At the end of the gospel today we heard, “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil.” (Luke 6:45) From these lines, we see the importance of the interior conversion of the heart. The goodness or evilness of the heart is the determining factor as to whether one’s life will be good or evil.
From the Gospel of Luke, Jesus ends His discussion of love for enemies by saying, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36) In the Gospel of Matthew, it is recorded that Jesus ends this same discussion by saying, “Be perfect, just as your Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) This variance in wording can help us uncover the relationship between mercy and perfection.
This past week, we celebrated the 121st anniversary of Jan Tyranowski’s birth. Although a largely unknown man, I chose Venerable Jan Tyranowski as the Catechist Patron for the St Peter’s Faith Formation Catechists this year.
In the first reading, we heard of a vision from the prophet Isaiah of angels praising God in heaven. We join this heavenly prayer of the angels in the first part of the prayer of the Sanctus at Mass when we pray “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory.”