mercy upon us.  Let’s make monthly Confession an essential part of our spiritual lives.

We can learn so much from the lives of the Saints. The late Pope Benedict said: 

The lives of the Saints are living Gospels for us to learn from.

For example, St Euphrasia Pelletier, is a French Saint who was born in 1796 and grew us during the years of the French Revolution, when the Church was severely persecuted.  She joined a Religious Order at the age of eighteen which was dedicated to work with ex-prostitutes, the abused, homeless, delinquent girls and the persecuted. In order, for this work to grow she founded another Order known as the Good Shepherd Sisters, which received papal approval in 1835. St Euphrasia worked tirelessly to reach out to these needy women and the Order grew rapidly. The Nuns tried to normalize the lives of the needy and prepared them for productive work and provided religious and moral guidance. Euphrasia also started a separate Order for reformed prostitutes who felt called to a life of prayer and penance. At the time of St Euphrasia’s canonization in 1940, almost 100,000 women and girls had gone through the Order’s Programmes, over 10,000 white-robed Sisters had dedicated their lives to serving these social outcasts, and more then 150 homes of charity had been erected on every continent.

The life of St Euphrasia is just another example of the effect the life of a Saint can make in the world.  It is God’s nature to spread goodness, just as the sun spreads light. Our common vocation is to live a life of holiness, that is, a life of love, for God is Love. As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of another great saint in October:  St Therese of Lisieux, let’s try and live her little way of love. Let’s be Like the Saints were,  and become little, simple, humble, meek and gentle; traveling along the way of spiritual childhood and love. Let’s desire God’s Will to reign in us and then we will also grow in all the virtues. Praise be Jesus Christ and His Holy Mother, now and forever!